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 problems. Show all posts
Showing posts with label drain problems. Show all posts
Monday, July 9, 2018
Wednesday, June 25, 2014
Landscape Drains and Area Drains Benefit from Hydro Jetting
The primary thing to keep in my when you are trying to clear problem area drains or landscape drains is that the culprit is usually a combination of three things in varying amounts.
The first is usually dirt. The drains usually occupy a low spot, if they were installed properly, and if the area around the drain is not protected or stabilized somehow by regulating the size of the material around the drain, you always end up with that material going into the drain, multiply that by10 - 15 years or more and you get a serious accumulation.
The second item is usually roots. Area or landscape drains are notorious for being installed at a lower quality standard. The majority of pipe joints we encounter with regard to landscape drains are not glued. The fact that they are simply press fitted together allows the joints to leak as they carry water to the outflow. That leak over time brings roots into the line through the joint, they grow and expand and many times the roots will deform the pipe. If the pipe has substantial dirt in it as well, now you have a mass of dirt with roots combined. This combination over years and years of accumulation, makes it pretty close to impossible to remove with a typical plumbers cable machine. The machine typically buries the cable into the dirt and many times it becomes stuck requiring a dig to get the cable out. If that happens to be under concrete, it's going to be expensive.
"You can not cable dirt." It just doesn't work.
Imagine using an electric drill, put any bit on it that you please, and start drilling into a 5 gallon bucket full of dirt. What do you think is going to happen? Nothing. Your going to move a little bit of dirt around but your certainly not going to remove the problem dirt.
Now, hit that same bucket of dirt with a firehose and what do you think is going to happen. Yes your right, no more dirt. The volume and pressure of the water will put the dirt into suspension in the water and flow it out of the bucket. Combine that with a rotating nozzle to cut roots and you begin to see the advantage hydro jetting has over running a cable.
The last item I would call "debris" and it usually ends up being chunks of something. I attached a couple of photographs to give you a "for instance."
The first is a very large amount of medium pebble rock that went into a customers landscape drains from around a koi pond. Some of it is visible here but we probably pulled out 15 to 20 lbs of pebble rock that had mixed in with dirt in a low spot in the line run. That could never have been removed with a cable machine.
The first is usually dirt. The drains usually occupy a low spot, if they were installed properly, and if the area around the drain is not protected or stabilized somehow by regulating the size of the material around the drain, you always end up with that material going into the drain, multiply that by10 - 15 years or more and you get a serious accumulation.
The second item is usually roots. Area or landscape drains are notorious for being installed at a lower quality standard. The majority of pipe joints we encounter with regard to landscape drains are not glued. The fact that they are simply press fitted together allows the joints to leak as they carry water to the outflow. That leak over time brings roots into the line through the joint, they grow and expand and many times the roots will deform the pipe. If the pipe has substantial dirt in it as well, now you have a mass of dirt with roots combined. This combination over years and years of accumulation, makes it pretty close to impossible to remove with a typical plumbers cable machine. The machine typically buries the cable into the dirt and many times it becomes stuck requiring a dig to get the cable out. If that happens to be under concrete, it's going to be expensive.
"You can not cable dirt." It just doesn't work.
Imagine using an electric drill, put any bit on it that you please, and start drilling into a 5 gallon bucket full of dirt. What do you think is going to happen? Nothing. Your going to move a little bit of dirt around but your certainly not going to remove the problem dirt.
Now, hit that same bucket of dirt with a firehose and what do you think is going to happen. Yes your right, no more dirt. The volume and pressure of the water will put the dirt into suspension in the water and flow it out of the bucket. Combine that with a rotating nozzle to cut roots and you begin to see the advantage hydro jetting has over running a cable.
The last item I would call "debris" and it usually ends up being chunks of something. I attached a couple of photographs to give you a "for instance."
The first is a very large amount of medium pebble rock that went into a customers landscape drains from around a koi pond. Some of it is visible here but we probably pulled out 15 to 20 lbs of pebble rock that had mixed in with dirt in a low spot in the line run. That could never have been removed with a cable machine.
