Bye-Bye Blockages

This is the most critical question we get. While liquid drain cleaners are readily available, we strongly advise against using them for several reasons:

• They Damage Pipes: These harsh chemicals are designed to dissolve organic matter, but they can’t distinguish between a clog and your actual pipes. They can corrode PVC and older metal pipes, leading to much costlier repairs down the road.
• They Are Often Ineffective: Chemicals often just burn a small tunnel through a clog, leaving the majority of the buildup behind. This means the problem will return quickly.
• They Are a Safety Hazard: The toxic fumes are dangerous to inhale, and a splash can cause serious burns.

Professional drain cleaning, on the other hand, uses mechanical tools to physically remove the entire blockage safely, without any harm to your plumbing system.

Catching a clog early can save you from a major backup. Be on the lookout for these warning signs:

• Slow Draining: Water in your sink, shower, or tub takes noticeably longer to drain away than it used to.
• Gurgling Sounds: As water struggles to get past a partial blockage, it forces air back up, creating a gurgling or bubbling sound from the drain.
• Bad Odors: Unpleasant smells, especially from a kitchen sink, are often caused by trapped food particles and grease decomposing within the pipes.
• Water Backing Up: If you run your washing machine and see water backing up into a nearby shower or floor drain, it’s a clear sign of a problem in your main drain line.

This is a key distinction. A simple clog is isolated to a single fixture. For example, your bathroom sink is slow, but your shower and toilet work perfectly fine.

A main sewer line clog is much more serious and affects multiple fixtures simultaneously, especially at the lowest points in your home. Telltale signs include:

• Your toilets gurgle or bubble when you run water in a sink.
• Flushing a toilet causes water to back up into your shower or tub.
• Running the washing machine leads to overflowing toilets or floor drains. If you suspect a main line issue, stop using your water and call a professional immediately.

We have two primary tools for effective drain cleaning, depending on the type and severity of the clog:

• Drain Auger (or “Snake”): This is a flexible, powerful cable that we feed into the pipe. The spinning head can break apart solid obstructions (like tree roots or solid waste) or latch onto them so we can pull the blockage out. This is the standard tool for most common clogs.
• Hydro Jetting: This is the ultimate solution for tough or recurring clogs caused by grease, sludge, and scale. A hydro jetter uses a hose with a specialized nozzle to blast high-pressure water against the pipe walls, scouring them completely clean and restoring the pipe to its original diameter.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. To keep your drains flowing freely:

• Never pour grease, oil, or coffee grounds down the kitchen sink. These are the primary causes of tough-to-clear clogs.
• Use drain strainers in your shower, tub, and sinks to catch hair and food particles before they go down the drain.
• Be mindful of what you flush. Only human waste and toilet paper should go down the toilet. “Flushable” wipes are a leading cause of sewer line backups.
• Run hot water down your kitchen sink for about a minute after washing dishes to help flush away any residual grease.