Ok, just finished this sewer gas smoke test, we got a phone call from a large popular chain restaurant in the San Diego area that has been suffering from plumbing sewer gas smell problems for years, literally years. They were referred to us by a property management company that we did an amazing sewer gas leak detection and smoke inspection for a year or so earlier. We had 2 attorneys and 3 or 4 principals following us around at every turn on that one. We nailed it and documented 4 points of infiltration. Everyone went home happy and all the lawsuits went away.
Ok, so we walk in the front door at this restaurant and whoa, no mistaking this one. Most of the time its, " well we smell it sometimes here or over there in the afternoon", not on this one. It was so strong that it was amazing. I can't believe anyone would sit and eat and we were told that it was like this all the time.
As usual, we got the call after numerous plumbers before us had been there and come away empty handed without finding the cause for the sewer smell. We found the little charcoal vent caps on the roof and some plumber had even re-routed vent lines but dumped them into enclosed building spaces. It was a mess.
So, we progress with our test and almost immediately, we determine that XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXX when you put your nose up to the hole, it was amazing, it was almost an instant headache from the sewer gas. It was a problem staying there at the top of a ladder. So we continued to XXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXX. It was incredibly difficult to see. The crawlspace was too tight for human access. We used a sewer camera to get a visual on the area. It told us what we wanted to know. The gas was coming from an attached column, via a crawlspace, that was outside of the restaurant.
Poor manager, here we are telling him, ok you have to bust into that column. It's in there somewhere. To his credit he didn't say it but he just looked at us like "I'm not comfortable with this." He had faith, after permission was obtained from the property management company, we cut two inspection holes into the wood framed stucco column. Don't forget this was outside his restaurant bordering on the walkway that went around the exterior. When we cut into the column, strong sewer gas was clearly evident. The first hole didn't provide a clear view so the second hole was cut on the opposit side and after a bit of searching inside the column, a hole in the concrete slab was located. It may have been a c/o that was improperly placed and broken off or an intended vent pipe snapped off and never fixed. In any event, we nailed it. We properly capped it and informed the property management company so they could follow up. Also I do believe that because the problem originated from the area outside of the restaurant under property management control, they are on the hook for the testing and repairs. This was a difficult one. I was really excited to solve this man's problem.
I called him the next morning to check up on things after the leak was capped. He told me he almost cried. I think he meant it. For the first time ever the smell was gone.
Superjet Sewer and Drain Cleaning, we're the ones that know what were doing.Superjet Hydro Jetting Sewer and Drain
Friday, October 29, 2010
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Superjet sewer and drain cleaning Testimonial
Ok, long story but a good one. Big sewer line overflow at a shopping center in Cerritos. The overflow makes it into the storm drains and the city has levied a $ 10,000.00 fine against those responsible. My client, client B, a property management co. gets involved in this mess because they share a portion of that shopping center with other owners.
The overflow actually happens on client A's corner of the property but his plumber, a big operation with quite a few trucks, tells him that the whole complex is tied together and the sewer line runs all the way around in a big horseshoe shape and into the line that overflowed. So it would be a shared responsibility.
Another huge problem is that the plumber for client "A" states that the main outgoing line is cast iron and completely falling apart and needs to be fixed immediately because the entire complex drains through it. The run was about 150 feet and I think the estimate was $17,000 to $20,000 and of course it needed to happen immediately as fast as possible.
Prior to laying out all this cash for fines and repairs, we were called in to diagnose the situation and map out the property by our client "B"
A quick check of a few clean/outs on the upper portion of the property showed that they had not even been opened in years. If they had, it would have been obvious to anyone that the sewer line did not run all in the same direction. The upper portion ran a completely different direction to a different connection on a different street. The direction of the sweep in the clean/out made this obvious. We double checked other runs by running a camera, locating and marking the runs above ground. Clearly 1/2 of the complex had no connection with the other at all.
Additional inspection showed that in the middle portion of the complex there were actually 2 side by side but separate sewer runs. They ran parallel to a point just before they ran together and then into the county sewer line. The lines became common just 50 feet before the sewer main connection.
This meant that the overflow was documented to be on one specfic line tied to one specific client, client "A".
We also inspected client "A"s sewer line and discovered that it was so heavily impacted with grease that it was impossible to make a determination of the pipe condition. We were asked by our client to hydro jet the line. When we hydro-jetted and then camera inspected the line, we discovered that the line was made of clay not cast iron and it was in perfect condtion mechanically. There was absolutely no need whatsoever for any repair.
Client "A" who ended up paying the full fine by himself is now our client. We saved him $17,000 + in repairs and we regularly hydro jet his lines to keep them free and clear of grease.
Client "B" we saved the shared cost of the $10,000 fine. They were happy.
Superjet Sewer and Drain Cleaning, "We're the ones that know what we're doing."
The overflow actually happens on client A's corner of the property but his plumber, a big operation with quite a few trucks, tells him that the whole complex is tied together and the sewer line runs all the way around in a big horseshoe shape and into the line that overflowed. So it would be a shared responsibility.
Another huge problem is that the plumber for client "A" states that the main outgoing line is cast iron and completely falling apart and needs to be fixed immediately because the entire complex drains through it. The run was about 150 feet and I think the estimate was $17,000 to $20,000 and of course it needed to happen immediately as fast as possible.
Prior to laying out all this cash for fines and repairs, we were called in to diagnose the situation and map out the property by our client "B"
A quick check of a few clean/outs on the upper portion of the property showed that they had not even been opened in years. If they had, it would have been obvious to anyone that the sewer line did not run all in the same direction. The upper portion ran a completely different direction to a different connection on a different street. The direction of the sweep in the clean/out made this obvious. We double checked other runs by running a camera, locating and marking the runs above ground. Clearly 1/2 of the complex had no connection with the other at all.
Additional inspection showed that in the middle portion of the complex there were actually 2 side by side but separate sewer runs. They ran parallel to a point just before they ran together and then into the county sewer line. The lines became common just 50 feet before the sewer main connection.
This meant that the overflow was documented to be on one specfic line tied to one specific client, client "A".
We also inspected client "A"s sewer line and discovered that it was so heavily impacted with grease that it was impossible to make a determination of the pipe condition. We were asked by our client to hydro jet the line. When we hydro-jetted and then camera inspected the line, we discovered that the line was made of clay not cast iron and it was in perfect condtion mechanically. There was absolutely no need whatsoever for any repair.
Client "A" who ended up paying the full fine by himself is now our client. We saved him $17,000 + in repairs and we regularly hydro jet his lines to keep them free and clear of grease.
Client "B" we saved the shared cost of the $10,000 fine. They were happy.
Superjet Sewer and Drain Cleaning, "We're the ones that know what we're doing."
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.
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.
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