Pebble rock removed from Landscape Drain with Hydro Jetting.
Grout material left in line by tile contractor after installing new backyard hardscape.
Note the large and small chunks of rocklike material removed with Hydro Jetting.
Close up of the hardened grout, note the half pipe shape clearly visible in the left rear piece.
With this type of material, the hydro jetting with high pressure water actually gets between the pipe wall and the grout and breaks it free to move. The water flows it out of the pipe. You could never remove this material with a cable machine.
Now let's be honest, there is no magic cure. Landscape drains are a very difficult type of problem because there are so many variables and landscape lines are generally not installed to code. For that same exact reason, many vendors will not service area drains.
Regardless of how effective our hydro jetting machine is, we have seen lines that could not be cleared for a number of reasons. Sometimes the pipes are no longer round from being crushed by a careless installer or deformed by root intrusion, or the layout and the use of T fittings instead of a swept turn will prevent you from getting through. Sometimes the roots are so heavy from so many years of neglect that it just isn't feasible to hydro jet and your better off replacing the line if the above ground hardscape allows it.
With all things being equal, Hydro jetting is by far a much more effective process at removing a variety of different types of debris.
Large root mass quickly chewed up by the warthog nozzle. Note the size of the roots as compared to the 1/2 inch I/D of the green hose.
Superjet Sewer and Drain Cleaning.
Superjet Sewer and Drain Cleaning.
Superjet Hydro jetting demonstration video
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
Monday, April 30, 2012
Grand Theft Plumbing problems Sewer and Drain Style
Ok, another great story with a happy ending. A good customer called us to inspect a line that they were having repeat problems on. It was a commercial property with quite a few tennants including a mix of food and administrative businesses and my customer, a property management company, suspected that the restaurants were causing the problems with their contribution of grease to the line. We were going to video document who or what was causing the problem so that appropriate measures could be taken.
We had the inspection scheduled for later in the week and then we got a frantic phone call from the property manager that the line was backed up again, it had just been cleared by a rooter company a week or so earlier, and he was very concerened that the overflow in the parking lot might end up in a large fine with the city. From my experience, Cerritos, Ca commonly levies fines in the neighborhood of $10,000 for any sewage outflow that makes it into a storm drain.
I was concerned that I couldn't get to him fast enough, we were about an hour and a half out. With the threat of a $10,000 fine looming I told him to just have his rooter guy pop the line back open to stop the overflow. I'll hydro jet the line and inspect as soon as I can get there.
Well guess what, the rooter guy, a big franchise operation, "couldn't get the line open with a mainline cable." It happens now and then. "He insisted that they needed to hydro jet the line themselves in order to open the line." So the property manager agreed. Normally we do the hydro jetting and diagnosis for him for a reason. We are very good at what we do. Check out this link for stories from the same customer.Same customer another great story from Superjetdrains
Needless to say I wasn't too excited about the phone call telling me that the rooter guy got the hydro jetting work but it happens, and my primary concern was for my customer to avoid a monster fine. I lost the job but my customer was taken care of.
I'll say he was taken care of, they charged him $1,200.00 to hydro jet the line. That is three times what we charge. Alot of these companies pull that scam. They know they have you over a barrel at that point and they just throw out a number crazy as it is. It's pure profit for everybody, everyone is making their percentange.
Guess what happened next....your going to love this. So a week goes by and I talked to my client and told him that I can probably still do the video inspection on the line to determine who is contributing to the grease. I told him that chances are good that the rooter company probably did a quick jetting job and that there is still probably some grease in the line to show who is causing the problem. So he sends us out to document it on video.
