Slow shower drain

[ksaltman]

Does anyone have issues with their show drain backing up and draining really slowly. Been watching this now for a while and what I am noticing is even with something like a 4 or 5 minute shower the shower pan fills with water and it can take up to a minute to drain after the show is turned off. I can hear the water trickle into the empty grey tank.

Is that normal because the bath and kitchen sink drain really quickly and it sounds more of a gush than a trickle going into the empty holding tank.

TIA for any experience with this.

[Oriana]

Ken - our shower also drains rather slowly, however not as bad as yours. I suspect it is the way the pipes are laid.

On the 36 FL the shower drain comes down the outside of the coach to under the sink, where it joins with the drains from the sink and dishwasher. This was integral to the plumbing issues we experienced last summer.

[rob_fla]

So far the shower in our 38FL has drained ok, never really had the shower pan fill up with water during a shower except for one time when the drain got clogged with a bunch of hair, cleaned out all the hair and it drains ok now.

[BradPAjax]

We have not had that issues but did in our home due to hair and other gunk. Maybe the drain has construction debris causing a backup.
Home Depot has a neat item that has a plunger boot attached to an aerosol can. On our home shower I let the pan fill up and then use the air plunger once or twice to clean things out.

Worth a try...

[ksaltman]

Thanks for the replies. I doubt it's a hair issue as both me and my DW both have very short hair plus we have a screen which replaced the stock drain cover. Still the drain test tonight was w/o the screen we use.

I am going to try to follow the pipes didn't even consider it connects in with the dish washer, that is very counter-intuitive for sure. Wonder what they were thinking connecting the shower to the gallery grey tank .

[ksaltman]

Thanks for the thought BradPAjax, but I don't think I'll try high air pressure on these pipes. Not like the copper/PVC piping in my S&B house!

[hoosierguy]

Originally Posted by ksaltman

Does anyone have issues with their show drain backing up and draining really slowly. Been watching this now for a while and what I am noticing is even with something like a 4 or 5 minute shower the shower pan fills with water and it can take up to a minute to drain after the show is turned off. I can hear the water trickle into the empty grey tank.

Is that normal because the bath and kitchen sink drain really quickly and it sounds more of a gush than a trickle going into the empty holding tank.

TIA for any experience with this.

The only time that has happened was when the grey tank filled up to the brim......knew it was time to drain the tanks.

[johnboytoo]

Hmmm,
HOPE our showers can handle a little pressure
I too vite for probably a piece of plastic debris from the factory that got turned to slow the drainage....

how about a plumbing snake? cheap and might be helpful

good luck...

[Oriana]

Ken,

Looking at the photographs from the factory tour, it looks like the 38FL plumbing is routed similar to the 36FL. If you look down behind the kitchen slide, between the portion that slides in and the kitchen/bathroom wall you should see a ABS plastic pipe and 2 white pex pipes running along the outer wall of the coach. The ABS pipe is the shower drain, the pex are the supply to the shower and toilet.

The kitchen sink, dishwasher and shower drain all join below the dishwasher and then go to the galley tank. For access the dishwasher must be removed. We have numerous access panels cut and none of them provide access, so I don't recommend trying to cut access panels.

To remove the dishwasher - open the drawer, on each slider you will find a tab at the bottom - slide those back and the drawer should pull out. The dishwasher should be secured by 4 screws located under the gasket. The entire dishwasher should then slide out and the pipes should be long enough to clear the cabinet.

The dishwasher sits on a solid floor, which needs to be pulled up, from memory I think it was less than 1/4" plywood. Once that is removed you should have ready access to the plumbing.

Good luck, hope this helps.

[spindrift]

We had this issue in our coach. Turns out that the hair trap which is visible is the "primary" trap. There is also an "X" piece inline below the primary trap. This is what clogged. I didn't notice it at first because my eye naturally fixated on the primary trap.

[ksaltman]

Just spent some time tonight w/ a ear bud scraping out a few months of soap scum below the drain trap. I know this sounds like yuck but it did help, water flow marginally better.

Need a long/longer term solution for this because we've only been in the coach for cumulative 3 months and this needs to be more sustainable IMO.

I think something is not right if it builds up so quick, but alas maybe I'm missing something.

[rob_fla]

Originally Posted by spindrift

We had this issue in our coach. Turns out that the hair trap which is visible is the "primary" trap. There is also an "X" piece inline below the primary trap. This is what clogged. I didn't notice it at first because my eye naturally fixated on the primary trap.

The "X" piece is where ours gets clogged with hair too.

[TnB]

Would Drano work on the "X" piece? Seems easier than pulling the dishwasher.

[rob_fla]

Originally Posted by Oriana

Ken,

Looking at the photographs from the factory tour, it looks like the 38FL plumbing is routed similar to the 36FL. If you look down behind the kitchen slide, between the portion that slides in and the kitchen/bathroom wall you should see a ABS plastic pipe and 2 white pex pipes running along the outer wall of the coach. The ABS pipe is the shower drain, the pex are the supply to the shower and toilet.

