Choosing a Drain Service

Who to Call for Help Cleaning and Clearing Drains and for Plumbing Repair

By Andam Persand

Many things can go wrong with plumbing in the home or apartment. Knowing which professional to call will save the homeowner or renter both time and money. Should a drain cleaning rooter service be called, or is a fully licensed and bonded plumber required? Can the neighborhood handyman clear up the problem or could the homeowner even do it themselves?

 

The first concern should always be safety and following the law. If construction or severe weather has damaged any water mains, wastewater lines, natural gas pipes, or power lines you should call 911 to prevent further property damage and personal injury. Other utility conduits, such as cable television lines, do not require calling 911-in these cases consult a utility bill or the telephone book for the telephone number to call.

When looking for a local emergency, utility, or business phone number online, include the zip code in your search query. Most search engines will provide relevant local results when a zip code is included.

If flooding has caused a standing water situation, there is a risk of property damage and a potential health hazard. Do not work with electricity or non-approved electrical devices near standing water. Do not add caustic liquid drain cleaner to standing water in sinks, tubs, toilets, or on the floor. Liquid drain cleaner will make the situation more dangerous to property and person. Wikipedia says acidic and caustic liquid drain cleaners are "among the most hazardous household products available to the public." Standing water must be removed by pump, bailing, or mopping up before the problem can be further addressed safely.

If a sewer backup, storm drain malfunction, or severe weather has caused major flooding, extreme caution must be exercised. Flood cleanup is beyond the scope of this article, but the North Dakota Department of Health has an excellent collection of flood disaster cleanup, health, and safety information.

Minor flooding can be cleared by the homeowner or a qualified professional. When a household drain has backed up or is performing poorly with slow flow, a drain cleaning rooter service will be able to diagnose and remedy the trouble. Drain cleaning business provide a variety of different services for restoring flow to the different household drains and for addressing the many different problems that can arise.

A licensed plumber or fully bonded contractor should be consulted whenever any work is done that replaces or adds new plumbing to existing structures. Also call a plumber for replacing or adding showers, bathtubs, dishwashers, and kitchen sinks. Some home plumbing tasks, such as replacing a toilet or bathroom sink are straightforward enough to be done by the homeowner on the weekend, but these larger projects are more complex and for best results should be done by a professional. Many localities require that this type of work be done by licensed professionals.

Other drain problems can be handled by drain cleaning services or a well-equipped homeowner. Do not attempt to accomplish plumbing tasks without the proper tools. Most pipes and plumbing are easily damaged irreparably, including scratching chrome and chipping or cracking porcelain. Call a drain service before attempting something that could cause permanent damage.

Drain cleaning services have a number of different tools and techniques for busting clogs, clearing pipes, and restoring flow. Most will arrive equipped with both handheld and motorized drain augers. Many can also use stiff but flexible hooked rods for reaming and scraping out pipes. One very effective service is drain and sewer jetting, where the professional sends a hose down the lines equipped with a special nozzle to spray water at extreme pressure, rinsing away and flushing down the pipes everything from grease and oil to tree roots and mineral build up. Modern drain service businesses will be equipped for video inspection of the lines, sending a camera down the insides of pipes to find and identify the issue.

When a drain is recurrently becoming clogged, when multiple drains in a home are showing symptoms, or when the clog or blockage has formed deep in the pipes, then a drain service should be called, for example, a local rooter or drain cleaning business. For work on pipes supplying water to the home or building, or for major repair or renovation, get a plumber to do the job right. For a one time clog or plugged drain, consult a handyman or purchase a plunger, closet auger, or handheld drain auger for the home.

Clogged Drain Prevention

Learn How Maintain Free Flow in Household Plumbing

In the typical home you will encounter a number of different drains, each with their specific use and function. Kitchen sinks for example, will frequently have a garbage disposal attached, and can accept kinds of waste that would not be acceptable in a bathroom--or lavatory--sink. There are types of drains that will be found in every building or home. Knowing their purposes and capabilities will allow for best clog prevention practices, and the quickest clearing of any troubles that do arise.

In the home, kitchen drains are attached to sinks and dishwashers. Restaurants and related businesses will also have floor drains found in kitchens.

 A common thought is that if a sink has a garbage disposal that just anything can be tossed in as long as the disposal is run. This belief has paid the college tuition for many a plumber's kid. The fact is, garbage disposals can grind certain food and waste into particles small enough to flush away, but a disposal drain is just as vulnerable as any other to the most common causes of clogging: fats, oils, greases, and grits. Fatty substances will congeal on the interiors of pipes, and will ignore garbage disposals on the way. Then grit like coffee grounds, egg shells, or disposal residue sticks to the grease, and eventually flow through the pipes is constricted.

To prevent clogs in kitchen drains always dispose of fats and grease by pouring into a can and tossing it in the trash. Pouring grease down the drain is asking for trouble, but if a blockage does develop, there are still many do-it-yourself options available for clearing the clog.

