Are you knee-deep in a Sydney waterlogged bathroom due to a clogged shower drain? If you have an inconvenient hair clog, put down the plunger. We at Emergency Drains have found that using a barbed plastic drain snake far exceeds a plunger when you have a hair clog in your shower drain. A plunger can only push the mass of hair up and down while a drain snake can actually hook the hair clog and pull it right out.

As Sydney’s trusted local plumbers, we unclog hundreds of blocked drains from the Inner West to the Northern Beaches every month. We’ve seen it all from what works and doesn’t work to what can cause you to spend thousands on new property damage.

In this guide we test plungers vs. snakes to see which unclogs the drain and walk you through what to do yourself and when to call in the professionals.

Key Takeaways

• The Winner: The drain snake will clear hair from your drain. The plunger can push it further into the PVC pipes and cause a blockage.
• The Cause: Hair mixed with sticky bathroom products is the leading cause of blockages in the P-trap in Sydney showers.
• The Danger: Don’t use those nasty chemical drain cleaners. They can eat through your plastic pipes and ruin Sydney’s waterways.
• The Guarantee: Professional Drain cleaning services in Sydney. Emergency Drains offers 24 hours/day 7 days/week call out service with no charge for inspections and free inspection with every drain cleaning service.

The Anatomy of a Sydney Clogged Shower Drain

Why is it that our showers are so easy to block? The culprit is the curve of piping under the shower grate called a P-trap. The P-trap is required to be installed on all Australian showers by the plumbing code (AS/NZS 3500.2). This curve contains a small amount of water which seals the smell of the sewer from escaping up the pipe.

While the P-trap can be rightfully praised for its ability to prevent unpleasant odors from the sewage system, the very shape of the P-Trap makes it a perfect place for hair to accumulate. After a single shower, dead hair can get washed down the drain. On its own, it will not cause much trouble, although it will eventually clog the pipes. However, body wash, shampoo, and conditioner leave behind oils and animal-fat residues that mix with the hair, creating a clog that is exceptionally difficult to remove.

Such a mix will accumulate on the walls of the PVC pipe that runs along the narrow part of the P-trap, gradually blocking it until no water can pass through.

Early Warning Signs of a Hair Blockage

A clogged shower drain rarely backs up all of a sudden in Sydney. Experience shows that the plumbing system will almost certainly give some warning that there is a problem. Being able to identify these problems allows us to fix most issues with just a simple $5.00 fix before needing our emergency plumber technicians to come out.

Look out for:

• Water pools around your feet while taking a shower.
• The drain appears to be clogged because it usually takes more than a few minutes to clear after you turn off the water.
• There is a damp, mildewy scent coming from the grating of your shower.
• You see small bubbles trying to escape the drain as the water has to force its way past the hair mat.

Plunger vs Drain Snake: Our Testing Results

We wanted to put to rest the age old DIY debate once and for all. What common household tool best clears a clogged drain of primarily hair? We tested the classic cup plunger and the barbed drain snake.

Feature	Cup Plunger	Barbed Drain Snake (Zip Tool)
Success Rate for Hair	20%	90% (for superficial trap clogs)
How it Works	Uses suction and pressure to force water against the clog.	Uses tiny plastic barbs to hook and pull the hair out.
Best Used For	Flat surfaces, toilet paper clogs, slow-draining sinks.	Hair clogs, soap scum build-up, shower and bath wastes.
Risk of Pipe Damage	Low (unless excessive force breaks an old seal).	Low (flexible plastic bends with the pipe).
Average Cost	$10 – $15	$5 – $10

Why the Plunger Fails on Hair Clogs

Plungers are great for dislodging a mass of material (like toilet paper in a toilet bowl) from a pipe, but hair is a lot more like a porous sponge material. When you try to plunge it, the water just gets sucked through the gaps in the hair, kind of like trying to push a bunch of spaghetti through a sieve.

Worse still, the downward pressure often compact the hair further against the walls of the shower trap, resulting in an even more challenging clog to remove. In some instances, plunging can cause the mass of hair to be forced even deeper into the main drain. Thus, creating a scenario that calls for professional intervention rather than a simple DIY fix.

Why the Drain Snake Wins

A plastic drain snake, sometimes referred to as a zip tool, is a long, flexible strip of plastic with backward facing barbs. You push the snake in the drain and then twist and pull it out. The barbs then grab the hair and pull the whole clump of hair out of the drain. For a simple shower backup, in the P trap, a drain snake is the single most useful tool in your bathroom cabinet.

