The waste pipes from my shower and bath to the soil stack, 40mm plastic
ones, have runs of approx 2-3 metres. The Shower tray is set on a raised
platform of approx 15-20cm. From the shower/bath to the soil stack the pipes
rest on the floorboards completely horizontally, with a drop just before
they join it. The pipes are hidden underneath/behind floor standing
cabinets. All was installed around 3 years ago. I put a (literally)
back-of-an-envelope diagram he http://tinypic.com/r/2ekhj5j/7


With 2 long haired children taking a daily bath, and two (one long haired)
adults taking daily showers, the bathroom is well used, and occasionally the
shower (never the bath) seem to drain a little slower than usual. I then
take the plunger out and in a few seconds retrieve the ball of hair that
seem to somehow escape from the trap at the shower waste. No big deal
really - only a couple of time a year.

What I did notice though is the unpleasant residue that seem to accumulate
in the horizontal part of the pipes, and I am a little concerned that it
will eventually cause problems.

Any suggestion as to how to give it the once-over? Pouring a half bucket of
diluted Bleach down the bath and shower drains and leave it to rest for a
couple of hours perhaps? What is rally important is that it would not be
risky, as the access to the pipes (in case of damaging them) is all but
impossible without having to rip the cabinets off the wall first.

Many thanks in advance.

J.

"JoeJoe" wrote in message
o.uk...


What I did notice though is the unpleasant residue that seem to accumulate
in the horizontal part of the pipes, and I am a little concerned that it
will eventually cause problems.

do any of the long haired children own a pet hamster...... the type that
loved scurrying through tubes

On Feb 21, 2:19 pm, "JoeJoe" wrote:
The waste pipes from my shower and bath to the soil stack, 40mm plastic
ones, have runs of approx 2-3 metres. The Shower tray is set on a raised
platform of approx 15-20cm. From the shower/bath to the soil stack the pipes
rest on the floorboards completely horizontally, with a drop just before
they join it. The pipes are hidden underneath/behind floor standing
cabinets. All was installed around 3 years ago. I put a (literally)
back-of-an-envelope diagram hehttp://tinypic.com/r/2ekhj5j/7

With 2 long haired children taking a daily bath, and two (one long haired)
adults taking daily showers, the bathroom is well used, and occasionally the
shower (never the bath) seem to drain a little slower than usual. I then
take the plunger out and in a few seconds retrieve the ball of hair that
seem to somehow escape from the trap at the shower waste. No big deal
really - only a couple of time a year.

What I did notice though is the unpleasant residue that seem to accumulate
in the horizontal part of the pipes, and I am a little concerned that it
will eventually cause problems.

soap scum and grease etc settling out of solution in the slow moving
horizontal pipe sections..

it happens in every grey water pipe. yours will be worse as they are
horizontal


Any suggestion as to how to give it the once-over? Pouring a half bucket of
diluted Bleach down the bath and shower drains and leave it to rest for a
couple of hours perhaps?

....it might sterilise the top layer but doubt it would do much to help
the prob. of shifting the clart....

how about some "drain cleaner" (caustic) to try and dissolve the soap
and grease? be careful the shower and wastes etc don;t get attacked by
it tho....

Can you "stopper up" the other end so that you can "fill" the waste
run up with your chosen cleaner? that would maximise contact time and,
I expect, results.

Jim K

In article b0843810-83ed-40f3-a072-7829006f2cb9@
1g2000yqq.googlegroups.com, says...
how about some "drain cleaner"


Or one of these...
http://zipitclean.com/
perhaps attached to the end of a longer wossname.

--
Skipweasel - never knowingly understood.

In message , Gazz
writes


"JoeJoe" wrote in message
news:NvydnadP4KL66f_QnZ2dnUVZ8lOdnZ2d@brightview. co.uk...