This is picture of behind the kitchen slide where the plumbing goes on our 38FL.




This picture is under the sink where the plumbing goes under the cabinet



I guess there is a hose connection under the cabinet between the two PVC Pipes, it does not look like there is any access to the connection.

[Oriana]

Rob - affirmative, the 38FL plumbing in your photograph is similar to our 36FL. The ABS pipe from the sink joins with grey discharge hose from the dishwasher and all three are connected below the dishwasher.

Access is attainable as per my previous post and requires removing the dishwasher.

[Oriana]

Here is a cropped view of the shower plumbing of a 38FL on the factory floor during the Rally.

[ksaltman]

Thanks for the pics, reduces the amount of digging I have to do. I just hope the putting back together isn't harder than the taking apart!

This is going to be a challenge for sure. Somewhat off subject, had little joy dropping off my RW @ the local Crossroads dealer to handle a warrantee repair on the bedroom slide awning. Will let you know how well the "diagnosis" goes but none the less anything more to ask of them - i.e. lets take a look @ the shower issue, was well beyond their ability at this time given my 3 week time frame - UGG.

So they will "diagnosis" the slide awning issue, submit a claim to Crossroads/Redwood and once, ok if, they get the replacement part we'll figure out how to get it installed.

That all said, and back on point, I do think something is kinked in the shower drain and I'll tell you why. How can the soap be building up in the shower drain so quickly, even given small-ish 1/2" diameter tubing. In case you haven't met me and my wife she has little hair and me less, so I don't think it's that.

Given the drain water flow seemed to improve with some targeted cleaning using a cotton swab, I can only conclude that the soap scum is building up because of poor water flow, and there again a kink in the drain line. Even with small tubing, water should flow enough to move the soap scum unless it is being blocked and therefor letting it sit and build up.

So, what have I missed? I don't have a problem removing the dishwasher, but the flooring below seems a little more structural.

I've located some seemingly gentle liquid clog remover that may break up the soap scum and not hurt the seals in the lines and tanks so I might give that a try. Seems though that's just a work around, not really addressing the underlying problem of how to get good water flow.

So many words for a seemingly simply issue of soap scum. Maybe I'm over thinking this but since all the other water appliances work well, and I'm not fond of ankle high water in the shower, why shouldn't the shower drain work as well?

[rob_fla]

I just love it when they build these units with no access to plumbing connections and joints.

[johnboytoo]

How about being connected to sewer,
'prime' everything by running really hot water thru the drain,
then use a plunger to pressurize the drain hoping to force anything out...

on our S&B, had a stoppage, and the plumber brought his new toy, a camera and we watched it as it traveled along...

come to find out during the build one of the idjuts cut a hole in the plastic plate over the drain and let it drop into the pipe and periodically it would turn just right to cause a blockage...

his camera gave off a signal so he could locate it exactly through the slab...
the fix was harder than the discovery... builder had to pay for a slab breakup and kitchen tile replacement, etc... it was a three day ordeal !

Which was easy compared to if it had stopped under a kitchen island or wall !

[hoosierguy]

Originally Posted by ksaltman

Thanks for the pics, reduces the amount of digging I have to do. I just hope the putting back together isn't harder than the taking apart!

This is going to be a challenge for sure. Somewhat off subject, had little joy dropping off my RW @ the local Crossroads dealer to handle a warrantee repair on the bedroom slide awning. Will let you know how well the "diagnosis" goes but none the less anything more to ask of them - i.e. lets take a look @ the shower issue, was well beyond their ability at this time given my 3 week time frame - UGG.

So they will "diagnosis" the slide awning issue, submit a claim to Crossroads/Redwood and once, ok if, they get the replacement part we'll figure out how to get it installed.

That all said, and back on point, I do think something is kinked in the shower drain and I'll tell you why. How can the soap be building up in the shower drain so quickly, even given small-ish 1/2" diameter tubing. In case you haven't met me and my wife she has little hair and me less, so I don't think it's that.

Given the drain water flow seemed to improve with some targeted cleaning using a cotton swab, I can only conclude that the soap scum is building up because of poor water flow, and there again a kink in the drain line. Even with small tubing, water should flow enough to move the soap scum unless it is being blocked and therefor letting it sit and build up.

So, what have I missed? I don't have a problem removing the dishwasher, but the flooring below seems a little more structural.

I've located some seemingly gentle liquid clog remover that may break up the soap scum and not hurt the seals in the lines and tanks so I might give that a try. Seems though that's just a work around, not really addressing the underlying problem of how to get good water flow.

So many words for a seemingly simply issue of soap scum. Maybe I'm over thinking this but since all the other water appliances work well, and I'm not fond of ankle high water in the shower, why shouldn't the shower drain work as well?

I don't think your shower drain is 1/2 inch tubing......all the drains are 1 1/2 inch ABS all the way to the holding tanks.