Jetting: The Safe & Natural Drain Cleaning Method

For pretty much as long as we have had indoor plumbing and drain systems, we have had to deal with drains becoming clogged up with debris. Removing these clogs is always a pain—it’s messy, usually comes with an unpleasant smell, and isn’t all that sanitary. To try and make this tedious plumbing service easier, people have come up with a variety of different tools or “easy” ways of eliminating clogs. However, these methods are often more trouble than their worth. Specifically, chemical drain cleaners use extremely corrosive chemicals to eat away at clogs, but they also eat away indiscriminately at your plumbing lines themselves, and that could make an already messy issue even worse. And it permanently damages our ecosystem as well.

Today, we have found significantly safer and more effective ways of cleaning drains without the risk to your health or the environment. One such method is jetting—a fairly new but remarkably effective drain cleaning process that consistently produces some of the most complete results. This blog will take a closer look at this process so you can better understand it and figure out if it can help your home!

What Is Jetting?

Jetting is a drain cleaning process that uses a stream of water under extremely high pressure to blast away clogs, debris, and other obstructions in your drain line. The process involves feeding a specialized water jet nozzle into your drain, either through your sewer exit itself or through a drain cleanout access hole. When a pressure washer blasts water through this nozzle, it quickly obliterates any obstructions in its path while simultaneously scrubbing the walls of your drain line to remove any particles and debris that might be stuck. In a way, it’s sort of like a pressure washer cleaning you would do for your home’s siding or your patio, only for the inside of your drain lines instead.

Why Choose Jetting?

Jetting is actually one of the safest and most effective ways of removing virtually any clog from your drain lines. The jetting process is designed to be remarkably effective at removing clogs from pipes of a wide variety of sizes. In fact, jetting can often be used for pipes as small as an inch wide or less to as large as four inches across. That means it can be used for pretty much every single drain line you have.

In addition, the jetting process is harsh on debris, but not on these pipes themselves. The process removes clogs without further damaging drain lines with metal-on-metal grinding or the use of harsh chemicals. No further corrosion, no added weak spots, and no missed debris that could contribute to clogs reforming again not long after your initial drain cleaning service. Plus, with proper plumbing cleanouts located around your home, jetting tools can access even the furthest reaches of your plumbing with ease. This makes them great for getting behind garbage disposals for food and oil-based clogs, getting into perimeter drains backed up with grass and mud, and even dealing with utility and laundry room drains that might be plugged with lint and other debris.

What Do I Need for a Jetting Service?

Jetting is also popular because it is remarkably easy for homeowners. Jetting machines simply need two things: a standard electrical outlet, and a hose connection that is commonly found on home exteriors. The hose connection is used to collect water used to create the high-power jet, and the electrical connection is used to spin the motor that pressurizes the water. The whole process is remarkably efficient and can eliminate a wide variety of clogs in a surprisingly short amount of time. With a few exceptions, jetting can eliminate just about anything from a drain line, including stubborn problems like tree roots as well!

However, the one thing that is really needed for a jetting service is a conveniently-placed plumbing cleanout. Cleanouts provide access to your drain lines, allowing your drain cleaning technician to feed the jetting machine into the line from an optimal starting point. Without a usable cleanout, the process changes slightly, and your plumber may have to go in through the fixture itself to get the job done. This is a more labor-intensive process, and it’s one we try to avoid if possible.

If you have a backed-up drain preventing you from using one or more of your home’s plumbing fixtures, make the call to Winters® Home Services at 617-221-5899 today!