345 shower drain

[345bill]

Anyone familiar with shower drain layout between shower pan and gray tank?

Mine quit draining last night. Plunger does not help at all. Inserted hard wire with hook on the end and it goes in about 12" then something solid stops it.

Before I go any farther I'm hoping someone has been there and will share any tips.

Thanks

[Isuzusweet]

If it's anything like my 310 the pipe goes through the floor and underneath the coach to the gray tank. It is ABS plastic so Drain-O won't hurt it but maybe bad for the actual gray tank (others can chime in here). I can't see it being bad for it but you never know.

If you can, get some very hot water (close to boiling) and get someone to pour it down the shower drain as quickly as possible while you're under the coach feeling the pipes. Start at the tank and work your way back. You are looking for a spot where the pipe is warm/hot all the way around as opposed to just being warm on the bottom; that will be where the clog is. The boiling hot water maybe enough expansion shock to unclog the pipe. If not then a good plumbers snake will do the trick.

Cheers
Tony

[345bill]

[QUOTE=Isuzusweet;1899391]If it's anything like my 310 the pipe goes through the floor and underneath the coach to the gray tank.

I don't know either if the 310's are similar. I did forget to mention that my 345 has twins with side by side shower/toilet.

Close to boiling water sounds like I will try it but crawling around right now outside is going to be my last resort as everything is frozen and a lot of snow where we're at right now.

Has anyone tried any type of drain-o in our set ups?

Thanks Tony for reply.

[bkahler]

Bill, are you in a cold weather environment right now? That info might help us troubleshoot your problem.

Brad

[mehes]

On my 86 345 the shower drains through a trap covered by a plastic box at the top rear of the wheel well. It then travels toward the center of the coach where the grey tank is located. This short run goes over the frame of the chassis. Total length of the whole run is less than two feet. I would suspect your blockage in in the trap area.


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[mehes]

I forgot to mention, the area around the shower drain and trap was where mice were getting into my rig. Took quite a while to find it but you may want to check when warmer weather is in play this spring.


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[tevake]

You may be able to snake a hose down the drain, and give it a blast.
That should clear a blockage. Can you open the drain valve? If so, I would to avoid fighting a closed system.

I can't look under right now due to winter skirting, but there may be a trap under the shower to stop gas coming back inside from the tank.
Could your blockage be frozen water in a trap?

Just kicking around ideas here. A hose, a snake, yep. I'd be cautious about strong chemicals in plastic. The tank, pipes, and valves quite a mix of materials to expose.

I get occasional blockages, Below the head, a case of the dreaded brown mound.
Have to flush more water, and rinse more when draining. An issue when living aboard and not traveling regularly. Sorry, tmi.

Good luck in getting yours cleared out, let us know how it works out.

Cheers Richard

[345bill]

Originally Posted by bkahler

Bill, are you in a cold weather environment right now? That info might help us troubleshoot your problem.

Brad

Yep, very cold with a lot of snow & ice. I kinda ruled out ice as the culprit because when it quit draining my wife was just about finished with her shower and it was fine until then. Your thoughts?

We manually drained the shower pan to look down the drain only to find out you can't see anything anyway. All that is visible is what's straight down about 4" and can't see which way it branches off after that. I thought I was able to fish some wire down there last night but that didn't go anywhere near what I first thought.

Can you remember when you dismantled that 345 how that one was
plumbed from the shower pan drain to the gray tank?

At this point I'm guessing hair is the block but I'm not sure about pouring anything down there. Have you ever tried this?

Also I should mention mine has twins with side by side shower & toilet.

Thanks Brad.

[bkahler]

Bill, here's a few pictures from the 345 I dismantled. In the first picture the drain is at the bottom of the picture. The one above and to the left should be for the vent stack out the roof. If you look close you'll see in the second picture where the drain goes down and immediately does a 270 degree turn that leads to a Y pipe. You would need a pretty flexible snake to get through the 270.



Hope this helps!

Brad

[Isuzusweet]

WOW! AS didn't make that drain user friendly did they? No access to the trap? What were they thinking; people with long hair shouldn't wash their hair in the shower?

Bill, you might have to give your wife a hair cut.

If you are leery about caustic commercial cleaners, try this link.

http://www.themanlyhousekeeper.com/2...ous-chemicals/

So baking soda, white vinegar; then boiling water and a plunger or zip-it.

Cheers
Tony

[bkahler]

Tony, having access to the trap wouldn't help any. All of the fittings are glued so even if you could get to the trap you wouldn't be able to take it apart

As mentioned previously by mehes there is a plastic cover over all of the piping that could be removed but a lot of good it'll do ya.


Brad

[bkahler]

Bill,

I meant to post this yesterday. I had a shower drain that was plugging up so I ordered some of these 20" drain snakes from Amazon.

They work surprisingly well and are cheap. They are extremely flexible yet have the strength to pass through multiple 90s. Might be worth a try.

Brad

[345bill]

Originally Posted by bkahler

Bill,

I meant to post this yesterday. I had a shower drain that was plugging up so I ordered some of these 20" drain snakes from Amazon.

They work surprisingly well and are cheap. They are extremely flexible yet have the strength to pass through multiple 90s. Might be worth a try.

Brad

Brad-

Your second picture is worth a thousand words because it shows me the drain goes straight down from the pan and this is where all we can fit is about 1/2 cup of near boiling water and it's full up which will prevent any type snake useless until we can get this open.
I'm still debating on some type drain cleaner and wondering if I pretty much fill the Gray tank with water whatever caustic I use will be diluted enough when it reaches the Gray tank so no harm will occur as long as I'm able to drain and re-fill at least once to get everything out.

Please stay tuned.

[345bill]

Using the link that Tony sent we found this kit called 'Plumb-Away' and highly recommend it to anyone with a RV or stick house with clogged or slow drain.
It's advertised as the ONE SECOND drain opener and in our case it was.
NO ACID
NO LYE
NO CFCs
The kit has an aerosol can w some adapters and using water when the gases and water mix it creates a controlled wave of pressure to force out blockage.

I filled and drained the gray tank twice to hopefully wash whatever it was out and after couple days of Navy showers it's time for a shower.

Many Thanks to everyone that sent their reply's

[Isuzusweet]

Excellent!! Very glad the link helped and reading the ad you should still have 7 charges left to deal with any other plugs with no chemicals although maybe doing the baking soda/white vinegar mix couldn't hurt to clean out the pipes.

I will have to get myself a kit and keep it just in case; guess it beats dropping a flash-bang down the pipe.

Cheers
Tony

[Vycan]

Nothing beats the fun of dropping a flash bang down a pipe... that isn't yours... that you are not responsible for... that won't get you in trouble...