This is a top secret tip for removing grease from your kitchen drain line. This technique only works if the line is currently draining. Heat up two LARGE sauce pots of water, very hot but not boiling and then pour them both down the kitchen drain one after the other. The large volume of hot water will melt the grease. It works very well. Do this every few months. The other thing is do not use your garbage disposal as a trash can. Throw everything away in the trash and wipe out the pots and pans with a paper towel and throw the paper towel away in the trash as well. Now you can wash your dishes.
Top Secret Kitchen Grease Removal
Mark
Superjet Sewer and Drain Cleaning
Showing posts with label drain cleaning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label drain cleaning. Show all posts
Monday, July 9, 2018
Saturday, October 7, 2017
Landscape Drain Cleaning Maintenance Hydro Jetting
Don't forget to test your landscape drains yearly. It's very important to keep on top of what is draining and what is not. Be proactive. It's very simple to test your drains. Just run a hose at full volume into each drain starting closest to the outflow, usually located at the curb. Then work back going away from the outflow. See what works and what doesn't. Make sure the water is actually leaving at the outlet as fast as it's going in. If you have drains that are not working or if your main out-flowing line is not working, I strongly recommend hydro jetting. It will not damage the thinwall plastic pipe usually used in landscape drain installations. If left unchecked you can easily end up with a line that is impossible to clean and requires digging and replacement. If that happens to be under concrete, that could be very expensive.
Thursday, July 20, 2017
How to Test Your Landscape Drains, Don't Ignore your Landscape Drains Just Because It's Not Raining
We have an amazing climate in here in Southern California that practically provides plants with year round growth. Unfortunately out of sight usually means out of mind. If your not seeing the water back up in your landscape drains, it's not a priority. Don't make that mistake. The longer roots and sediment sit in your pipe the harder it is to remove it. Especially roots. Roots get bigger and there will be a point where they damage your pipe to the point that cleaning is no longer an option and the only cure is to dig it up. Unfortunately if that is under concrete, it's going to be a big expense.
We just serviced a client where the roots were left to the point where they had torn the pipe apart and it is under concrete. Unfortunately the drains that this pipe serves are critical to draining the side of this person's house and preventing serious property damage. Their only alternative at this point is to dig up concrete.
Test your drains, it's easy. The outflow from your property is usually at the street at a core outlet in the curb. Starting at what you think is the closest drain to the outflow at the curb, test each drain with a hose at full volume for at least 3 to 4 minutes per drain and working back away from the street going back toward the back of your house. Make a map of what works and what does not. You will quickly find out what works and what does not. This will be invaluable in figuring out where your problem lies.
Many people tell me that the drains work but they are just slow. The water goes away in a day or so. What they don't realize is that the drains are not working. The pipe is empty at the start of the rain and acts as a reservoir. Also the pipe joints are usually not glued and this allows the water to seep out into the ground over time. This gives the impression that the line is draining. Many times it is not. If the water is not leaving your property at the curb outlet, your lines are not draining. Go to the curb outlet and verify and is it leaving as fast as it is going in?
If the drains need cleaning, I strongly recommend hydro jetting, it is the least likely to damage your thinwall plastic drain pipe and absolutely the most effective process to remove roots and sediment.
If your in our service area, give us a call. But first look us up online to see what people say about us.
Superjet Sewer and Drain Cleaning, We're the ones that know what we're doing.
Tuesday, October 11, 2016
Sewer roots, Hydro Jet Maintenance or CIPP Repair?
I Just recently had a long conversation, actually multiple conversations with a prospective customer and he was torn between lining his sewer pipe to prevent root intrusion or whether he should possibly just maintain it by hydro jetting it maybe once a year or so. There's no set answer. What you have to look for at first is the condition of the pipe to determine if it's a candidate for regular maintenance. If you have multiple cracks within a given section of the pipe it's probably going to be less likely a candidate for maintenance. Multiple cracks allow individual pieces of the pipe to move and you don't want that. Note that I chose my words carefully, I said less likely. Just because it has multiple cracks doesn't mean that it can't be maintained, each situation needs to be looked at individually with a high quality camera inspection. Now for example if you have root intrusion at a joint and that joint is basically intact, then you can consider it a better candidate for maintaining it with hydro jetting as opposed to spending much more money to line it with a CIPP liner system. You just need to do the math and decide which is a better alternative for you. In this instance the customer was looking at an estimate in the neighborhood of $6000 to line 30 feet of sewer pipe. His root intrusion appeared to be solely at the joints with the rest of the pipe looking just fine. You could jet that pipe 15 times before you'd spend $6000. It really comes down to an honest evaluation as opposed to a scare tactic from someone who's looking to sell a liner. The following video shows a segment of pipe that definitely needed to be lined.
https://youtu.be/9eFHsAPUprE
If you're in Southern California, call us for an honest evaluation. We're Superjet sewer and drain cleaning were the ones that know what we're doing.
https://youtu.be/9eFHsAPUprE
If you're in Southern California, call us for an honest evaluation. We're Superjet sewer and drain cleaning were the ones that know what we're doing.
Tuesday, June 3, 2014
"I'm still shopping around." Searching for the cheapest price on hydro-jetting.
I can't tell you how many times as a vendor I hear, "I'm still shopping around, I'll call you back." It's frustrating as a quality vendor because I know that in the end their sole consideration is price. They are assuming that everything else is equal. They assume that Hydro jetting is the same from one vendor to the next and nothing could be further from the truth. I try and educate people as to the differences to look for but some people don't want to hear it, they just want the lowest price.