What I did notice though is the unpleasant residue that seem to
accumulate in the horizontal part of the pipes, and I am a little
concerned that it will eventually cause problems.

do any of the long haired children own a pet hamster...... the type
that loved scurrying through tubes

Any use?

http://www.google.co.uk/search?clien...zilla%3Aen-GB%
3Aofficial&channel=s&hl=en&source=hp&biw=1280&bih= 835&q=sink+filter&btnG=
Google+Search#hl=en&ds=pr&xhr=t&q=sink+hair+filter &cp=10&pf=p&sclient=psy
&client=firefox-a&hs=jtY&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB%3Aofficial&channel=s&biw=1
280&bih=835&tbs=shop:1&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=sink+hair +filter&pbx=1&fp=90396d
73eec8aec1

--
Ian

In message , Skipweasel
writes
In article b0843810-83ed-40f3-a072-7829006f2cb9@
1g2000yqq.googlegroups.com, says...
how about some "drain cleaner"


Or one of these...
http://zipitclean.com/
perhaps attached to the end of a longer wossname.

Yuch! That's DISGUSTING!
--
Ian

On Feb 21, 2:19*pm, "JoeJoe" wrote:
The waste pipes from my shower and bath to the soil stack, 40mm plastic
ones, have runs of approx 2-3 metres. The Shower tray is set on a raised
platform of approx 15-20cm. From the shower/bath to the soil stack the pipes
rest on the floorboards completely horizontally, with a drop just before
they join it. The pipes are hidden underneath/behind floor standing
cabinets. All was installed around 3 years ago. I put a (literally)
back-of-an-envelope diagram hehttp://tinypic.com/r/2ekhj5j/7

With 2 long haired children taking a daily bath, and two (one long haired)
adults taking daily showers, the bathroom is well used, and occasionally the
shower (never the bath) seem to drain a little slower than usual. I then
take the plunger out and in a few seconds retrieve the ball of hair that
seem to somehow escape from the trap at the shower waste. No big deal
really - only a couple of time a year.

What I did notice though is the unpleasant residue that seem to accumulate
in the horizontal part of the pipes, and I am a little concerned that it
will eventually cause problems.

Any suggestion as to how to give it the once-over? *Pouring a half bucket of
diluted Bleach down the bath and shower drains and leave it to rest for a
couple of hours perhaps? *What is rally important is that it would not be
risky, as the access to the pipes (in case of damaging them) is all but
impossible without having to rip the cabinets off the wall first.

Many thanks in advance.

J.

Caustic will eat the grease that always accumulates. Conc sulphuric
acid will eat organics like hair. Never the 2 shall meet of course,
and they're 2 of the riskiest chemicals available for diy. Bleach wont
do much.


NT

On Feb 21, 4:28*pm, Tabby wrote:
On Feb 21, 2:19*pm, "JoeJoe" wrote:









The waste pipes from my shower and bath to the soil stack, 40mm plastic
ones, have runs of approx 2-3 metres. The Shower tray is set on a raised
platform of approx 15-20cm. From the shower/bath to the soil stack the pipes
rest on the floorboards completely horizontally, with a drop just before
they join it. The pipes are hidden underneath/behind floor standing
cabinets. All was installed around 3 years ago. I put a (literally)
back-of-an-envelope diagram hehttp://tinypic.com/r/2ekhj5j/7

With 2 long haired children taking a daily bath, and two (one long haired)
adults taking daily showers, the bathroom is well used, and occasionally the
shower (never the bath) seem to drain a little slower than usual. I then
take the plunger out and in a few seconds retrieve the ball of hair that
seem to somehow escape from the trap at the shower waste. No big deal
really - only a couple of time a year.

What I did notice though is the unpleasant residue that seem to accumulate
in the horizontal part of the pipes, and I am a little concerned that it
will eventually cause problems.

Any suggestion as to how to give it the once-over? *Pouring a half bucket of
diluted Bleach down the bath and shower drains and leave it to rest for a
couple of hours perhaps? *What is rally important is that it would not be
risky, as the access to the pipes (in case of damaging them) is all but
impossible without having to rip the cabinets off the wall first.

Many thanks in advance.

J.

Caustic will eat the grease that always accumulates. Conc sulphuric
acid will eat organics like hair. Never the 2 shall meet of course,
and they're 2 of the riskiest chemicals available for diy. Bleach wont
do much.

