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For the average household clog, a well-made plunger can do the trick most of the time. However, when a clog occurs deep down in your home’s drain pipes or sewer line, a plunger just won’t cut it. Clogs formed by hardened grease, tree roots, or years of garbage and gunk require augering or water jetting.
Below we’ll explain how these two drain cleaning methods work and how they deliver long-lasting results against the toughest clogs.
What Is Augering?
To “auger” a drain, a plumber uses a tool that goes by several names, including drain auger, drain snake, plumber’s cable, and more. A drain has a couple of key features:
- A long, flexible, metal cable that the plumber feeds down the clogged drain pipe. These cables come in various lengths and thicknesses, depending on the situation for which you need them.
- A spiraling hook at the tip of the cable (the actual auger part of the drain auger). As the plumber feeds the cable down the drain, the plumber will use a twisting action so that the auger can corkscrew into whatever is forming the clog.
Sometimes, the auger is sharp enough to cut through the clog, and the material can then be flushed down the drain. In many cases, the auger hooks onto the blockage, pulling it out of the drain as the cable retracts. It’s not a pretty sight, but the end result is a clear drain, and that’s something we can all get behind.
What Is Water Jetting?
Water jetting is the “heavy-duty” solution to drains and sewer lines with a lot of buildup inside them. As its name suggests, water jetting uses jets of water that shoot out at an extremely high pressure to blast away grease, sediment, and even tree roots—yes, you read that correctly!
To perform water jetting, a plumber employs a professional-grade machine with a large tank of water and a high-powered hose. The plumber typically feeds the hose into one of a home’s cleanouts, which is an access point to the home’s sewer line. The plumber then guides the hose through the home’s drains and sewer line, and water jets out of the hose in multiple directions to provide a thorough cleaning.
Knoxville Drain Cleaning With a Camera Inspection
At The Plumbing Authority, it’s important to us that your drain cleaning solution is a long-term one. That’s why we like to add a camera inspection to our drain cleaning services. A camera inspection not only helps plumbers identify the problem in a drain or sewer line but also helps us ensure that your home’s plumbing is good to go after the drain cleaning is done.
Call our Knoxville plumbers today at (865) 238-2280 to get your drain cleaning appointment on the calendar!