Is your drain clogged?
Now, don’t panic just yet. The world won’t end anyway. Plumbers are here to the rescue after all. But, have you ever wondered how plumbers unclog drains?
Plumbers Use Tools You Don’t Have
Every competent professional emergency plumber has a truck filled with different specialty tools including blowtorches to pipe wrenches that are not typically found in the junk drawer or toolbox of an average homeowner.
Sewer and drain lines that got clogged with years of coagulated cooking grease, hair, and shampoo cannot be easily cleared with a typical plunger or a bottle of Drano. Tougher and denser clogs require more power for them to be broken up and flushed away. Plumbers today use a wide variety of tools to help them clear away clogs with the use of technology that wasn’t used in the plumbing industry in the past.
Below are some of the tools that plumbers use to ensure that your sewer and drain lines flow freely all over again, almost as good as new.
Manual Drain Snakes
Manual drain snakes or also called plumber’s snakes are small augers that rotate when they are physically pushed through and into the clog. A corkscrew-shaped hook is found at the terminal end this is fed to the clogged drain or toilet. The hooked end rotates by turning the handle of the auger’s drum that also feeds more part of the snake to the drain. A manual auger especially comes in handy if you want to clear a simple drain or toilet clog, dislodge any debris and let it pass through your sewer system.
Motorized Drain Snake
Motorized drain snakes are used if manual drain snakes are unable to do the job. A motorized drain snake is typically inserted to the sewer clean out port outside the house. The maximum reach of motorized augers is at 150 feet, cleaning most of the bigger clogs better than manually operated snakes.
High Definition Sewer and Drain Line Cameras
If the plumber fails to clear a sewer or drain line using a motorized snake, this might be an indication that there is a total blockage much further down the sewer line. High definition snake cameras are some of the latest technological advances being used in the plumbing industry.
The ability to look at the pipe structure’s interior and to see the cause of the blockage in the drain is a total game-changer. Identifying the location of clog and what it is made up of prior to the treatment helps the plumber determine the most straightforward approach and the best tools to get the job done.
Hydro-Jetting Machine
While drain cameras and plumbers snakes are exciting, none of these two can beat hydro-jetting machines. These machines use concentrated water jets flushing away decades of soap, grease, and all sorts of nasty stuff in your sewer and drain lines. Hydro-jetting steams can reach up to 35,000 PSI or pounds per square inch that is more than enough power to get rid of residue traces from the pipe walls that make them as good as new all over again.