Step-by-Step Guide: How to Clear a Hair Clog Like a Pro

Follow these easy steps to safely and effectively unclog your drain.

Step 1: Prepare the Area

In order to prevent getting bacteria in your hands, first put on a pair of rubber gloves. Drain sludge can be both smelly and dangerous. To start the unclogging process, remove your shower grate. This may either be unscrewed from the drain with a flat head screwdriver, or there may be a screw in the middle of the grate which can be removed with a Phillips head screwdriver. Place the grate and any screws removed out of the way on the vanity, so nothing falls down the drain.

Step 2: The Drain Snake Method (Our Recommended Approach)

1. Insert the snake: Push the barbed drain snake down the drain and into the pipe. Make sure to keep the barbs against the edge of the drain hole.
2. Navigate the trap: Stop when you feel the snake’s flexibility give way (it’ll most likely be at the curve of your P-trap). Don’t force it.
3. Twist and hook: Give the snake a few circular turns to get the barbs to catch on the hair.
4. Pull straight up: Remove the tool. You’ll most likely have to deal with a nasty smelling glob of black goo and hair, so have a plastic bag at the ready.
5. Repeat: Clean the snake with a paper towel and repeat until the snake comes up clean.

Step 3: The Plunger Method (If a Snake Isn’t Available)

If you decide to use a plunger to address the issue, you should know a few tricks to deal with it properly and prevent clogs in the future.

1. First, you have to fill the shower base with enough cold water to cover the plunger’s lip. The plungers that are unable to make a good seal with the drain’s shape will simply let the air out instead.
2. Additionally, if you have a bathtub with an overflow drain instead of a shower base, you will have to block the hole located in the center of the tub with a wet cloth.
3. Push down and pull up on the plunger in an up-and-down motion, making sure to keep your arms straight.
4. After ten to fifteen plunges, you have to check whether there is a sufficient flow of water. If there is none after three rounds of attempts and failure, stop trying. Moreover, do not panic if some hair is caught inside the plunger.
5. If you try to push it further down the drain, it will only make the tangle bigger and much harder to remove. Thus, plunging should only be done in the shower base or bathtub’s overflow drain.

Step 4: Flush the System

Now that you have removed the hair, you have to get rid of the remaining soap scum. Firstly, you should run dry baking soda from one cup into the drain. Once it is inside, you need to add a cup of white vinegar. Baking soda and vinegar will fizz for about 15 minutes and clear minor grease, dirt, or grime. Finally, you need to run a kettle of boiling water into the drain to remove the melted residue.

Common DIY Mistakes to Avoid

Over decades of serving residents across homes in the Parramatta region and the Eastern Suburbs, we have witnessed a number of DIY disasters. Below are some things you should not do if you have a clogged shower drain in Sydney.

• Using Chemical Drain Cleaners: We strongly advise against the use of acidic and caustic chemical drain cleaners. Not only can they cause incredibly hot exothermic reactions that will melt, deform, or crack standard PVC pipes, but they are also hazardous to the environment, toxic to the skin, and generally dangerous to the Sydney water system.
• Using a Wire Coat Hanger: While it may look similar to a drain snake, a coat hanger’s stiff wire can bend along the P-trap with great difficulty. It can also easily scratch the inside of your pipes, or poke holes in more delicate, older pipes.
• Using a High-Pressure Hose: A high-pressure hose is not something you should try to use on your own. Thrusting a garden hose into the drain and turning on the water can often result in water and sludge being shot back out at you. Hydro jetting is a process that requires both special equipment and training.

When to Call a Sydney Plumber

Sometimes a clog is just too far or too bad for a plastic drain snake. Knowing when to quit trying to fix it yourself can save you thousands of dollars in damages.

Our plumbing professional should be called in when:

• Water is backing up into your shower base when you either flush the toilet or run the washing machine.
• You can hear gurgling noises coming from the drain.
• There are multiple drains that are clogged at the exact same time.
• The water that is backing up into your drains has a very strong sewage odor.

If you have any of the following symptoms, the clog is probably deep in the main sewer line. Older Sydney suburbs tend to have significant issues with tree roots invading the system – which is more of a problem than hair clogs. This kind of job definitely requires professional assistance. See our detailed DIY vs Professional: When to Call a Plumber for Blocked Drains guide for more information and advice on unclogging drains.

Realistic Costs for Clearing Blocked Drains in Sydney

Nobody likes surprise bills especially when they are due to an emergency, if you need to hire a professional to clear your Sydney clogged shower drain how much can you expect to pay in bills? A standard call out for a general plumber in Sydney can range from $80 to $150 just to come to your door before any work has commenced.