The other common drain in home kitchens carries wastewater away from the dishwashing machine. To prevent clogs in drains from older model dishwashers, scraping and pre-rinsing of dishes is advised. Newer model dishwashers will be attached to the nearby garbage disposal, and will be able to handle larger particles of waste, but plates should still be scraped before placing in the dishwasher.
Laundry drains, shop sink drains, floor drains, pool drains and the like fall in to the category of utility drains. Each of these will have particular expectations about what it can carry away.

To prevent clogs in utility drains, they should always be properly assembled. Cover all open drains with attached strainers to prevent solid objects from falling in. Floor drains should have backflow prevention devices installed in addition to protective straining plates.

Also common in the same area as laundry machines or work sinks are floor drains. These are some of the least used but most important drains in the home. Floor drains generally exist for the purpose of flood prevention--they allow water in the area to drain away. But when floor drains fall into disrepair through damage or neglected upkeep, they may not function properly. When this happens water can not only be prevented from flowing away, but in worst case scenarios can even back up from the sewer into the building, causing flooding and potentially destroying property. For this reason, floor and even patio drains should be equipped with well maintained backflow prevention valves.

No other room has more drains than the bathroom. A typical bathroom will have a lavatory basin drain, a shower or bathtub drain, and perhaps the most important drain in the house, the toilet.

Shower drains must have straining plates in place to prevent objects like bottle caps and soap shards from falling in. Longer hair can also build up and slow the drain over time. Plates will prevent this by catching much of the debris for easy removal.

Tubs and bathroom sinks will have stopper assemblies. Their design will differ, but most work by means of a linked leverage to raise and lower the stopper device. This linkage assembly will serve the purpose of a strainer, and catch quite a bit of debris which will build up over time.

Finally there is the humble workhorse of the head, the commode. Toilets are among the greatest achievements of civilization, and we each depend on their functioning properly. When a toilet fails you can feel as if a friend has let you down. But despair not, because clogged toilets are easily fixed when you own the right tools and know how to use them.

 Indeed, clogged toilets need not be the end of the world, or even the cause of a bad day. 

Most blockages in toilets are easily cleared, with a little advance preparation, sound advice, and proper tools.

Home Drain Snaking

What Is a Handheld Drain Auger?

Handheld Drain Auger Definition

Drain snakes (or augers) are stiff cables with weighted tips that can snake down your household plumbing, busting up or even extracting any obstruction they encounter. The smaller handheld tools are suitable for clearing clogs in drains in kitchens, bathrooms, laundry, garage and workshop, or pool and patio drainage.

Because a backed up or slowly flowing drain is one of the most irritating potentially most damaging, in terms of property, household emergencies, and because a plumber's bill can easily run into the hundreds for off-hours visits, an inexpensive tool like a handheld drain auger usually makes up its own cost in its first use. Large or active households will find many uses for their drain spinner, particularly models small enough to allow use without requiring removal of stoppers or straining plates.

Different Snake Designs

Designs will vary in spooling out the cable; some are pistol-gripped devices while many larger core drain snakes are simply loosely coiled. Most handheld drain augers of the smallest size available with metal cables come with a spool that can be rotated along with the cable. This drum shaped housing can sometimes be attached to a cordless drill for power rotating. Smaller tools, seen on TV, are made of plastic and too short and flimsy for serious work. True drain snakes will have at least 1/4 inch metal cables of up to 25 feet in length. They are versatile enough to get down a bathtub overflow drain, but strong enough to handle any blockage they encounter.

Drain Snakes and Closet Augers

Do not use these smaller drain snakes on a toilet. The narrow cable can easily become tangled in the wide toilet drain, and if a knot forms beyond reach, you are stuck with an incredible restoration to get it out. This is a rookie move, don't do it. Only use snakes designed for commodes, called closet augers, on toilets. The design of closet augers makes them safe for use on toilets.

Safety Comes First

And safety always should be a primary concern. While your handheld drain auger is safe for use on other drains in the house, be aware the heavy cable head and rough metal cable can easily damage other fixtures. Use an old washcloth over the area to prevent scratching any porcelain or chrome in your workspace. Eye protection is advisable, because there can be some splashing of dirty water and filth.

Clear That Clog

Drain snakes may be even easier to use than a plunger! Always follow your owner's manual instructions, but there isn't much to the basic principles. Extend the cable down the drain, rotating, backing up and moving forward around corners, until you get the impression you have cleared the clog. Standing water should flow away; often you will hear a gurgling noise as the blockage comes clear. Flush fresh water down the drain as you remove the cable back onto its spool, washing it clean then dry with a towel before storage.

Where to Get a Handheld Drain Auger

If you have a few moments to make your drain snake purchase decision, then do some online research. For drain auger product reviews, visit uncloggingdrains101.com.

How to Unclog a Shower Drain

Helpful Hints to Clear That Clog

Clearing a shower drain of clogs shouldn't be a hassle! Follow these steps to get things flowing again.

 Leave Strainers In Place If Possible

When working with shower drains, take care not to drop any screws down the drain and have a receptacle prepared to keep all small parts safely out of the way. Instead of a simple strainer, your shower may have a trap directly beneath the drain, but the procedure for cleaning then plunging still applies.