Ok, so when people tell me "this guy will hydro-jet for $250 or $200" I tell them, "use him, or better yet, go to craigslist and put a want ad for hydro-jetting and put a price of $150 or $100." Without a doubt you will find someone but it becomes obvious to them at that point that maybe going the cheapest rout isn't the best idea.
Let me give you a "for instance". When I was a young man I had a plumbing water leak in my newly purchased home. I had a home warranty with one of the national home warranty vendors so I let them take care of it instead of doing the work myself. Well if your not aware of how the home warranty business works, I'll tell you. They send out a contractor that they have struck a deal with and they pay that contractor a very small per visit fee, maybe only $50 dollars or so and the contractor picks up a small check from the homeowner as a co-pay as it were. So the combination of the two payments still adds up to a very small service call fee for the vendor supplying the work.
Well what happens is that you end up with a lower quality of service provider that is willing to work that cheaply.
In my case, when the "plumber" arrived, it was obvious that this man had spent more than a little time in jail. He was covered with jail house tattoos and he was not someone I wanted around my young wife and children. I would have gladly spent an extra $100 just to keep that man out of my house. So you see, everything isn't equal.
The best thing to do is research. The internet is an amazing tool, use it to your advantage. Just a little bit of time online will give you a pretty good idea of who is competent and who is not, of who can be trusted and who can not. Be wary of the one stop shop websites that say they will provide you with a great contractor. Again, use the internet for reviews of each specific service provider by name.
We have an amazing amount of information online at our website that tells you what to ask to allow you to compare one hydro jetting vendor to the next. www.superjetdrains.com
And by the way, we hold a DOD, ( department of defense ) background check and clearance for work on military installations.
Mark Gervase, President
Superjet Sewer and Drain Cleaning
Wednesday, April 2, 2014
Building Hydro Jetted Back From the Dead with Warthog nozzles
We were called out to a growing emergency at a school in a district that we regularly provide service to.
There was a contractor there working on site that was in the process of "mud jacking" the foundation. It's a process where they forcefully pump a fluid concrete like material under the foundation to raise a portion of the building that is sagging or settling.
In the middle of this process, some of the toilets in the administration side of the building stopped working. Well things quickly snowballed after that point. We hydro jetted one inside toilet line to a stop point and then started locating with a camera to map things out. Initially maintenance and I were not sure that this was all related yet but we were suspicious. After a little more legwork and plotting the runs which included some overhead runs in the sub basement area, we determined that somehow the concrete mud had found it's way into the sewer line and the pressure behind the pumping of the material was so great that the concrete had made it's way into about 200 feet of 2", 3" and 4" pipe going both upstream to the 2nd floor and downstream about 100 feet to the mainline tie in.
It quickly turned into a military type of operation with all available maintenance personnel directed over to our site to do whatever could be done to expedite a fix.
We all had a serious conversation with the contractor who was doing the mud jacking about the feasibility of hydro jetting this material out of the pipe. It had already hardened solid and was becoming harder as more time passed.
We all knew that if it couldn't be hydro jetted out of the lines, the only alternative would be to dig up the pipes and break open the walls. Your talking about 200 feet of pipe running all over this building.
We ran a quick test on a section of pipe and determined that with a rotary nozzle it would be slow going but we could chew up and move the material. The maintenance crew excavated a spot outside that I had marked with camera to crack open the mainline so we could attack it from two different directions and pull the material back to a pit to drop it out of the line.
We immediately started on what turned out to be three long days running into night of messy and hard work but we pulled it off. We pulled off an absolute miracle. We cleared all of the lines and mind you the lines were packed solid, absolutely solid and hardened with that concrete.
We brought that building back from the dead and saved that contractor's insurance agency well over a hundred grand. You know that contractor never did send me a thank you note.
The only way I was able to clear those lines was by using the best rotating nozzles that money could buy. We used Stoneage Warthog nozzles.
So when a jetting contractor tells you " We use warthog rotary nozzles", you will have an appreciation of the capability that brings to the job.
"Superjet Sewer and Drain Cleaning, were the ones that know what were doing."
Superjet Sewer and Drain Cleaning LLC
www.superjetdrains.com
There was a contractor there working on site that was in the process of "mud jacking" the foundation. It's a process where they forcefully pump a fluid concrete like material under the foundation to raise a portion of the building that is sagging or settling.
In the middle of this process, some of the toilets in the administration side of the building stopped working. Well things quickly snowballed after that point. We hydro jetted one inside toilet line to a stop point and then started locating with a camera to map things out. Initially maintenance and I were not sure that this was all related yet but we were suspicious. After a little more legwork and plotting the runs which included some overhead runs in the sub basement area, we determined that somehow the concrete mud had found it's way into the sewer line and the pressure behind the pumping of the material was so great that the concrete had made it's way into about 200 feet of 2", 3" and 4" pipe going both upstream to the 2nd floor and downstream about 100 feet to the mainline tie in.
It quickly turned into a military type of operation with all available maintenance personnel directed over to our site to do whatever could be done to expedite a fix.
We all had a serious conversation with the contractor who was doing the mud jacking about the feasibility of hydro jetting this material out of the pipe. It had already hardened solid and was becoming harder as more time passed.
We all knew that if it couldn't be hydro jetted out of the lines, the only alternative would be to dig up the pipes and break open the walls. Your talking about 200 feet of pipe running all over this building.
We ran a quick test on a section of pipe and determined that with a rotary nozzle it would be slow going but we could chew up and move the material. The maintenance crew excavated a spot outside that I had marked with camera to crack open the mainline so we could attack it from two different directions and pull the material back to a pit to drop it out of the line.
