Any suggestions for cleaning a shower drain of crusty deposits?

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I’m not having too many issues with clogs. When there have been problems, it’s usually been hair that a 25 ft drain snake pulled out rather easily. I’ve used drain bacterial/enzyme treatments and the trap seems like it’s relatively clean now. However, just above the trap’s water line, I can see through the drain cover. It gets wet but doesn’t exactly flow. I certain can’t soak it in an enzyme treatment. I’ve removed the cover (just a couple of screws) and tried scraping it with a screwdriver or plastic knife. Some of it comes off, and it seems to be a combination of mineral deposits, sludge, and hair that doesn’t have a particularly offensive odor.. I’ve previously tried spraying a drain enzyme cleaner mixture in there, although I’m not sure how well it sticks.

The drain flows fine but it looks gross. I’ve got CLR and baking soda but no vinegar.
 
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Enzymes won't help with mineral build-up. If it were a sink drain and you were really hung up on getting it clean, you could take it apart and manually clean it or soak it in CLR, vinegar, or an acid to get rid of the minerals. For a shower, best case is look for an acid that you can spray, though the results will be pretty minimal, or just live with it.
 
Enzymes won't help with mineral build-up. If it were a sink drain and you were really hung up on getting it clean, you could take it apart and manually clean it or soak it in CLR, vinegar, or an acid to get rid of the minerals. For a shower, best case is look for an acid that you can spray, though the results will be pretty minimal, or just live with it.
Yeah. I was thinking some sort of acidic gel cleaner like a toilet bowl cleaner. The CLR may be too thin.

I thought maybe bacteria/enzymes would help if they would dissolve some of the sludge binding with the minerals. I wish there was a way to temporarily block the drain so I could soak the area above the water line with CLR or an enzyme treatment.
 
I think you could stuff a sponge of correct size and texture to plug up the drain enough to allow acid to sit on top and do its work. Closed cell foam (weather stripping) would probably work well. Pet stores might have soft foam balls (toys) of the correct size. Have some extra long needle nose pliers to grab it and remove when finished.

 
I was thinking some sort of acidic gel cleaner like a toilet bowl cleaner.
I was thinking the same thing but couldn't think of anything thick enough. That gel stuff for toilets is a good idea though !
I thought maybe bacteria/enzymes would help if they would dissolve some of the sludge binding with the minerals
If the build-up is like that, yes, enzymes could help but is there that much sludge on the vertical walls ? If there is, I suspect you have multiple layers of gunk. Is the pipe metal or plastic ? If metal, I can see the mineral build-up on there, then sludge building up on the mineral since it has something to "grab".

What about using a small foam dispenser with an acid cleaner ? That can fill the pipe if you get the foam thick enough without breaking the trap seal. Look here: https://foamit.com/drain-sanitation-systems/ Scroll down to the video.
 
I think you could stuff a sponge of correct size and texture to plug up the drain enough to allow acid to sit on top and do its work. Closed cell foam (weather stripping) would probably work well. Pet stores might have soft foam balls (toys) of the correct size. Have some extra long needle nose pliers to grab it and remove when finished.

I might be able to stuff a sponge in there just to soak with CLR and allow contact with the deposits. Just pouring it in would result in it the solution just running into the trap.
 
I was thinking the same thing but couldn't think of anything thick enough. That gel stuff for toilets is a good idea though !

If the build-up is like that, yes, enzymes could help but is there that much sludge on the vertical walls ? If there is, I suspect you have multiple layers of gunk. Is the pipe metal or plastic ? If metal, I can see the mineral build-up on there, then sludge building up on the mineral since it has something to "grab".

What about using a small foam dispenser with an acid cleaner ? That can fill the pipe if you get the foam thick enough without breaking the trap seal. Look here: https://foamit.com/drain-sanitation-systems/ Scroll down to the video.
It’s old metal. It’s in good working order but I can’t just disassemble it. A sponge soaked in CLR might just work. The sludge is weird. Kind of crusty but pea soup green with hair sticking to it.
 
I clean my shower with toilet-bowl cleaner. Zero scrubbing needed, just coat the surfaces, and let sit for 3-5 minutes, and wipe off then rinse completely. Be careful not to let set on chromed surfaces.
 
