The Low-Down on Drain Cleaning

Many self-help remedies are available for drain cleaning, but few are effective. For showers, bathtubs, and bath sinks, hair and toothpaste can only be cleared effectively with a hand snake. However, sometimes the restriction may simply be cleared from a pop-up or from the drain inlet once a strainer is removed. Laundry sinks are similar, with the blockage being the synthetic fibers in lint. Kitchen sinks are easier to try to keep clear than to unclog. Letting a full sink of hot empty water down the drain every couple of weeks can help flush out particles of food. With all of these drains, plungers are most often ineffective since the water just rises in the vent pipe. We find the best way to clear a kitchen sink drain is with a cable drain machine which uses an electric motor to spin a cable coiled in a basket. The cable is pulled out and sent down the drain to spin and knock apart debris which can then be flushed away with water
Main line blockages can be difficult to remedy. First, one should know if they have a septic or are hooked up to city sewers. Everyone thinks pumping a septic tank will resolve all problems, until the tank fills up and backs up again. A blockage could be in the line to the tank, the inlet baffle, outlet baffle, distribution box or leach field. The main sewer line should have clean out access plugs at intervals from the house to the street. Opening these caps can help determine where the blockage is. Sometimes the municipality has problems with blockages in the street, and they are usually helpful to diagnose this. Cleaning a main sewer line usually requires a professional sewer cable machine, which we carry on each of our trucks.