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Reliance Plumbing Sewer & Drainage, Inc. Blog

The Drain Cleaning Process: An Overview

drain-cleaning-processIn most cases, homeowners don’t typically schedule drain cleaning services until something apparent happens that necessitates the service, such as a clogged sink drain or bathtub drain that’s causing water to back up. There are many times, however, that issues could warrant a drain cleaning but don’t present themselves very apparently.

Therefore, scheduling Wilmette, IL drain and sewer services on a routine basis is essential in maintaining the effectiveness and efficiency of your drain and sewer pipes. But what’s involved in this process?

Video Pipeline Inspection

We receive calls for reactive drain cleaning appointments pretty often, but there are a number of issues that may require drain cleaning, which are not discovered until an inspection—specifically, a video pipeline inspection. This is when our professional plumbers use a line with a specialized camera on the end to determine the state of your drains, and whether or not any specific repairs need to be made.

The camera used in this process transmits a detailed image back to our plumbers, enabling them to identify any service that’s needed and the cause of any blockages—usually, waste buildup and lime scale. At this point, the actual process of cleaning your drains can begin.

Drain Snaking

Our plumbers have a couple different methods when it comes to both finding the source of drain clogs, and resolving them, Drain snaking is one of these cleaning methods, and often the first that we’ll try. We do this by inserting a “snake” into the pipe, until it reaches the problem area. At this point, an auger on the end of it will be utilized to break up whatever the blockage might be.

This method of drain cleaning is efficient in ridding your drains of a number of different kinds of clogs—but it’s not right for each and every situation. They cannot reach ever part of the pipe walls, for example. Plus, there are some drain and sewer issues that they simply aren’t efficient enough to resolve—which brings us to hydro-jetting.

The Hydro-Jetting Method

This form of drain cleaning has become increasingly popular in recent years. A hydro-jet works as a firehose for pipes—the jet shoots a high pressure stream of water through an omnidirectional sprayer heat, which allows it to reach all areas of your pipes.

The pressure that’s released from the hydro-jet is strong enough to blast away pretty much anything that is resting in your pipes, leaving this part of your plumbing system clear to resume operation. This service is often used as preventive drain care, but also to address specific drain clogs. It’s a versatile drain cleaning method in that it can also prevent new clogs from forming in the future by completely eradicating wasted or lime scale accumulation.

Drain snaking is used more often to fix drain issues rather than to prevent them from happening in the first place. The important thing to remember about either of these services, however, is that your pipes can be too far gone for either of these drain cleaning methods to work. You may require pipe replacement if whatever is causing the clog is too stuck to move. This depends on the specific situation, so be sure to contact our professionally trained plumbers for this service.

For expert plumbing service, installations, or maintenance contact Reliance Plumbing Sewer & Drainage, Inc. Our knowledgeable plumbers serve the North Shore and Northwest Chicago suburbs.

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