Hydro-jetting for drains that keep closing up

At a glance

Best for

Grease, soap scale, sludge, fine roots

Not for

Badly cracked or collapsed pipe

Access

Cleanout or roof vent

Checked before jetting

Camera pass on old clay or cast iron

How a jetter works

Water is pumped through a hose to a nozzle with small backward-pointing jets. That thrust hauls the hose up the line and scrubs the bore as it goes. On the way back, the nozzle drags loosened grease and debris down toward the sewer.

• Each nozzle has its own job: a forward-firing head opens a hard blockage, while a rotating or flat-spray nozzle scrubs the circumference of a glazed kitchen line.

When jetting is the right call

Restaurant-grade grease is not just a commercial problem; families who cook a lot can glaze their kitchen branch in a few years. Laundry lines also collect a soft sludge that a cable passes straight through.

• For mains, jetting after root cutting flushes the fragments that a cable leaves behind, so they do not catch the next batch of paper.

When it is not

Jetting a clay pipe with an open joint or a cast iron pipe that has rusted thin can make a bad situation worse. That is why we camera the line first on older homes. If the pipe is broken, cleaning it harder will not fix it.

• We will tell you if the camera shows a pipe that needs repair rather than another round of cleaning.

Signs to watch for

• A drain augered more than twice this year
• Grey grease on the cable head after clearing
• Slow kitchen drain shortly after it was cleared
• Laundry standpipe overflowing during spin
• Roots returning to the main every spring

How the job runs

1. Camera check

   We confirm the pipe will stand the pressure.

2. Pick the head

   Penetrating, rotating or flushing heads depending on the deposit.

3. Jet in passes

   The hose is worked forward and back to scour the full length.

4. Re-inspect

   A second camera look confirms the wall is clean.