Hi all,

I've noticed my shower drain has been running slow lately and has been giving off an odor. I've used a couple of different methods (running quite a bit of water in between the different methods) to try and improve it, including letting a gallon of bleach sit in the drain for a night and then flushing with boiling water, a liquid plumber foaming drain opener, and, several days later, I used a sulfuric acid drain cleaner.

This seemed to improve the flow somewhat, but the odor still remained. Next, I decided to remove the drain strainer and take a look, and I noticed what appears to be a very substantial mineral buildup in the area beneath the strainer. At first, it almost looked like a large amount of white plaster coating the drain, but I'm guessing that's some form of solid calcium buildup.

At this point, I'm looking for the best way to clear out the buildup without stopping up the drain in the process or causing damage. I was thinking about taking a long screwdriver and chipping off the calcium, but then I'd need some way of dissolving the calcium effectively so it can be passed through the drain. Also, I'd imagine it's possible there's a similiar buildup further down in the drain line as well, but I'm not sure how I should handle that. Thanks in advance.

P.S. What are some good ways to prevent this sort of buildup in the future? Thanks.

You might could try a product called CLR, you can find it in the cleaning section.
This is what it looks like.

I have the SAME problem and I have chipped away at it with a screwdriver but I can't tell how deep it goes and I worried also where the chips were going as I couldn't catch them. CLR just runs right over it without any sort of effect that I can tell. Since it's a drain, I can't soak it or anything. ANY ideas would be welcomed!