We get there and there are only three clean/outs that could have been used to clear the line covering a distance of maybe 180 feet total. We started the video at the upper end c/o and we had a hell of a time just getting a picture. Every time we put the camera in the hole it was absolutely covered in grease and we had to pull it out, wipe it off and go again. We did this about 4 or 5 times before we were able to see anything. After we were actually able to see the pipe wall itself it was clearly evident that this stretch of pipe, about 80 feet, had'nt been touched by a hydro jetter. The pipe walls were coated with a very thick layer of white grease almost like cake frosting and it was absolutely plain that a hydro jetting nozzle had not passed through this pipe. It would have left large and unmistakeable score marks in the grease. Just like walking in the snow. If someone has passed by, your going to know it. What was also odd was that the entire pipe run for the complex could have been serviced, all the way to the mainline vault, from this one clean/out. There was no reason to use another c/o. If you hit this one, you would get the blockage and clean the entire line at the same time.
I gave them the benefit of the doubt and inspected the remaining two clean/outs. Both of the remaining clean/outs showed the pipe walls covered with thick grease and again absolutely no sign of having been serviced by a hydro jetter. Absolutely no doubt about it. Not only that but at the turn just before the third c/o there was a huge chunk of grease coming off the pipe wall and about to drop. I called my client and informed him that this was critical and needed to be serviced ASAP. It could back up at any moment. He contacted the rooter company to make good on what they were supposed to have done.
In the time that they took to get back to him, you guessed it, the line backed up again. This time Superjet hydro jetted the line completely and thoroughly and provided a wonderful before and after video. It was just like night and day.
Last I heard my client was raking the other guys over the coals. I hope so. It looks like grand theft to me. Grand Theft California penal code
Superjet Sewer and Drain Cleaning, were the ones that know what we're doing.
Superjet Hydro Jetting Sewer and Drain
We had the inspection scheduled for later in the week and then we got a frantic phone call from the property manager that the line was backed up again, it had just been cleared by a rooter company a week or so earlier, and he was very concerened that the overflow in the parking lot might end up in a large fine with the city. From my experience, Cerritos, Ca commonly levies fines in the neighborhood of $10,000 for any sewage outflow that makes it into a storm drain.
I was concerned that I couldn't get to him fast enough, we were about an hour and a half out. With the threat of a $10,000 fine looming I told him to just have his rooter guy pop the line back open to stop the overflow. I'll hydro jet the line and inspect as soon as I can get there.
Well guess what, the rooter guy, a big franchise operation, "couldn't get the line open with a mainline cable." It happens now and then. "He insisted that they needed to hydro jet the line themselves in order to open the line." So the property manager agreed. Normally we do the hydro jetting and diagnosis for him for a reason. We are very good at what we do. Check out this link for stories from the same customer.Same customer another great story from Superjetdrains
Needless to say I wasn't too excited about the phone call telling me that the rooter guy got the hydro jetting work but it happens, and my primary concern was for my customer to avoid a monster fine. I lost the job but my customer was taken care of.
I'll say he was taken care of, they charged him $1,200.00 to hydro jet the line. That is three times what we charge. Alot of these companies pull that scam. They know they have you over a barrel at that point and they just throw out a number crazy as it is. It's pure profit for everybody, everyone is making their percentange.
Guess what happened next....your going to love this. So a week goes by and I talked to my client and told him that I can probably still do the video inspection on the line to determine who is contributing to the grease. I told him that chances are good that the rooter company probably did a quick jetting job and that there is still probably some grease in the line to show who is causing the problem. So he sends us out to document it on video.
We get there and there are only three clean/outs that could have been used to clear the line covering a distance of maybe 180 feet total. We started the video at the upper end c/o and we had a hell of a time just getting a picture. Every time we put the camera in the hole it was absolutely covered in grease and we had to pull it out, wipe it off and go again. We did this about 4 or 5 times before we were able to see anything. After we were actually able to see the pipe wall itself it was clearly evident that this stretch of pipe, about 80 feet, had'nt been touched by a hydro jetter. The pipe walls were coated with a very thick layer of white grease almost like cake frosting and it was absolutely plain that a hydro jetting nozzle had not passed through this pipe. It would have left large and unmistakeable score marks in the grease. Just like walking in the snow. If someone has passed by, your going to know it. What was also odd was that the entire pipe run for the complex could have been serviced, all the way to the mainline vault, from this one clean/out. There was no reason to use another c/o. If you hit this one, you would get the blockage and clean the entire line at the same time.
