Your home's drains work when the pipes are clean inside and allow water and sewage to flow through easily. If the drains start to slow down and the entire house is affected, drain cleaning services are often the best solution.
Obstructions And Blockages
If the drains in your home are not flowing correctly, you may have a blockage or restriction somewhere in the main line, making it hard for water to get through. Working with a plumbing or drain cleaning service to clear the drain may be enough to restore the flow and get them working again.
If you have a large obstruction that will not break loose using traditional methods, the drains may need snaking, which involves running a long, flexible metal tape down the drain to the blockage and clearing it manually. If the drain snake does not work, you could have a much larger problem, and the drain cleaning service may need to consider alternative methods to clear the line for you.
Drain inspection
If the drain cleaning service is having trouble getting the drain in your home to clear, they may suggest doing a drain inspection to determine where the issue is. A small fiber-optic camera is inserted into the sewer drain line and advanced through the pipe while the plumber watches the progress on a remote screen.
The camera inspection allows the plumber to determine precisely where the problem is and how to clear it. If they can see the obstruction, they can often determine why it is not coming loose, and the plumber can sometimes use the tip of the camera to break up the blockage, but this must be done carefully to ensure they do not damage it.
The camera cable is long enough to go from the cleanout in the sewer line to the drains inside the house. However, if you have a multi-story home, the drain inspection may involve several points of entry to ensure a full system assessment.
Hydro Jet Cleaning
If the drain cleaning service cannot clear the drain or the interior of the pipes is excessively dirty, hydro jetting may be necessary to clean the drain lines. The process involves inserting a high-pressure water hose into the main drain line in your home from the lowest drain or cleanout in your sewer line.
High-pressure water is sprayed in to clean the walls of the pipes, while the plumber advances the hose through the system, breaking up obstructions from the underside so the debris can wash down the drain. Drain cleaning services can remove blockages from the line with this method, and the water will clean the walls, so it is tough for new blockages to occur.
Contact a local drain cleaning service to learn more.