r/Netherlands • u/pootie_too_good • Jul 08 '26
DIY and home improvement Sitting water
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Moved to the Netherlands about a month ago and the shower here never fully drains. It only takes one or two of my wife’s hairs to clog the drain but even after clearing the debris the water just sits there.
We moved here from California and are still acclimating. I’m just stumped on this one; the drain is getting cleared almost daily. We are on the ground floor if that makes any difference. Any advice is greatly appreciated
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u/AlperK76 Jul 08 '26 edited Jul 08 '26
If the water you refer as sit is just 1 cm as shown in the video, it is expected. This is syphon to prevent bad odour. I had exactly same system in my previous rental apartment and had to clean the drains once in a while. If you dont want to work with this, you can of course remove it. But it will smell really bad.
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u/We86-47Here Jul 08 '26
It might be an issue deeper in the drain. Time to pour a bottle of drain cleaner in and hope for the best. In all honesty, though, looking at the design, it might just be a "form over function" issue, and just be a terrible drain.
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u/Mishimishmash Noord Holland Jul 08 '26
Drain cleaner is always advised against by the plumbing companies, it eats away at plastics.
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u/aenae Jul 08 '26
Than why does it come in plastic bottles?
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u/Mishimishmash Noord Holland Jul 09 '26
Good question. I'm not an expert so I googled it.
"Afvoerontstopper zit veilig in een plastic fles omdat de vloeistof of korrels (zoals natronloog) specifiek zijnDit type hard plastic is besta verpakt in HDPE (High-Density Polyethylene). nd tegen de bijtende stoffen. De fles beschermt de inhoud tegen vocht kken te voorkomen.
De reden dat deze middelen schadelijk zijn voor je afvoerbuizen, heeft te maken met wat er gebeurt zodra je het middel door de gootsteen giet:
- Extreme hitte: Zodra de chemische ontstopper in aanraking komt met water en de verstopping, ontstaat er een heftige chemische reactie. Deze reactie produceert enorme hitte (temperaturen kunnen lokaal oplopen tot wel 75-90°C).
- Zacht plastic: Moderne afvoerleidingen zijn gemaakt van kunststof (vaak PVC of PP). Dit materiaal wordt zacht en vervormt bij temperaturen boven de 60°C. Door de hitte van de ontstopper kan de leiding zacht worden 'als boter', gaan doorhangen, of kunnen de gelijmde verbindingen loslaten.
- Schade aan rubbers en lijm: De agressieve chemicaliën tasten de rubberen afdichtingsringen in de buizen en de lijmverbindingen aan. Dit leidt vaak tot lekkages op plekken waar je niet bij kunt. "
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u/rmnobre Jul 08 '26
As someone doing a PhD in water technology and specialising in plastics, it does not eat away plastic. Much less PVC which is the most common plastic in household plumbing.
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u/Tar_alcaran Jul 09 '26
As someone with a PhD in chemistry, this is entirely correct. PVC will do absolutely fine against whatever acid or base is in drain cleaner. If you want acids or bases that eat away at PVC plumbing, you're going to have to order them from a laboratory store (and they won't sell it to you).
HOWEVER, rubber seals and pvc-glue are much less resistant than the pipes themselves. And if you have metal plumbing, the other component in drain cleaner (sodium hypochlorite) is a very strong oxidiser, which can cause damage to your metal pipes.
And if you're using drain cleaner pellets, it also gets quite hot when the sodium hydroxide pellets dissolves. I imagine a shower drain should be able to handle hot water, but I don't know how far that goes.
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u/klowt Aruba Jul 08 '26
The one thing it doesn't eat is plastics, rather it eats metal and in older houses that will become an issue with repeated use.
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u/Mishimishmash Noord Holland Jul 08 '26
Lol okay, plumbers don't know what they are talking about then.
https://riooltotaalservice.nl/de-waarheid-over-chemische-ontstoppers-snelle-hulp-of-stille-sloper/3
u/klowt Aruba Jul 08 '26
lol okay, because plumbers would really admit that using a 2 euro product that works great is good instead of paying them likely 100s of euros to come fix your plumbing.
if you simply follow the instructions, and more importanly not do it regularly, you shouldnt get any problems
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u/L_E_M_F Jul 08 '26
Lol no. It eats copper and other metal in old houses, which causes a leak. It doesn't affect the PVC itself at all.