I gave them the benefit of the doubt and inspected the remaining two clean/outs. Both of the remaining clean/outs showed the pipe walls covered with thick grease and again absolutely no sign of having been serviced by a hydro jetter. Absolutely no doubt about it. Not only that but at the turn just before the third c/o there was a huge chunk of grease coming off the pipe wall and about to drop. I called my client and informed him that this was critical and needed to be serviced ASAP. It could back up at any moment. He contacted the rooter company to make good on what they were supposed to have done.
In the time that they took to get back to him, you guessed it, the line backed up again. This time Superjet hydro jetted the line completely and thoroughly and provided a wonderful before and after video. It was just like night and day.
Last I heard my client was raking the other guys over the coals. I hope so. It looks like grand theft to me. Grand Theft California penal code
Superjet Sewer and Drain Cleaning, were the ones that know what we're doing.
Superjet Hydro Jetting Sewer and Drain
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."
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Plumber tells this guy "your pipes are a mess"
Plumber tells this guy, "your pipes are a mess, all filled up with rust debris from the cast iron pipe. You need to dig up the washer / kitchen line. We can do it for $2,500."
So what do you think we (Superjet) find when we get there? You guessed it. ABS PLASTIC PIPE. It was a grease problem and nothing more. We had it perfectly clean and showed the homeowner the entire run on video from the rear clean/out to city main in less than an hour.
The homeowners email to us regarding our service follows:
Name: David Rogers
Email: davidrogers@xxxxcom
Phone: 619-549-xxxx
Services Required: Other
Comments: You guys did a great, honest job. I had a plumber come out and tell me that my cast iron pipe has rusted shut after he tried to snake it because when he pulled his rusty snake out of it, it had rust on it. He wanted $2500 bucks to dig up my yard to run a new line. You guys came out and said no, its a plastic pipe and jetted the grease out of it in about an hour. Thanks for honest work at 1/5 the price!!!
So what do you think we (Superjet) find when we get there? You guessed it. ABS PLASTIC PIPE. It was a grease problem and nothing more. We had it perfectly clean and showed the homeowner the entire run on video from the rear clean/out to city main in less than an hour.
The homeowners email to us regarding our service follows:
Name: David Rogers
Email: davidrogers@xxxxcom
Phone: 619-549-xxxx
Services Required: Other
Comments: You guys did a great, honest job. I had a plumber come out and tell me that my cast iron pipe has rusted shut after he tried to snake it because when he pulled his rusty snake out of it, it had rust on it. He wanted $2500 bucks to dig up my yard to run a new line. You guys came out and said no, its a plastic pipe and jetted the grease out of it in about an hour. Thanks for honest work at 1/5 the price!!!
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.
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.
Never Never Never sign a lease or buy a building without a sewer inspection.
I can't tell you how many customers I have that are just sick. They hold leases on their restaurants or buildings and they come to find out that they have major sewer or drain line problems that have clearly been there prior to their move in. Unfortunately most commercial leases that I am aware of make the tenant responsible for all the drains and sewer lines within the building up to the mainline tie in outside of the building. I have a sweet lady, we'll call her Edith. She has been in this restaurant space for 6 or 7 years and she has constantly had to fight various drain problems. We have smoke tested her place several times on different occassions because of very strong sewer gas leaks within the building. We found degraded vent pipes in the walls and in the drop ceiling. These sections of degraded pipe allowed sewer gas to enter the building and it was affecting her business in a big way. We find and fix her problems when they pop up but there is a cost. The cost of the test, sometimes the walls have to be opened then repaired and then there is the business lost. That's just the vent pipes.
She also has regular sewer line backup issues because of degraded cast iron lines. Some lines are old and very rough. Sometimes this can be helped a bit with hydro jetting. Hydro Jetting with a large powerful machine can smooth out this rough pipe to some extent but if the pipe is getting thin with age or worse yet has holes in it, there isn't alot you can do short of major repair. The repair costs for what Edith is facing are easily in the ballpark of $6,000 plus. All this falls on her because of the way the lease is written. Take a look at the following link that shows a video of a seriously cracked sewer pipe that runs just under the corner of an apartment building.
http://www.superjetdrains.com/videos.php
We were able to line it with a cured in place pipe liner. If we had to excavate things would have been very expensive.