NT

I read an interesting article on biofilms recently;

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0107101900.htm

this would tend to suggest that the only way of effectively getting
the gunk to move is mechanical.
Rob

On Feb 21, 10:50 pm, robgraham wrote:
On Feb 21, 4:28 pm, Tabby wrote:



On Feb 21, 2:19 pm, "JoeJoe" wrote:

The waste pipes from my shower and bath to the soil stack, 40mm plastic
ones, have runs of approx 2-3 metres. The Shower tray is set on a raised
platform of approx 15-20cm. From the shower/bath to the soil stack the pipes
rest on the floorboards completely horizontally, with a drop just before
they join it. The pipes are hidden underneath/behind floor standing
cabinets. All was installed around 3 years ago. I put a (literally)
back-of-an-envelope diagram hehttp://tinypic.com/r/2ekhj5j/7

With 2 long haired children taking a daily bath, and two (one long haired)
adults taking daily showers, the bathroom is well used, and occasionally the
shower (never the bath) seem to drain a little slower than usual. I then
take the plunger out and in a few seconds retrieve the ball of hair that
seem to somehow escape from the trap at the shower waste. No big deal
really - only a couple of time a year.

What I did notice though is the unpleasant residue that seem to accumulate
in the horizontal part of the pipes, and I am a little concerned that it
will eventually cause problems.

Any suggestion as to how to give it the once-over? Pouring a half bucket of
diluted Bleach down the bath and shower drains and leave it to rest for a
couple of hours perhaps? What is rally important is that it would not be
risky, as the access to the pipes (in case of damaging them) is all but
impossible without having to rip the cabinets off the wall first.

Many thanks in advance.

J.

Caustic will eat the grease that always accumulates. Conc sulphuric
acid will eat organics like hair. Never the 2 shall meet of course,
and they're 2 of the riskiest chemicals available for diy. Bleach wont
do much.

NT

I read an interesting article on biofilms recently;

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0107101900.htm

this would tend to suggest that the only way of effectively getting
the gunk to move is mechanical.
Rob

except it says biofilms are "Centimeters across yet only hundreds of
microns thick,.... "

so suspect a fair few thousand layers could easily coexist in the OPs
pipes before *any* issues were apparent.....

Jim K

On Feb 22, 12:27*pm, Jim K wrote:
On Feb 21, 10:50 pm, robgraham wrote:



On Feb 21, 4:28 pm, Tabby wrote:

On Feb 21, 2:19 pm, "JoeJoe" wrote:

The waste pipes from my shower and bath to the soil stack, 40mm plastic
ones, have runs of approx 2-3 metres. The Shower tray is set on a raised
platform of approx 15-20cm. From the shower/bath to the soil stack the pipes
rest on the floorboards completely horizontally, with a drop just before
they join it. The pipes are hidden underneath/behind floor standing
cabinets. All was installed around 3 years ago. I put a (literally)
back-of-an-envelope diagram hehttp://tinypic.com/r/2ekhj5j/7

With 2 long haired children taking a daily bath, and two (one long haired)
adults taking daily showers, the bathroom is well used, and occasionally the
shower (never the bath) seem to drain a little slower than usual. I then
take the plunger out and in a few seconds retrieve the ball of hair that
seem to somehow escape from the trap at the shower waste. No big deal
really - only a couple of time a year.

What I did notice though is the unpleasant residue that seem to accumulate
in the horizontal part of the pipes, and I am a little concerned that it
will eventually cause problems.

Any suggestion as to how to give it the once-over? *Pouring a half bucket of
diluted Bleach down the bath and shower drains and leave it to rest for a
couple of hours perhaps? *What is rally important is that it would not be
risky, as the access to the pipes (in case of damaging them) is all but
impossible without having to rip the cabinets off the wall first.

Many thanks in advance.

J.

Caustic will eat the grease that always accumulates. Conc sulphuric
acid will eat organics like hair. Never the 2 shall meet of course,
and they're 2 of the riskiest chemicals available for diy. Bleach wont
do much.

NT

I read an interesting article on biofilms recently;

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0107101900.htm

this would tend to suggest that the only way of effectively getting
the gunk to move is mechanical.
Rob

except it says biofilms are "Centimeters across yet only hundreds of
microns thick,.... "

so suspect a fair few thousand layers could easily coexist in the OPs
pipes before *any* issues were apparent.....

Jim K

A very interesting article there. I'm not sure where the conclusion
that it woudlnt yield to concentrated sulphuric acid comes from
though. Even very weak HCl is effective IME.


NT