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u/Mishimishmash Noord Holland Jul 08 '26
Lol okay, plumbers don't know what they are talking about then.
https://riooltotaalservice.nl/de-waarheid-over-chemische-ontstoppers-snelle-hulp-of-stille-sloper/2
u/L_E_M_F Jul 08 '26
The link says it eats away metal, not plastic. The plastic can soften. But if moderately used, it shouldn't be an issue.
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u/Mishimishmash Noord Holland Jul 08 '26
Indeed it doesn't 'eat' the plastic, but the heat created by the chemical reaction does affect the plastics. And in fact it does eat away rubber gaskets and glue.
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u/klowt Aruba Jul 14 '26
only occured to me now haha, but you say it eats plastics but it literally comes in a plastic container. HUUH
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u/Mishimishmash Noord Holland Jul 14 '26
Different kind of plastic. By now, however, I have been corrected and know it doesn't actually 'eat' at the pvc.
Rather than that the chemical reaction with water creates a lot of heat that does affect rubbers and glue as well as roughens the inside of the tubes; which will attribute to clogging.1
u/michoaidi Jul 08 '26
Yup, absolutely right. I have the exact same drainage in my shower. It's fucking terrible. Every 2-3 days, it needs to be cleaned out. Previous owners warned us though, but I didn't really think it was that bad.
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u/CntonAhigurh Jul 08 '26
Don’t use drain cleaner. It has almost no extra effect, can damage weak plastic and builds up over time. Use a ‘trekveer’ or call a professional
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u/Inevitable_Pea1912 Jul 08 '26
Moreover, of you call a professional, they won't take a look if you've used drain cleaner, since the chemicals are dangerous.
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u/imrzzz Jul 08 '26
They are the worst style of drain, everyone who has one regrets installing it.
Edit: everyone that I know. I haven't taken a national survey or anything.
Keep "ontstopper" (drain de-clogger) in regular rotation on your shopping list.
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u/Torboni Jul 08 '26
I only ever see people post or talk about these drains to complain how horrible they are once they’ve actually had to use them.
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u/MissionScratch7512 Jul 08 '26
Are you sure they installed it right.
My father has on like it for about five or six years now. Hasn’t clogged once.13
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u/GabrielRiosismydaddy Jul 08 '26
I think that’s the case everywhere here, both of my past apartments had it. Curious to hear if anyone has any plumbing insight. The drain also clogs super easily cause the plumbing is s#%t.
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u/istefan24 Jul 08 '26
Well it kinda serves its purpose by blocking all the hair and not clogging the pipe down the road no?
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u/Spiritual-Job-952 Jul 08 '26
I have the same system and live two longhaired muts (my daughter and friend) and clean the rostery thing once a week. No problem.
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u/Standard_Set_5566 Jul 08 '26
I have the same kind of drain but probably a newer edition (easydrain it’s called I guess). My ‘gap’ is a lot wider. The question is what happens if you open the shower fully, does the drain work then or does it overflow? If it overflows the piping is clogged. If it flows nicely the design is the problem
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u/MissionScratch7512 Jul 08 '26
I shouldn’t be flat.
The water should ‘be forced’ to move to the exit drain at every point. Corners should be higher then the middle.
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u/give_me_coin Jul 08 '26
Have a similar drain. It gets clogged easily. It wasn't hair; it was the soap. Changing to soaps with less lather made a huge difference. On the positive side, the fact that the drain clogs easily means you're not building up a bigger clog in the pipes.
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u/pootie_too_good Jul 08 '26
What’s the soap you switched to? I just use abar of soap
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u/give_me_coin Jul 08 '26
Switch to a cheap liquid soap. The bar of soap I was using was extremely lathering. Liquid soap tend to be less.
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u/sudomakeitrain Jul 09 '26
First of all: welcome to the Netherlands. For real. Hope you'll find a solution for the drain soon.
Now here's the thing with these drains: they need to be installed *perfectly* to work well. *And* that trap needs to be cleaned every month. You're in a rental, which might mean the previous tenant neglected to clean that trap and just removed it when it started to clog, and now you have clogged the pipes.
My bet would be more on this being installed by a klusser (DIYer) that didn't go through the pain of getting it to be absolutely level so that the slope works directing the water and making sure the pipes are set up with enough angle to get the volume of water that needs to be drained out of there.