I would strongly recommend to anyone who is considering buying any sort of a building or leasing a property that they perform a camera inspection of the sewer and accessible drain lines. I would suggest a sewer and drain expert or specialist as opposed to just a run of the mill plumber. The specialist is going to have a much better understanding of what there looking at because it's all they do. If your in Southern California, give us a call. SuperJet Sewer and Drain Cleaing. SuperJetDrains.com It is what we do.
A visual inspection will quickly locate problems like a severe belly or low spot in a line that acts as a collection spot for debris. These are very often the cause of repeated backups. These cant be fixed short of digging it up and repairing it. ( We just did a diagnosis inspection of a beautiful house worth over a million dollars with a wide open floor plan and a long span across the house covered in beautiful stonework. The sewer line runs across the house under this same stonework and is plauged with multiple low spots or bellies in the line that regularly cause backups. The only way to fix this is to dig it up and regrade the pipe run. His only other option is to hire us on a regular basis to do a preventative maintenance with Hydro Jetting the sewer line.)
The other thing that comes to mind is that now many cities are making the homeowner responsible for the entire sewer lateral that runs from their house all the way to the cites mainline tie in point in the street. This is serious stuff. If you have a problem in that run after it hits the street, the cost to repair can be huge. A common number for a repair in the street with all it's additional issues, permits, certifications and costs can go $30,000+ very quickly. Think about that for a minute. How many houses or properties have you bought and did you ever do a sewer inspection?
One last thought, I do this for a living. About 50% of the time when we run a camera to inspect a line for whatever reason, we find a problem.
She also has regular sewer line backup issues because of degraded cast iron lines. Some lines are old and very rough. Sometimes this can be helped a bit with hydro jetting. Hydro Jetting with a large powerful machine can smooth out this rough pipe to some extent but if the pipe is getting thin with age or worse yet has holes in it, there isn't alot you can do short of major repair. The repair costs for what Edith is facing are easily in the ballpark of $6,000 plus. All this falls on her because of the way the lease is written. Take a look at the following link that shows a video of a seriously cracked sewer pipe that runs just under the corner of an apartment building.
http://www.superjetdrains.com/videos.php
We were able to line it with a cured in place pipe liner. If we had to excavate things would have been very expensive.
I would strongly recommend to anyone who is considering buying any sort of a building or leasing a property that they perform a camera inspection of the sewer and accessible drain lines. I would suggest a sewer and drain expert or specialist as opposed to just a run of the mill plumber. The specialist is going to have a much better understanding of what there looking at because it's all they do. If your in Southern California, give us a call. SuperJet Sewer and Drain Cleaing. SuperJetDrains.com It is what we do.
A visual inspection will quickly locate problems like a severe belly or low spot in a line that acts as a collection spot for debris. These are very often the cause of repeated backups. These cant be fixed short of digging it up and repairing it. ( We just did a diagnosis inspection of a beautiful house worth over a million dollars with a wide open floor plan and a long span across the house covered in beautiful stonework. The sewer line runs across the house under this same stonework and is plauged with multiple low spots or bellies in the line that regularly cause backups. The only way to fix this is to dig it up and regrade the pipe run. His only other option is to hire us on a regular basis to do a preventative maintenance with Hydro Jetting the sewer line.)
The other thing that comes to mind is that now many cities are making the homeowner responsible for the entire sewer lateral that runs from their house all the way to the cites mainline tie in point in the street. This is serious stuff. If you have a problem in that run after it hits the street, the cost to repair can be huge. A common number for a repair in the street with all it's additional issues, permits, certifications and costs can go $30,000+ very quickly. Think about that for a minute. How many houses or properties have you bought and did you ever do a sewer inspection?
One last thought, I do this for a living. About 50% of the time when we run a camera to inspect a line for whatever reason, we find a problem.
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