We immediately started on what turned out to be three long days running into night of messy and hard work but we pulled it off. We pulled off an absolute miracle. We cleared all of the lines and mind you the lines were packed solid, absolutely solid and hardened with that concrete.
We brought that building back from the dead and saved that contractor's insurance agency well over a hundred grand. You know that contractor never did send me a thank you note.
The only way I was able to clear those lines was by using the best rotating nozzles that money could buy. We used Stoneage Warthog nozzles.
So when a jetting contractor tells you " We use warthog rotary nozzles", you will have an appreciation of the capability that brings to the job.
"Superjet Sewer and Drain Cleaning, were the ones that know what were doing."
Superjet Sewer and Drain Cleaning LLC
www.superjetdrains.com
This photograph shows a horizontal run in the elevator access way with a maintenance technician's hand on it. Notice the riser going up that is absolutely solid with material. At this stage we have already hydro jetted the horizontal clear of debris.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
A Superjet hydro jetting restaurant sewer line testimonial
Ok, so we've been hydro-jetting this restaurant in Rancho Cucamonga for two or three years at least, every 4 to 6 months or so. They have had zero problems since our service started. Well, last service we got stuck in the line big time. We had to really work at it but we did managed to get our hose back out. Mind you the owner is sitting there watching this whole thing happen. We ran a camera and we could see a large hole in the pipe at a turn area. I showed the owner but maybe he didn't understand what he was looking at. I gave him all the specs and marked everything out on the ground where and how deep the problem was because he said his landlord would take care of the dig and the repair.
So 4 or 6 months later they call us back to schedule another service. I asked him about the repair. He said "There was no repair, the landlords plumber came out and ran a camera. That plumber told them that there is nothing wrong with the pipe."
Things got a little weird fast. I said I can't hydro-jet the line. I know you have broken pipe. He assured me, "no the landlords plumber says it's not broken." I offered to hydro-jet if they guaranteed us a deposit for the hose if we got stuck. I thought that was reasonable based on the fact that I knew what was coming. Well he got pretty upset with us at that and told us he wasn't comfortable using us anymore.
Ok, so what can I do, some idiot tells him there is no problem and I know that If I hydro-jet the line there is an almost certainty that we will get stuck and he will have an instant emergency dig on his hands causing the immediate shutdown of his restaurant. We were fired and we've lost business because of some idiot "plumber".
So this is the fun part, guess what happens.
6 months or so goes by and we get a phone call from the restaurant owner. He wants to schedule another hydro jetting. It seems that the landlords plumber took over the hydro jetting for the restaurant after we were let go and you guessed it, he got stuck in the exact spot we had marked for broken pipe causing an emergency dig to repair the problem. We must have looked like psychics. It was nice to get the account back but it was priceless to hear the story from the owner himself.
"Superjet Sewer and Drain Cleaning, were the ones who know what we're doing."
So 4 or 6 months later they call us back to schedule another service. I asked him about the repair. He said "There was no repair, the landlords plumber came out and ran a camera. That plumber told them that there is nothing wrong with the pipe."
Things got a little weird fast. I said I can't hydro-jet the line. I know you have broken pipe. He assured me, "no the landlords plumber says it's not broken." I offered to hydro-jet if they guaranteed us a deposit for the hose if we got stuck. I thought that was reasonable based on the fact that I knew what was coming. Well he got pretty upset with us at that and told us he wasn't comfortable using us anymore.
Ok, so what can I do, some idiot tells him there is no problem and I know that If I hydro-jet the line there is an almost certainty that we will get stuck and he will have an instant emergency dig on his hands causing the immediate shutdown of his restaurant. We were fired and we've lost business because of some idiot "plumber".
So this is the fun part, guess what happens.
6 months or so goes by and we get a phone call from the restaurant owner. He wants to schedule another hydro jetting. It seems that the landlords plumber took over the hydro jetting for the restaurant after we were let go and you guessed it, he got stuck in the exact spot we had marked for broken pipe causing an emergency dig to repair the problem. We must have looked like psychics. It was nice to get the account back but it was priceless to hear the story from the owner himself.
"Superjet Sewer and Drain Cleaning, were the ones who know what we're doing."
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Just another day of drain cleaning and a testimonial
We were recently called by a homeowner that had root intrusion and pipe issues. He was having regular backups and had called a plumber out. That plumber cabled the line and then ran a camera. He found multiple points of root intrusion into the line and immediately went into a hard sell on a new liner for the pipe. It's advantageous to install a liner usually but not always necessary. Sometimes it's more economical to clean the line on a regular basis and leave it at that.
Well, clearly the homeowner picked up on the hard sell and wasn't comfortable or interested. The plumber was more interested in selling a liner than in fixing the mans problem. Well, when it became clear that he wasn't going to sell a liner to the homeowner, the plumber was gone. The homeowner had found us online and seen our video demonstration showing how we could completely clear a line of roots.
When we arrived we immediately ran a camera to diagnose the situation. I was really surprised that the prior plumber hadn't taken the time to mark a few things out when he ran his own camera. He charged for a camera yet did very little to give the homeowner the information that the camera provided. Nothing had been marked or located. We had to start from scratch. We marked all the pipe runs, direction changes and root intrusion spots. We used the sewer camera to precisely place the cutting sewer nozzle right on top of the root masses and completely removed the roots. The prior plumber had in essence just punched a hole through the root masses with his cable machine and left a great deal of roots still in the line.
The way it stands, the homeowner can hydro jet once a year for the next 14 years before he would have spent the amount equal to a liner installation. Every situation is a little different. But you don't always have to spend the big bucks.