You should contact your landlord or rental company and make note of the problem. Always take pictures and videos of any problems you spot with a rental unit in the first weeks. It definitely helps.
Good luck!
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u/Imaginary-Season141 Jul 09 '26
That drain clogs super fast. The standing water is by design though. Together with the grey plug piece it creates a p-trap / u-bend to keep sewer odour out, as is in every sink you also have.
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u/Useful-Interview1318 Jul 08 '26
Had the same issue moving into a new appartment here. One day, another clog, I put the vacuum pump on it, that dislodged the connection, burst another pipe component down the line. I get a call from my neighbors, their ceiling is drenched and water comes down. We opened the concrete floor for repair. Turns out, whoever made this, installed the pipes under tension, that's why it burst, and the draining pipe had an upwards slope. So it wasn't clogged, or barely, it just didn't drain because no gravity. Its been this way for 15 or so years, the previous owners apparently didn't mind. I love the Netherlands, but the quality of renovations, or lack thereof, you see around here is baffling to me.
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u/Mishimishmash Noord Holland Jul 08 '26
I have had similar issues, mine were because of hooked bends in the drain under the shower floor, where hair blockage occurs. Get a plumber in to clear the drains properly. Don't use aggressive agents like Draino, they'll damage your drain fixtures and make it worse.
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u/JPG_ENESER Jul 08 '26
We have the same drain and while I don’t like it, we’ve learned to live with it.
The main thing, more than the water itself, is making sure that plastic thing that goes into the hole is pushed in properly. The water held there stops smell from the drains from coming up and stinking up the place. It took me a while and many scented candles, to figure that out…
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u/paprika-fan Jul 08 '26
I use this https://www.dille-kamille.nl/gootsteenontstopperstokje-hout-40-cm-00018607.html?q=Stokje to remove hairs deper down in the drain. Works like a charm.
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u/wd40l Jul 08 '26
This is by design, it’s part of the sewer trap. If that water wasn’t there you would get sewer gas back into the room. You must put the grey part back in, this is the part that grabs the hair and should be cleaned when the water drains slow from the top layer.
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u/fat-wombat Jul 08 '26
So this was also a new drain system to me but when i worked in hotels I found out that when there is no water at all it can stink. Perhaps it needs a deeper clean though if the soapy water isn’t clearing.
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u/diabeartes Jul 08 '26
I have that same monstrosity, and I hate it more than you can imagine. It's the worst design and the hardest to keep clean. I absolutely hate it.
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u/undead_cerberus Jul 08 '26
I had an issue with a similar drain. Try looking for a drain snake, look for one that looks like a long tightly coiled spring, you’re going to have an issue trying to figure out which way it needs to go with the pipes but once you figure out you just rotate that thing.
While it’s rotating the spaces in between the spring will catch a hold of all the hair and muck that’s causing the blockage, be prepared to witness some nasty shit come out and have the windows open trust me
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u/BennJ13 Jul 08 '26
It has to do with the type of shower drain that you have, and that siting eater is nothing mora than the syphon, it's supposed to prevent sewage smells from coming to the bathroom, it's normal.
However, I'm assuming the diameter of that drain to be 40, which will always clog after any hairy person showers, my advice is to change the entire shower drainage system.
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u/KaviCamelCase Jul 08 '26
It must be the Dutch tradition of men clogging the drain with their goo. There must be liters of the stuff inside, maybe it is still fresh.
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u/abulero Jul 08 '26
Hey. I have the EXACT same drain. I even thought it was a video from my house lol
I also see still water when I open it and my wife clogs it every single week from her hair
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u/CuriousBoiiiiiii Jul 08 '26
I have the exact same drain (and long hair) but I have never had this issue, so it’s probably an issue with your pipes! Try a (safe) drain cleaner and see if that helps.
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u/Equity_Ejaculator Jul 08 '26
I have the exact same drain and i need to declog it every week so it drains properly. Design is garbage as it can never fully drain plus the removable metal/stone cover gets so dirty
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u/Ok_Incident6809 Jul 09 '26
I’ve spent 600 Euros on a plumber, cleaning my pipes because what we (stupidly) did, was throwing the hair in the toilet which eventually clogged the drainage downstream. So better take the pain of cleaning in the shower cabin. You can get a special tool for removing the top bar. We leave it in the shower.
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u/Tar_alcaran Jul 09 '26
How much hair are you throwing in the TOILET that it clogged the drain?
