I got one of those calls I just love.

Property manager calls us out today, Sunday 10 am. Mainline sewer for a house.  Not excited about working Sunday but you know what they say, "make hay while the sun shines."  So 2 plumbers have been out there before us and they couldn't get it.  Over 100 feet out from the front yard c/o and neither one of them could reach it.
Ok, so I have 600 feet of hose on the hydro jetter so I'm confident I'm going to reach.  So when I get there, I get the rest of the story.  It seems the line backed up a month ago and another plumber was able to get it open then but the manager didn't know how far out he was when he opened the line.  But the mere fact that it was just cabled a month ago tells me it's roots and there back.  Prior plumber probably did a mediocre job last time so it didn't take long for it to back up again.  I know the problem is over 100 feet out.  So I jet with the big hose and big trailer mounted jetter and I could feel it chew through a few spots but then I hit the "spot".  I parked on it with the standard nozzle for a very long time, easlily 5 to 7 minutes without any results or movement at all, line burped a bit but it would not clear.  Ran it at almost full pressure just under 4,000 psi.
Made the change to the warthog spinner nozzle, the ws for 1/2" hose.  quickly ran back out to the stop point and parked on it just a couple inches back and let the nozzle do it's thing.  About a minute goes by and I can see slight progress as the hose inches slowly in. 5 minutes later and we had chewed through about 6 feet of blockage and after that we immediately dropped into the city main in the street.  You could clearly hear the line drain out and we could hear the echo of the nozzle as it went out into the city connection.  We pulled back and jetted that spot about 4 times slowly going back through and into the city connection.  Bad news was that the problem spot is in the street.  He didn't want to run a camera just yet, trying to get a home warranty company to ok that first., but I told him, the blockage is in the street. not a good thing you need to diagnose it properly.
Just the same he was really happy.  We cleared it when the other guys could not.  We love that.
Mind you just the same it was definitely a difficult blockage.  Even with our big machine, it was slow going.  But it's nice to make the customer happy.  He said, no messing around any more, give me your card and I'll call you first.  Nice.
Mark Superjet Sewer and Drain Cleaning
Make sure to check out our 2 new youtube ads.  I promise it's entertaining.
The Russian Grease Conspiracy
Attack of the Sewer Roots

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.

www.superjetdrains.com

What to be mindful of when cleaning your landscape drains.

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.

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.

www.Superjetdrains.com

Superjet Hydro jetting demonstration video

 

El Nino is coming, don't fail to prepare.

"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