At a glance
- Category
- Drains & Sewer Lines
- Who it is for
- Homes and basement units
- Phone
- (365) 363-2754
Telltales that call for hydro jetting
- A line our cable has visited three or four times and keeps closing up.
- A camera shows grease coating the pipe from top to bottom.
- Fine, hairy roots spread across a joint rather than one thick root.
- Sand or silt sitting in a sag in the line.
How we do the work
A jetter is a pump, a long hose and a nozzle with rear-facing jets. Those jets pull the hose forward and spray the pipe wall at the same time. Different nozzles do different jobs: a penetrating nozzle for packed blockages, a spinning head for scouring, and a root nozzle for fine roots.
- We camera-check the line first, because jetting a cracked or broken pipe can make things worse.
- Nozzle and pump setting get matched to the pipe; older cast iron and thin ABS get gentler settings.
- We jet from the cleanout outward, pulling back slowly so the debris washes downstream.
- We camera-check again to confirm a clean wall.
Local tip A jetter washes; it cannot mend a pipe that has cracked or caved in. It cleans a sound pipe; it does not fix a damaged one.
On Ajax streets
Jetting earns its keep in Ajax kitchens with long, flat runs to the stack, in older cast iron mains with heavy scale, and in laterals where fine roots return every year. In newer subdivisions it is less often needed, but it helps where construction debris or sand found its way into the line during the build.
Price swings on
The length of the run, the access, whether a camera inspection is included, and how heavy the buildup is.
Worth asking the plumber
- Is my pipe sound enough to jet?
- What pressure will you use on cast iron?
- Will you camera the line before and after?
Questions we hear on the phone
Is jetting safe for old pipes?
On sound pipe, yes, with the pressure set to suit the material. Hence the camera goes down ahead of the hose.