The following is the homeowners email to us regarding our service:
Name: Frank Robinson
Email: umpxxxxxxxxx
Phone: 949-495-xxxx
Services Required: Hydrojetting
Comments: I had my home sewer lines Hydro Jetted by this Company on Apr 20,2010 & have nothing but praise for the Company,the service provided & in particular Mark who did the work.The professioal way that the work was conducted & the willingness to educate me @ each step was out standing.I would highly recommend these people for any work you may have & plan on having them do any future work that I might require,Kuddos to Mark & thank you.
Well, clearly the homeowner picked up on the hard sell and wasn't comfortable or interested. The plumber was more interested in selling a liner than in fixing the mans problem. Well, when it became clear that he wasn't going to sell a liner to the homeowner, the plumber was gone. The homeowner had found us online and seen our video demonstration showing how we could completely clear a line of roots.
When we arrived we immediately ran a camera to diagnose the situation. I was really surprised that the prior plumber hadn't taken the time to mark a few things out when he ran his own camera. He charged for a camera yet did very little to give the homeowner the information that the camera provided. Nothing had been marked or located. We had to start from scratch. We marked all the pipe runs, direction changes and root intrusion spots. We used the sewer camera to precisely place the cutting sewer nozzle right on top of the root masses and completely removed the roots. The prior plumber had in essence just punched a hole through the root masses with his cable machine and left a great deal of roots still in the line.
The way it stands, the homeowner can hydro jet once a year for the next 14 years before he would have spent the amount equal to a liner installation. Every situation is a little different. But you don't always have to spend the big bucks.
The following is the homeowners email to us regarding our service:
Name: Frank Robinson
Email: umpxxxxxxxxx
Phone: 949-495-xxxx
Services Required: Hydrojetting
Comments: I had my home sewer lines Hydro Jetted by this Company on Apr 20,2010 & have nothing but praise for the Company,the service provided & in particular Mark who did the work.The professioal way that the work was conducted & the willingness to educate me @ each step was out standing.I would highly recommend these people for any work you may have & plan on having them do any future work that I might require,Kuddos to Mark & thank you.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Run that Sewer Camera If
Quite often I detect that hesitation in a customer when I recommend running a camera. I know that there are those companies out there that really push for that and use that as a way to generate more income at a higher cost to the customer but....It is an incredibly valueable tool that in the hands of a skilled operator can provide invaluable information.
We just finished jetting a job yesterday, an apartment complex where we hydro-jetted a short run of 75 feet that dumped into a mainline outgoing lateral and then ran another 185 feet to the city sewer connection.
The initial 75 was a restricted 3 inch wall c/o that dropped down into the run across to the next c/o. We jetted this with a medium hose and the appropriate sized nozzle. We hydro-jetted it thoroughly. Ran this probably 5 times slowly. The customer had mentioned from the start that they wanted to run a camera to document line condition so it wasn't an issue. When we ran the camera, whoa, surprise surprise, we found a very large belly in the line holding water right after the turn into the main outgoing. The pipe was almost completely full of water and there were a couple of very large grease deposits that truly looked like they hadn't been touched by a jetter even though we ran right past them 5 times. They were monsters and when they broke free, and they most assuredly would at some point, probably on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday night, you were guaranteed a back up.
The pipe being full of water was too much water for the medium hose nozzle to displace. You have to get that water out of the way so you can impact the grease itself. Without running a camera, you could never have guessed that.
The camera allowed us to make changes opting for a bigger hose with a very small nozzle and allowed us to know exactly where to spend our time and to verify visually to the customer that the blockages were completely removed.
If your having recurring problems, ie. having to cable every 4,6 or 8 months, run a camera. If you haven't run a camera in the last 10 years and your having an issue with your main line, run a camera. Think of it like a cancer screening at the doctor. If you can catch a problem before it gets too bad, your way ahead of the game. Two or three hundred on a camera could save you thousands.
We just finished jetting a job yesterday, an apartment complex where we hydro-jetted a short run of 75 feet that dumped into a mainline outgoing lateral and then ran another 185 feet to the city sewer connection.
The initial 75 was a restricted 3 inch wall c/o that dropped down into the run across to the next c/o. We jetted this with a medium hose and the appropriate sized nozzle. We hydro-jetted it thoroughly. Ran this probably 5 times slowly. The customer had mentioned from the start that they wanted to run a camera to document line condition so it wasn't an issue. When we ran the camera, whoa, surprise surprise, we found a very large belly in the line holding water right after the turn into the main outgoing. The pipe was almost completely full of water and there were a couple of very large grease deposits that truly looked like they hadn't been touched by a jetter even though we ran right past them 5 times. They were monsters and when they broke free, and they most assuredly would at some point, probably on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday night, you were guaranteed a back up.
The pipe being full of water was too much water for the medium hose nozzle to displace. You have to get that water out of the way so you can impact the grease itself. Without running a camera, you could never have guessed that.
The camera allowed us to make changes opting for a bigger hose with a very small nozzle and allowed us to know exactly where to spend our time and to verify visually to the customer that the blockages were completely removed.
If your having recurring problems, ie. having to cable every 4,6 or 8 months, run a camera. If you haven't run a camera in the last 10 years and your having an issue with your main line, run a camera. Think of it like a cancer screening at the doctor. If you can catch a problem before it gets too bad, your way ahead of the game. Two or three hundred on a camera could save you thousands.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Hydro Jetting FAQS for sewer and drain cleaning
Hydro jetting is the use of water under high pressure to clean pipes clear of various types of debris. It's an amazing process that got it's start years ago in the oil fields and has found it's way into numerous different industries that need to keep their pipes operating at a high rate of efficiency.