Clear, Plunge, Clean

A little softening can be helpful in breaking up large or dense clogs. You can let the clog soak in a mixture of grease busting dish-soap and hot water. If your shower has standing water refusing to drain, squirt some soap directly down the hole, next pour hot water from a height into the drain. The hotter the water the better, but be smart and do not use water so hot that a splash would burn your skin, and do not pour hot water into a mixture containing liquid drain cleaner! Let the soap soften up the clog for a few hours if you can. If the clog has not drained away, you can move on to the next suggestions.

Shed Some Light on the Situation

You can peer into the drain with a flashlight, and can see the obstruction or have an idea of its location, then your first priority should be to remove all the debris from the drainpipe. A wire coat hanger, bent to take advantage of the squiggle into a hair-snagging hook could be all you need, along with some patience, to extract the mass forming the clog.
Even in the case of standing water, you can safely stick your bent hanger down the drain, and scrape the sides as you go, rapidly busting up anything in reach. Always opt to remove the gunk with gloved hands to toss in the trash, rather than trying to rinse it down the drain and possibly out of reach.

Using a Plunger

Any clog that survives the coat hanger treatment will surely be weakened and ready to fall to the plunger. Your goal with the plunger is again to break up the clog, removing as much of the debris as possible from the drain, and finishing with pipes flowing as smoothly as ever.
With that in mind, if your clog has been softened with a soaking in dish soap and weakened with pokes by your hanger, or even if the blockage is out of reach, you next step is to try the plunger.

Form a Tight Seal

Placing the plunger over the hole of the drain, form and maintain a tight seal as you vigorously work the plunger up and down for up to a dozen strokes before checking. Release the seal carefully to avoid backsplash. If you have trouble maintaining a tight seal you can apply a small amount of petroleum jelly around the lip of the plunger and drain (not too much!) to plug the gaps.

Snake It

If you own a handheld drain auger (also known as a Plumber's Snake), then it may be just the ticket. A drain auger is a long, stiff cable which can be threaded into plumbing to bore a clear path. A good auger can be worth its weight when it comes to cutting down on calls to the plumber for active or large households.

That Should Do It

I hope that did the trick and you were able to unclog your shower drain. If not, run the steps one more time, maybe you are weakening that clog! Liquid drain cleaner is a possible solution, but only if the clog is oily, soapy, and hairy. If you have a more serious clog, that a plunger and auger won't get, you may need to find a local professional.

Hydro Jetting

Washing Drain Pipes, Sewer and Conduits With Pressurized Water

By Andam Persand

Drain and sewer jetting is an extremely effective method for cleaning and clearing blocked drains. The interior walls of plumbing are rinsed completely clean of grime and clogs, with the filth washed away by the torrents of water.

The hydro jetters used by professionals are industrial sized units with the ability to deliver water at incredible cutting force under thousands of pounds of pressure per square inch. Homeowners and handymen can invest in smaller units, or purchase an attachment for the common pressure washer.

 

Jetters are amazingly versatile at all sizes. There are new applications being discovered constantly for the technology, limited only by imagination and circumstance. Besides plumbing, uses have been found involving blast washing of any surface, the cleaning of HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning) conduits, and trailblazing for fiber optic cables.

Their remarkable utility comes from a combination of ingenuity and determination. Advances in hydro mechanics have made pressure washers and similar tools affordable and portable. Combined with precision-machined spray nozzles, these tools deliver water with cutting ability that is hard to believe. Industrial units can cut metal and be used for demolition work. Home units can be expected to clear, clean, and cut everything typically encountered in plumbing, including greasy, oily built up blockages, gnarled intrusive tree roots, accumulation of coffee grinds or other gritty residue, and standard sewage.

Hydro jetting is perfect for when build up on the inside of pipes or lines is wide-spread and resilient. A very common problem is extensive and thick accumulation of a material on the insides of pipes or lines. Examples include mineral build up from hard water, plaque-like crusts from bacterial infestations, and drains downstream of greasy or oily workspaces. Unlike drain augers, which are cables threaded through plumbing, drain jetters totally clear everything in their path. Augers can frequently leave corners and sides untouched.

Drain jetting systems also have another benefit over auger cables or plumber's snakes: the nozzles spray water backwards, creating a thrust which pulls the wash nozzle farther down the line. Auger cables and similar devices must be corkscrewed and forced around corners and bends, whereas jetter nozzles enjoy more freedom of movement. Washing nozzles can pull themselves through the plumbing, pulling their support hose behind them, and even bringing along a fiber optic cable to a remote inspection camera.

Hydro jetting is undoubtedly one of the most modern and impressive drain cleaning technologies available. It has bonuses for the homeowner or handyman considering a purchase, because a washer is so much more useful than an auger or plunger. When enlisting the help of a drain servicing professional, inquire if hydro jetting, or drain and sewer jetting, is a service that they offer.

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Andam believes high-quality information will be very valuable in the near future, and creates, edits, updates, and annotates her articles with that in mind. Andam also writes about drain services and cleaning and clearing drains for http://UncloggingDrains101.com as well as writing for her personal blog and other information sites on the internet.

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