Drain cleaning is often overlooked until a significant problem occurs. The signs of a blockage include a smell coming from your drain, pooling water in your bathtub or shower, or toilet bubbling. People often try at-home remedies to loosen the blockage when these symptoms occur. However, home remedies are not the cure-all for drain blockage. Unfortunately, this reactive approach can cause severe damage to your drains, pipes, home, and even your health. Drains require regular professional cleaning to maintain efficiency.
What is Drain cleaning?
Drain cleaning is the process of thoroughly flushing your pipes. This gets rid of buildup from any drain cleaners or previous blockage.
Many people confuse drain clearing and drain cleaning. Drain clearing is simply the removal of the blockage in your pipes and doesn’t involve any flushing.
When you schedule a drain cleaning: a plumber will come in and asses your pipes and discuss with you what symptoms your drain is experiencing and what products you have used. With this information, they can prescribe you accordingly, leading to our next question…
How are Drains cleaned?
Cleaning pipes requires plumbers to know precisely what they are dealing with. Video camera pipe inspection is an accurate way to assess the condition of the drain and diagnose the problem efficiently. This equipment is a miniature camera combined with an LED light attached to a fiber-optic cable. Once the camera is fed down the pipe, the camera returns a video feed to a monitor so the plumber can see and pinpoint specific areas that need cleaning and what sort of cleaning will do the job.
Drains are cleaned in multiple ways depending on the drain type and the history of products/ treatments. The first method of drain cleaning is using a motorized drain snake. These devices operate like a long corkscrew: a wire coil goes into a drainpipe, drills a hole into the blockage, and breaks it apart. Most drain snakes can handle any type of obstruction with the right technician. Commercial drain snakes are available, but none will do the job as well as a pro-grade drain snake. However, drain snakes are only good for a blockage and do not actually clean your pipes.
Another method of drain cleaning is hydro-jetting. A hydro-jetter is similar to a pressure washer for drains; it is a motorized device that sends hot, high-pressure water through a hose and out a small nozzle. When the hose is inserted down the drain, the powerful blasts of water clear out debris and grease or oil build-up along the pipes. This device is the most thorough method for cleaning drains but should only be done by a professional.
Why should I get my drain cleaned?
Drain cleaning is essential to maintain your drains’ functionality and efficiency. The drain cleaning process is about 3 hours long and is done best by trained professionals. Drain cleaning can improve the quality of your life by preventing foul smells, tub pooling, and slow draining. Nobody wants to shower in a pool of nasty water or constantly be followed by a foul odor.
If you suspect your drain needs some cleaning, contact Astar today!