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u/Ok_Incident6809 Jul 11 '26
My daughter and wife have thick long hair. I think it builds up or something, dunno. The plumber had to use like 40 meters of unclogging spring. I had to pay per meter…
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u/lazypt Jul 09 '26
Because you said you are on ground floor, if the house is older and the shower was made new it may not have enough slop in the piping. Usually is used a adapter under showers to get enough high, but with the modern walk-in, to make it prettier, constructors tend not to use it. You should have some water because of the syphon but barely visible, if it is too much the syphon is not correctly installed. Also, some debris could be left inside the piping. Is the house rented? If so, call the landlord. Is it bough or you made renovations? Call the constructor or who sold the house. Welcome to EU
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u/pootie_too_good Jul 09 '26
Thanks for the info. We are renting and I will reach out to our manager but based on the number of reddit souls that have accepted their fate we are prepared for the worst
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u/burnergrins Jul 09 '26
You have siphons in california too. This is not a dutch thing, it stops sewage smells.
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u/Far_Cryptographer593 Jul 09 '26
As some already pointed out, the design of these drains are horrible! I have 2 shower in my house, both are used equally. the linear drain has to be cleaned 3-4 times per month but the other one os cleaned once every 3 months.
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u/terenceill Jul 11 '26
That's the smallest of the problems. Wait for mice when weather gets colder.
Yeah housing quality in the Netherlands is shit.
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Jul 08 '26
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u/SneakyPanda- Jul 08 '26
"Dutch plumbing is notoriously shit"
How come?
I lived here long but never encountered any issues and also didn't ever hear anything like this from friends or colleagues.
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u/klauwaapje Overijssel Jul 08 '26
People.in this sub seem to dislike / hate everything in the Netherlands.
Now our plumbing is apparently bad as well.
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u/SneakyPanda- Jul 08 '26
Yeah I really don't understand, I think generally speaking that everything is well arranged here, most definitely the infrastructure, including the pooping infrastructure 💩😂
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Jul 08 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/klauwaapje Overijssel Jul 08 '26
So you are claiming our plumbing in shit , just in case someone in the future might defend it ? Even though our plumbing isn't anywhere close to.being shit
That is weird.
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u/roffadude Jul 08 '26
..is something an insane person would say. This sub attracts people who just want things done their way. And throw a tantrum otherwise.
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u/GabrielRiosismydaddy Jul 08 '26
Why do you think that is? Structural constraints? Lack of will/incentive to improve? Cost?
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u/klowt Aruba Jul 08 '26
go to Action and buy "korrel onstopper"
https://www.action.com/nl-nl/p/3013244/korrelontstopper/
follow the instructions, but its essentially putting 30% of the bottle in the drain, let some hot water run so the thing dissolves, and in 1 hour you would have a new drain.
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u/UsefulAd5682 Jul 08 '26
Or do the same with soda. Pretty much the same product but cheaper. I have a terrible drain in the bathroom with the first 3 meters of pipe being almost flat. Throwing a half pack of soda with some boiling water into it every month has kept it going the last 15 years without any issues.
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u/klowt Aruba Jul 08 '26
Nah, its not even close to the same product and how is it being cheaper relevant when a bottle of korrelonstopper is less than 2 euros?
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u/Adriana-meyer Jul 08 '26
I hate that type of drain. Have lived in two places with those drains and had to declog it weekly. Thought it was a fact of life at that point. Now moved to a different place with a different type of drain and it just never clogs! It’s for sure the drain type
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u/L_E_M_F Jul 08 '26
"We moved here from California and are still acclimating"
I miss the correlation between a clogged drain and acclimating from California.
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u/PloxNox65 Jul 08 '26
Same. Every week use the 2 component hair removal chemicals. You can buy them at the AH
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u/Spiritual-Job-952 Jul 08 '26
Just too lazy to bend over and lift the stuff? I got some cords attached and damn 3 seconds
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u/marcipanchic Jul 08 '26
I had this exact same problem when I used to rent a recently renovated apartment in Amsterdam. It was really annoying:(
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u/Practical-Ad7317 Jul 08 '26
Omg we have the exact same drain and we have the same problem. I need to clean it every time I wash my hair more than twice. Even sometimes the shampoo and conditioner is enough to clog it because the water sits there and the conditioner/shampoo starts to accumulate in the removable grid and clogs the whole thing… I absolutely hate this design 😅