It's extremely effective and in high demand for the simple reason that it is the only process that can actually clean a line of debris. You see when you run a cable in a line to clear a blockage,( ie. rooter a line), you are typically puching a hole in a blockage to allow flow again in the pipe. This can leave debris behind and this debris can act as a starting point for another blockage some time in the future. Now a skilled technician running a cable may be able to get close to the true pipe diameter but only if variables work in his favor. Never the less they will never be able to clean a line like a hydro jetter could. A common situation is a clean/out that is smaller than the mainline. For Example a 4 inch clean out on a 6 inch mainline. Now, if your running a cable your limited by that 4 inch access. If your running a cable, your punching a hole in the blockage because you can't get a full size tool into the line. A hydro jetting nozzle does not work that way. The high velocity streams of water that do the cleaning spread out to impact the pipe wall. On a regular basis we tackle major root intrusion problems, many with multiple intrusion points in a single sewer line and when finished, it was very difficult if not impossible to see with video inspection where the roots were making their way into the pipes because the pipes and joints were that clean. Just yesterday we were called to a school that had a large mainline backed up. Turned out it was an 8 inch. After we poked a hole in the blockage and it drained away a bit, we were able to see a huge root intrusion at the sweep into the line. With careful placement of a Warthog rotating nozzle we were able to polish this completely out and there were roots that were as big around as my thumb. At the other end 150 feet away in a vault was another monster root mass that was spreading out from the opening and holding back the flow. Again careful placement shredded this all out of the way without having to enter the vault and it was a deep one. This rate of success is par for the course and explains why hydro jetting is now an industry standard.
One big misconception is that the pipes might not be able to withstand that pressure. The pipes are not pressurized with water. When the water is in the hose it is under high pressure but when it leaves the nozzle it is no longer under pressure but it is traveling at a high speed. It's this speed of the water hitting the pipe walls that does the actual cleaning of the pipe.
There is a huge difference in the quality of work based on the machine used. Larger trailer towed machines are capable of producing high pressure, 4,000 psi at 18 gallons per minute. That high water flow volume is crucial to flushing the debris out of the line once it has been loosened from the pipe walls. Many many companies, plumbers use small cart type machines that they carry around inside their van. They produce a reasonable pressure but do not produce the high flow volume to flush the debris out of the line. A typical cart type jetter might produce 3,500 psi @ 5gallons per minute. If your working on a smaller line, 3 inches or less, it may be fine but a medium or larger line with any sort of heavy debris, your wasting your money. They'll be there all day on a job that a big machine could do in an hour or two. Be careful, they're probably charging the same rate as the big machine.
Hydro Jetting Grease
There are various reasons to use hydro jetting as opposed to running a cable in a line. The most glaring is grease. If your in a commercial application as in a restaurant, grease is a huge issue. We see it in homes as well but there it happens over a longer period of time. You can't touch that problem with a cable machine. By that I mean, you may cable a line open but it's going to be very difficult and time consuming and it will not last long. Depending on how severe the problem is, it could last a week or a day. Any restaurant manager with more than a few years in the business has figured this one out already and can probably give you an ear full.
One of the heaviest situations I have run into are some of the El Pollo Loco restaurants we service. Think about how many chickens they cook every day with three shifts a day. Now multiply that by a month and now by a year. All that grease drips down from the broiler and into the broiler floor drain. We are able to clear those lines to the extent that some of those customers are jetting once every year or year and a half. That's pretty incredible.
Hydro Jetting Roots
We've already mentioned roots but let me just say that completely cleaning the roots out of a line as opposed to punching a hole with a cable machine will allow longer intervals between services and also help to minimize the amount of damage done by the roots to the pipe itself. We are probably all familiar with that stretch of sidewalk in our neighborhood slowly buckling up over the years. Every year the concrete gets pushed up a bit more and more by the tree roots. Well the same thing is happening under the ground with respect to roots entering sewer and drain lines. If you don't keep these in check, they move the pipe more and more and can and often do cause pipes to crack and collapse. It's going to be expensive to fix and if the pipe is deep, it's going to be very expensive.
Hydro Jetting Debris
The other situation is debris. We had this job a while back where a lady was dumping her cats litter box into her toilet. This had been going on for quite some time till finally, you guessed it, the toilets didn't work anymore. Well you can't cable that type of a blockage. It's completely ineffective. All the cable does is stir the debris. We were able to actually pull a great deal of that material out of the line through the clean/out on the side of the house. Think of a badmitten bird. The little plastic skirted toy that you bat back and forth with a raquet. A hydro jetting nozzle looks similar when the water leaves the nozzle. If you go beyond the debris and slowly pull back, those fingers of high pressure water will pull the debris back with it as they scour the pipe walls. Pretty amazing result. We pulled a huge amount of cat litter out of their lines in just a couple of hours. When we left, everything was working perfectly.
Hydro jetting is more effective at longer distances.
Another neat thing about the hydro jetting process is that it is able to deliver it's full cleaning effectiveness at very great distances. Our machine carries 500 feet of hose. Many of our jobs require that or more. But what is interesting is that the nozzle delivers the same amount of pressure and cleaning quality if we are out 50 feet or 500 feet. This is in direct contrast to a cable machine. The motor on a cable machine produces a fixed amount of torque or power to rip through that clog or roots or whatever it may be. But the more cable that is run out of the machine, the less torque or power is transfered to the cutting head at the blockage. That is because the cable actually starts to absorb some of that energy. The more cable you have out, the more energy or torque is absorbed by the cable. A cable machine is also pretty much at the end of it's limit in the 150 to 200 ft range.