At Emergency Drains, we do things a little differently. There is no call out fee with any job. We have straightforward pricing, so there are no nasty surprises when you need our drains unblocked in your home in the middle of the night. We come to your place of need whether that be right here in the city near the Sydney Harbour Bridge in North Sydney or out in the suburbs of Blacktown and give you a straight answer on cost prior to commencing any works.

In addition we offer a free drain camera inspection with your blocked drain service. This enables us to see up your drains so that we can identify the problem on your CCTV monitor and show you that it has been cleared completely.

Local Considerations: Understanding Your Drainage Boundaries

Many homeowners are unclear on who is responsible for a blocked drain. The responsibility is according to Sydney Water and the local NSW Government, which means that the owner of the house must take care of all the pipes and fittings on his property.

This means that from your shower trap (the outlet for your waste) down to a point where your private sewer pipes enter the Sydney Water main sewer – it’s your responsibility. If the roots from a council tree on the nature strip break into your pipes within your property, unfortunately this is also your responsibility.

If your blockage is caused by a deep running, collapsed or root filled pipe we can often provide a long term solution using our 30 year warranty pipe relining solution which saves you the worry of excavation of an expensive bathroom floor or garden.

Professional Prevention Tips

The best way to deal with a clogged drain is to make sure that you don’t have one in the first place. Here are some tips that we use to make sure my drains stay unclogged:

1. Make sure to put up a good hair catcher. These are fairly cheap (around 10 dollars) and will save you tons of money in the long run. Put a silicone or steel hair catcher on your shower drain to catch any stray hairs that may fly by. Put it on the shower drain as pictured above, then take it out and throw the hair caught in it away after every shower.
2. Brush your hair before showering. Remove loose hair with a brush before you hop in the shower. This will help prevent clogged drains.
3. Try to do a natural flush once a month. Boil a pot of water and dump it down the drain to melt any forming soap scum before it has a chance to really set in and trap any stray hairs.
4. Avoid bar soap. Bar soap tends to have lots of animal fat and talc in them that really cling to your hair. Instead, try using liquid body wash to help reduce the amount of soap scum that builds up in your drains.

Key Takeaway

Though dealing with the clogged shower drain in Sydney may be a stressful experience, there are ways to handle the situation with the right equipment. Our tests show that in the case of hair, the barbed drain snake is a much better option than the classic plunger, as it lets you remove the actual obstruction, leaving your pipes free of foreign objects and saving you the trouble of using caustic drain cleaners.

However if your own DIY skills aren’t getting the job done, or you suspect another problem in your pipe work, then look no further than Emergency Drains. We are a local family owned and operated business, serving all of Sydney. We have a 90 minute response time (or you get $100 off the bill), a complimentary camera inspection with any drain service, and our Problem Solved or It’s FREE guarantee.

Don’t let a blocked drain run your life. If you need plumbing assistance, give us a call or book online now. We are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to help.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Will boiling water dissolve a hair clog?

No, boiling water will not dissolve hair. On the other hand, it can quickly melt the sticky soap scum and body oils that bind the hair into a tangled clump. Running boiling water down the drain can loosen the mass enough that it can be pulled out with a drain snake.

Can a plunger make a clogged drain worse?

Yes. In trying to dislodge the tangle of hair that is clogging the shower trap, the suction created by the plunger could actually push the hair mass further down into your main drain line, which would require professional assistance to clear.

Are chemical drain cleaners safe for Sydney plumbing?

No, most chemical drain cleaners of a harsh nature produce highly corrosive fumes that can permanently damage standard PVC piping by virtue of the heat they produce when mixed with water. Plus, they are dangerous to use and dispose of as well.

How do plumbers clear stubborn shower drains?

For minor blockages, our plumbers utilize professional grade hand snakes. For more serious blockages, we use a combination of a CCTV drain camera to view and diagnose the problem, then use high pressure hydro jetting to clear the line of hair, grease, and even tree roots without damaging the pipe.

Why does my shower drain smell like sewage? 

If your drain has the smell of sewage, it means that the P trap has probably dried up (due to the shower not being used for a period of time) or that there is a serious blockage in your drainage system which allows wastewater to back up into your drain. First try running water for a minute to fill up the trap. If it does not help, there is a bigger problem and you should call a professional plumber.

Do you charge a call-out fee to look at my blocked shower?

No. At Emergency Drains, we guarantee you no call out fee and our upfront pricing means there’ll be no nasty surprises either. We will come to your home or business in Sydney, investigate the problem, explain what the issue is and give you an honest price before doing any work.