Slow Shower Drain - Drain Weasel type snake doesn't seem to help

[Hightechburrito]

The shower drain in my bathroom (standup shower, not a tub) has been slow lately. Usually when this happens, the cheap 'drain weasel' type snakes pull out a decent size hair clog and it's back to draining quickly. But this time I'm not getting anything from the cheapy snakes other than a few strands of hair each time.

A few notes:

1. I don't think the clog (or whatever is making is slow) is too far down. When I pour about 16-20 ounces of water down the drain, the water level in the trap raises almost immediately, then takes 8-10 seconds to drain down to it's normal level, which is like 6" from the shower floor. I would assume if the clog were very far down the line, then it would take a bunch more water (a few minutes of running the shower) to back up. Since the clog seems to be pretty close, I'm all but certain that the drain weasel is able to reach that far (it's like 30" long).
2. When running the shower, it doesn't seem to back up much more than to the level of the shower floor. A small puddle forms, but even running the shower for 20 minutes, the shower pan never starts to fill up. It seems that just the few inches of water backing up in the drain is enough pressure to keep it from really backing up.
3. Nothing else in the bathroom (tub, 2 sinks, toilet) has any issue with backing up or running slowly. I'm not certain that they even share a common drain though.
4. There's a fair amount of 'gunk' on the inside of the drain pipe (above the water in the trap). Is there a chance that there's a bunch of this on the rest of the pipe, but it's closed off the opening enough to reduce the flow?
5. I'm almost certain that nothing but the usual shower stuff goes down the drain here (water, soap, hair, etc). It's not the shower the kids use, so pretty sure no toys or whatever went down the drain.

Any tips on getting things running smoothly again?

Thoughts I've had that I'm curious about input on:

1. A proper auger from the hardware store seems like the next obvious setup. But if the pipe is closed off due to 'gunk', it doesn't seem like any auger would be able to grab it. Are we just hoping to dislodge it from the walls of the pipe so it can get washed down the drain?
2. Is there any scenario where a chemical is the right choice? I'm guessing not, but curious if there's less caustic things that are actually okay and would help.
3. Do I need to worry about whatever is causing this getting pushed farther down the pipes and then more stuff gets slow/backed up? Or once it gets pushed into a larger pipe (the main stack) is it fine, and will get washed into city sewer?

Thanks.

 

[Breplum]

Plumbers have a variety of power augers and some have jetters that can do 2" shower drains. very few cameras can go through a 2" p-trap.
There must be a grate over any shower drain for your own peace of mind.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Reach4]

If you have access, consider a medium drain bladder. That may blast the clog loose. Bring a garden hose from outdoors, or a laundry tap, or the drain from your water heater. The Brasscraft drain bladders started it AFAIK. There are a lot of copies now, which may be fine.

Or have a pro run a bigger machine to clean more. That will be more reliably effective than the drain bladder. But the drain bladder is less likely to injure you.

 

[Hightechburrito]

Plumbers have a variety of power augers and some have jetters that can do 2" shower drains. very few cameras can go through a 2" p-trap.
There must be a grate over any shower drain for your own peace of mind.

Thanks. There is a grate over the drain, but I can pop it off to try a snake.

 

[Hightechburrito]

If you have access, consider a medium drain bladder. That may blast the clog loose. Bring a garden hose from outdoors, or a laundry tap, or the drain from your water heater. The Brasscraft drain bladders started it AFAIK. There are a lot of copies now, which may be fine.

Or have a pro run a bigger machine to clean more. That will be more reliably effective than the drain bladder. But the drain bladder is less likely to injure you.

Thanks. No concerns about just pushing stuff further down the pipe?

 

[Reach4]

Thanks. No concerns about just pushing stuff further down the pipe?

I don't think so. Drain lines are not allowed to go smaller as they go.