Doing The Impossible
Cast iron drain or sewer pipe that is fairly old tends to blister on the interior. This blistering makes the pipe very rough and it tends to catch debris, grease etc. With time, this can literally change the interior shape of the pipe with large ledges left and right of the flow channel line. These can get almost as hard as a rock. Hydro jetting is unique in that it is a process that is, in many instances, capable of returning that pipe back to a round condition and substantially smoothing out the surface. This may allow a customer to postpone pipe replacement and save them thousands of dollars. That isn't going to happen with a cable machine.
It's extremely effective and in high demand for the simple reason that it is the only process that can actually clean a line of debris. You see when you run a cable in a line to clear a blockage,( ie. rooter a line), you are typically puching a hole in a blockage to allow flow again in the pipe. This can leave debris behind and this debris can act as a starting point for another blockage some time in the future. Now a skilled technician running a cable may be able to get close to the true pipe diameter but only if variables work in his favor. Never the less they will never be able to clean a line like a hydro jetter could. A common situation is a clean/out that is smaller than the mainline. For Example a 4 inch clean out on a 6 inch mainline. Now, if your running a cable your limited by that 4 inch access. If your running a cable, your punching a hole in the blockage because you can't get a full size tool into the line. A hydro jetting nozzle does not work that way. The high velocity streams of water that do the cleaning spread out to impact the pipe wall. On a regular basis we tackle major root intrusion problems, many with multiple intrusion points in a single sewer line and when finished, it was very difficult if not impossible to see with video inspection where the roots were making their way into the pipes because the pipes and joints were that clean. Just yesterday we were called to a school that had a large mainline backed up. Turned out it was an 8 inch. After we poked a hole in the blockage and it drained away a bit, we were able to see a huge root intrusion at the sweep into the line. With careful placement of a Warthog rotating nozzle we were able to polish this completely out and there were roots that were as big around as my thumb. At the other end 150 feet away in a vault was another monster root mass that was spreading out from the opening and holding back the flow. Again careful placement shredded this all out of the way without having to enter the vault and it was a deep one. This rate of success is par for the course and explains why hydro jetting is now an industry standard.
One big misconception is that the pipes might not be able to withstand that pressure. The pipes are not pressurized with water. When the water is in the hose it is under high pressure but when it leaves the nozzle it is no longer under pressure but it is traveling at a high speed. It's this speed of the water hitting the pipe walls that does the actual cleaning of the pipe.
There is a huge difference in the quality of work based on the machine used. Larger trailer towed machines are capable of producing high pressure, 4,000 psi at 18 gallons per minute. That high water flow volume is crucial to flushing the debris out of the line once it has been loosened from the pipe walls. Many many companies, plumbers use small cart type machines that they carry around inside their van. They produce a reasonable pressure but do not produce the high flow volume to flush the debris out of the line. A typical cart type jetter might produce 3,500 psi @ 5gallons per minute. If your working on a smaller line, 3 inches or less, it may be fine but a medium or larger line with any sort of heavy debris, your wasting your money. They'll be there all day on a job that a big machine could do in an hour or two. Be careful, they're probably charging the same rate as the big machine.
Hydro Jetting Grease
There are various reasons to use hydro jetting as opposed to running a cable in a line. The most glaring is grease. If your in a commercial application as in a restaurant, grease is a huge issue. We see it in homes as well but there it happens over a longer period of time. You can't touch that problem with a cable machine. By that I mean, you may cable a line open but it's going to be very difficult and time consuming and it will not last long. Depending on how severe the problem is, it could last a week or a day. Any restaurant manager with more than a few years in the business has figured this one out already and can probably give you an ear full.
One of the heaviest situations I have run into are some of the El Pollo Loco restaurants we service. Think about how many chickens they cook every day with three shifts a day. Now multiply that by a month and now by a year. All that grease drips down from the broiler and into the broiler floor drain. We are able to clear those lines to the extent that some of those customers are jetting once every year or year and a half. That's pretty incredible.
Hydro Jetting Roots
We've already mentioned roots but let me just say that completely cleaning the roots out of a line as opposed to punching a hole with a cable machine will allow longer intervals between services and also help to minimize the amount of damage done by the roots to the pipe itself. We are probably all familiar with that stretch of sidewalk in our neighborhood slowly buckling up over the years. Every year the concrete gets pushed up a bit more and more by the tree roots. Well the same thing is happening under the ground with respect to roots entering sewer and drain lines. If you don't keep these in check, they move the pipe more and more and can and often do cause pipes to crack and collapse. It's going to be expensive to fix and if the pipe is deep, it's going to be very expensive.
Hydro Jetting Debris
The other situation is debris. We had this job a while back where a lady was dumping her cats litter box into her toilet. This had been going on for quite some time till finally, you guessed it, the toilets didn't work anymore. Well you can't cable that type of a blockage. It's completely ineffective. All the cable does is stir the debris. We were able to actually pull a great deal of that material out of the line through the clean/out on the side of the house. Think of a badmitten bird. The little plastic skirted toy that you bat back and forth with a raquet. A hydro jetting nozzle looks similar when the water leaves the nozzle. If you go beyond the debris and slowly pull back, those fingers of high pressure water will pull the debris back with it as they scour the pipe walls. Pretty amazing result. We pulled a huge amount of cat litter out of their lines in just a couple of hours. When we left, everything was working perfectly.
Hydro jetting is more effective at longer distances.
