When it comes to drain cleaning, people often immediately have the wrong idea in their head: plastics bottles of “drain cleaner” sitting on the grocery store shelves in the cleaning supply aisle. But no professional plumber worth hiring will ever use these kinds of chemical drain cleaners. They are toxic, caustic, and can seriously damage the inside lining of drainpipes.
Professional plumbers instead use more advanced tools that can thoroughly cleanse and unclog drains without presenting the possibility of harm to the drain or to you. We’ll look at a few of them in this post.
For your drain cleaning problems call A & H Plumbing, Heating and Cooling. Our skilled plumbers are ready 24/7 to help you with keeping your drains clear and clean.
1. Drain Snakes
You can purchase manual drain snakes (also called drain augers) from many hardware stores, but your plumber will use a powerful motorized drain snake to clean your drains. Drain snakes are long coils of wire that can extend deep into a drain to reach thick clogs. By turning the wires using a motor, the plumber screws the end of the drain snake into the clog, similar to the way a corkscrew works. The plumber can then either extract the clog or break it apart to clear the way.
2. Scour Jetting
Also called “hydro-jetting,” this is the use of hot water shot out of nozzle at extremely high pressure. A motor creates the high pressure and blasts the water out to scour the insides of drains, removing blockage and also deep-cleaning the pipe interior. Because of the possible dangers from high-pressure water blasts, only professionals should undertake this work.
3. Video Inspection Equipment
This tool doesn’t “clear” or “clean” a drain, but it is an essential part of drain cleaning nonetheless. These miniature cameras and LED lights mounted on the end of a long fiber-optic cable allow plumbers to identify areas that require cleaning and to discover the types of clogs they have to remove. Video pipe inspection equipment removes most of the guesswork from drain cleaning, and a plumber can get straight to work on what’s wrong.
Unless you have a drain clog that needs cleaning immediately, we recommend you schedule regular drain cleaning once a year to maintain regular water pressure and deter clogging. Call on A & H Plumbing, Heating and Cooling today to arrange for quality drain and sewer services in the Greater St. Louis & Metro East area.