I had another look at it. It's plated brass with a cast iron sleeve. So it was more than just mineral deposits. I'm pretty sure it's combined with a layer of bumpy rust. I was able to remove the little bit left of the mineral deposits and sludge with a screwdriver, except for this notched area where it's a little hard to reach. So there's really not much left, and in the future I could probably clean it with a small stiff brush. I'm rather resigned that it's never going to look like a modern plastic drain. Maybe we'll get rid of it later when remodeling the bathroom.

It's only about 4 inches from the top of the drain to the water level in the trap. All the sludge was above the water level. Originally I thought that I'd scraped off about as much as I could.
 
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I've done about as much as I can without taking it apart.

I tried cleaning it with an old toothbrush and CLR. Even though CLR isn't thick, it does foam up where it sticks for a while. Whatever sludge and mineral was there is now gone except maybe in a recessed flange area that I can't reach. I did this several times by rinsing it out. Initially the foam was looking rusty, but now it's pretty clean. The cast iron still looks worn - kind of like an old boat anchor. It looks solid and intact, but still seems rather uneven and covered with a bit of rust that won't go away. However, I got rid of the sludge/minerals, which had a lot of hair sticking to it. I finished this with some scouring powder, although I made sure that the CLR was thoroughly rinsed first. And now that I looked at it, the manufacturer doesn't recommend using it on cast iron or on copper, although I'm not sure it really matters for a drain pipe. I think it would discolor copper. Some CLR instructions say its safe on copper pipes.

So reassessing what it looks like, it's a brass ring at the top with screw heads and a grate. It's fused to a 3 inch long cast iron sleeve that also has this weird expansion at the flange. Then it's welded to copper drain pipe where about 3 inches is exposed above the trap water level. The copper looks to be in really good condition save a little bit of discoloration and some deposits that I can't scrape off.
 
Lye is gonna eat brass and copper.I would replace trap with a 1 1/2" pvc and hang it on rubber no hubs with clamps. That said, my master b'room bath shower has an access door in the pantry ceiling. I use an unwrapped wire hanger to grab the hair and soap out of the other shower. Most of my hair clogged the drain until I got better at drain cleaning, and balder. Now it is my son's hair. 😃
 
I put a bunch of baking soda down the drain, then run a pot of vinegar thru the coffee maker... then pour the hot vinegar down the drain. The foaming action gets a bunch of junk out of the drain. Then flush with hot water. As a bonus the coffee maker is clean too.
 
Lye is gonna eat brass and copper.I would replace trap with a 1 1/2" pvc and hang it on rubber no hubs with clamps. That said, my master b'room bath shower has an access door in the pantry ceiling. I use an unwrapped wire hanger to grab the hair and soap out of the other shower. Most of my hair clogged the drain until I got better at drain cleaning, and balder. Now it is my son's hair. 😃

Dead nuts correct. Somehow I read plastic pipe into the OP. Yes even strong enough ammonia will attack copper. I just saw soap and scum.....which alkalies do a great job.

My apologies!!!

I have indeed cleared drains with vinegar and baking soda.
 
I tried doing something similar with our polypropylene kitchen sink pipe. I was looking inside through the drainhole and saw that it was rather nasty looking - all covered with a layer of uneven brown sludge. I just disassembled a couple of pieces (one had a bypass to the dishwasher drain) and cleaned them out with scouring powder and an old toothbrush. The sludge itself was tannish brown and had a faint odor. There was also a bit of harder brown gunk, but that came off with scouring powder. I may be better off just replacing this in the future but right now I'm happy that it's clean.

I removed and cleaned the P-trap earlier. It was of course submerged and I'd used a variety of bacterial/enzyme treatments recently where the layer of sludge was thin but not gone.

I kind of wonder how well these drain treatments really work. I've been having a problem with the downstream drain and I've dumped quite a bit of these drain treatments (Zep Drain Defense liquid/powder and Green Gobbler BIO-FLOW strips) down this drain. I would have thought that even with it just pouring down, it should have worked a bit on the drain near the drain hole. Further down I don't really care about how nasty it looks, but I'd hope that it would at least clear up big chunks of sludge on a vertical drain pipe.
 
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