Another neat thing about the hydro jetting process is that it is able to deliver it's full cleaning effectiveness at very great distances. Our machine carries 500 feet of hose. Many of our jobs require that or more. But what is interesting is that the nozzle delivers the same amount of pressure and cleaning quality if we are out 50 feet or 500 feet. This is in direct contrast to a cable machine. The motor on a cable machine produces a fixed amount of torque or power to rip through that clog or roots or whatever it may be. But the more cable that is run out of the machine, the less torque or power is transfered to the cutting head at the blockage. That is because the cable actually starts to absorb some of that energy. The more cable you have out, the more energy or torque is absorbed by the cable. A cable machine is also pretty much at the end of it's limit in the 150 to 200 ft range.
Doing The Impossible
Cast iron drain or sewer pipe that is fairly old tends to blister on the interior. This blistering makes the pipe very rough and it tends to catch debris, grease etc. With time, this can literally change the interior shape of the pipe with large ledges left and right of the flow channel line. These can get almost as hard as a rock. Hydro jetting is unique in that it is a process that is, in many instances, capable of returning that pipe back to a round condition and substantially smoothing out the surface. This may allow a customer to postpone pipe replacement and save them thousands of dollars. That isn't going to happen with a cable machine.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Disposal plumbing problems and don't put that down the drain
Customers don't want to hear it but I always tell them. Don't put anything down the disposal. It's not worth it. A great majority of the calls for clogged drains in a home come from the kitchen line and that is a grease issue. Wipe grease out of your pans out with a paper towel and throw that into the trash. Put all food waste into the trash. Never never never dump hamburger down the disposal. It's loaded with grease. All those fats,oils and grease collect within the pipe over time and cause problems. Sometimes they cause major problems. A heavy grease problem can't be cleared with an ordinary snake or cable. That means you'll have to have it hydro jetted and that won't be cheap. You think the disposal is a convienence but in the long run, if your using it instead of a trash can, it's going to cost you.
I use my disposal for the small scraps that get past me. That's it.
Now let me talk about the toilet as a disposal. I can't tell you how many times I find whole food in a sewer line overflow or backup. It amazes me. I've seen macaroni noodles, watermelon, the list goes on and on. The only way for that to get into the line is via the toilet. The toilet is not a disposal. Never put anything down the toilet but toilet paper and your business.
Don't put tampons, feminine napkins, baby wipes, kitchen wipes,dental floss or food down the toilet. They do not dissolve. They will migrate to the first turn or restriction and start a backup. I know the tampon packages say flushable but they're not going to reimburse you for the plumbing call. I had this one customer that had been dumping her cats litter box down the toilet. You can't rooter that out with a cable machine. It has to be Hydro jetted. It took us a couple of hours but we were literally able to pull a huge amount of that material out through the clean / out and onto the ground. It had to be about 10 to 15 pounds of material.
I use my disposal for the small scraps that get past me. That's it.
Now let me talk about the toilet as a disposal. I can't tell you how many times I find whole food in a sewer line overflow or backup. It amazes me. I've seen macaroni noodles, watermelon, the list goes on and on. The only way for that to get into the line is via the toilet. The toilet is not a disposal. Never put anything down the toilet but toilet paper and your business.
Don't put tampons, feminine napkins, baby wipes, kitchen wipes,dental floss or food down the toilet. They do not dissolve. They will migrate to the first turn or restriction and start a backup. I know the tampon packages say flushable but they're not going to reimburse you for the plumbing call. I had this one customer that had been dumping her cats litter box down the toilet. You can't rooter that out with a cable machine. It has to be Hydro jetted. It took us a couple of hours but we were literally able to pull a huge amount of that material out through the clean / out and onto the ground. It had to be about 10 to 15 pounds of material.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Area and Landscape drain cleaning do's and don'ts
Ok, for those of you that aren't aware of it, there is a huge difference between standard plumbing drains and pipes that you find inside a building and the area or landscape drains that you typically find on the exterior. First of all, when your in the home improvement store, take a look at the plastic pipe that is used for exterior area drains. It is much thinner and more flexible than what you will find designed for code acceptable plumbing installations. Also you need to look at the fittings that are used in the area / landscape drains. You will find that hard ninety degree turn fittings are common. These two charectaristics are the kiss of death and make it very difficult to run a cable machine in an area drain line without punching a hole in the pipe. Its a catch 22, if you run a smaller machine that won't punch a hole, it's not big or powerful enough to do any good with the roots. If you run the monster machine, your going to punch right through the back of the thinner plastic on the ninety degree turn fitting and probably bury the cable into the dirt. We see this all the time. We ( SuperJet Sewer and Drain Cleaning ) are always getting called out to try and fix the mess someone else created. If the cable gets buried in the dirt your most likely not going to able to retrieve it without digging up the problem area and if that's under concrete it's going to be expensive.
Another wonderful thing I have noticed is that many of the exterior drain installers don't even use glue to put the pipe joints together. It's just a tight pressure fit. It's crazy. Small amounts of water leak through these joints and it is a dinner bell for roots. As soon as roots locate a source of water, a massive invasion is sure to follow. If your designing a landscape drainage system on a new house, make sure the plumber uses standard plumbing fixtures and pipe and this is the most important part; make sure they design the layout so that it can be cleaned. By that I mean that A leads to B and B leads to C and so on.
We got called out to a professional building that had an open air interior courtyard that was backed up and flooded from days of rain with no end to the weather. Roto Rooter had been out there for hours before us and wasnt able to diagnose the layout and told the owners that it would probably take a day more with a camera to figure things out. They couldn't determine which way the pipes were running so they could not find the outflow to attack the blockage. No wonder. We hydro jetted and quickly determined that one entire side of the courtyard ran from one side to the other. So when we went to side A and ran the line, the nozzle came up out of the ground at the other end at point B. When we went to B and ran the hose it came back up out of the ground at the other end back at A. What the contractor had done was run one long pipe run with a "T" fitting in the middle of the run for the outflow to drain the run. Absolutely crazy, you can't clean the line. A cable or a hydro jetting nozzle just runs past the outflow point because the pipe run isn't directing the machinery toward the outflow. It took a careful camera inspection and alot of clear flushing water to find the outflow point. The whole place was just more and more of the same. It was absolutely a nightmare and the layout was put into the ground without a chance in hell of anyone ever being able to clean it without extroidinary measures.
This brings me to my next point. We see this all the time as well. Pipe runs where the outflow from the run comes off in a T and no chance of directing line cleaning equipment into the outflow to open blockages. Take a look at a "T" area drain fitting at the home improvement store and you'll have a pretty good idea of what I'm talking about. If your installing a drain system, don't let your contractor do this to you.
The next thing to keep in mind is that the majority of the time the area drains are impacted with roots and dirt. Dirt is heavy and when it's wet it's like concrete. Run a cable into this and more often than not you will get stuck big time. Get ready to dig. A much better alternative is to Hydro Jet the debris out of the line. Hydro Jetting uses high pressure water at very high volumes to shred the vegetation and put all the dirt up into suspension in the water allowing it to be flushed out of the line. SuperJet uses full size jetters that achieve high pressure with high volume of water flow. The high volume is critical to flushing the debris out once it has been loosened. Alot of companies will say they have jetters and they do jetting and on and on. Be sharp and ask questions. You want a full size machine ie. 4,000 psi at 18 gallons per minute. The smaller cart type jetters don't produce the volume of flow needed to flush the heavy debris out of the pipe. And your better off with a company that specializes in drain cleaning with a hydro jetter. If it's all you do day in and day out, you get very good at it.
The other thing to keep in mind is that high pressure water will not harm your plastic pipes.
Its a pretty amazing process. Don't forget to check out our video on our website. We shred a chicken in 43 seconds flat. http://www.superjetdrains.com/ and if your in Southern California, give us a call.
Superjet Hydro Jetting Sewer and Drain Cleaning, were the ones that know what were doing.
Another wonderful thing I have noticed is that many of the exterior drain installers don't even use glue to put the pipe joints together. It's just a tight pressure fit. It's crazy. Small amounts of water leak through these joints and it is a dinner bell for roots. As soon as roots locate a source of water, a massive invasion is sure to follow. If your designing a landscape drainage system on a new house, make sure the plumber uses standard plumbing fixtures and pipe and this is the most important part; make sure they design the layout so that it can be cleaned. By that I mean that A leads to B and B leads to C and so on.
We got called out to a professional building that had an open air interior courtyard that was backed up and flooded from days of rain with no end to the weather. Roto Rooter had been out there for hours before us and wasnt able to diagnose the layout and told the owners that it would probably take a day more with a camera to figure things out. They couldn't determine which way the pipes were running so they could not find the outflow to attack the blockage. No wonder. We hydro jetted and quickly determined that one entire side of the courtyard ran from one side to the other. So when we went to side A and ran the line, the nozzle came up out of the ground at the other end at point B. When we went to B and ran the hose it came back up out of the ground at the other end back at A. What the contractor had done was run one long pipe run with a "T" fitting in the middle of the run for the outflow to drain the run. Absolutely crazy, you can't clean the line. A cable or a hydro jetting nozzle just runs past the outflow point because the pipe run isn't directing the machinery toward the outflow. It took a careful camera inspection and alot of clear flushing water to find the outflow point. The whole place was just more and more of the same. It was absolutely a nightmare and the layout was put into the ground without a chance in hell of anyone ever being able to clean it without extroidinary measures.
This brings me to my next point. We see this all the time as well. Pipe runs where the outflow from the run comes off in a T and no chance of directing line cleaning equipment into the outflow to open blockages. Take a look at a "T" area drain fitting at the home improvement store and you'll have a pretty good idea of what I'm talking about. If your installing a drain system, don't let your contractor do this to you.
The next thing to keep in mind is that the majority of the time the area drains are impacted with roots and dirt. Dirt is heavy and when it's wet it's like concrete. Run a cable into this and more often than not you will get stuck big time. Get ready to dig. A much better alternative is to Hydro Jet the debris out of the line. Hydro Jetting uses high pressure water at very high volumes to shred the vegetation and put all the dirt up into suspension in the water allowing it to be flushed out of the line. SuperJet uses full size jetters that achieve high pressure with high volume of water flow. The high volume is critical to flushing the debris out once it has been loosened. Alot of companies will say they have jetters and they do jetting and on and on. Be sharp and ask questions. You want a full size machine ie. 4,000 psi at 18 gallons per minute. The smaller cart type jetters don't produce the volume of flow needed to flush the heavy debris out of the pipe. And your better off with a company that specializes in drain cleaning with a hydro jetter. If it's all you do day in and day out, you get very good at it.
The other thing to keep in mind is that high pressure water will not harm your plastic pipes.
Its a pretty amazing process. Don't forget to check out our video on our website. We shred a chicken in 43 seconds flat. http://www.superjetdrains.com/ and if your in Southern California, give us a call.
Superjet Hydro Jetting Sewer and Drain Cleaning, were the ones that know what were doing.
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