Among the best ways to protect the plumbing in your Bridgeport, WV home is by scheduling a professional drain cleaning service. Most plumbers recommend having your drains cleaned at least once each year. However, in between these visits, you might need drain cleaning to remove stubborn clogs or clear your water supply lines. The good news is that whether preventative or reparative, drain cleaning shouldn’t cost a fortune.
What Professional Drain Cleaning Is and Why You Need It
If your sinks, showers, and tubs are slow-moving or your drains aren’t emptying, you may be tempted to grab your plunger, drain auger, or drain snake or purchase a corrosive chemical drain cleaner. When performed by homeowners, each of these drain cleaning techniques can cause more harm than good. Plungers, augers, and snakes can force hard, solid obstructions deeper into pipes, and chemical drain cleaners can eat through pipe materials.
Professional drain cleaning uses high-pressure water, steam, or mechanical agitation to break blockages up and force them through the main sewer line. Plumbers take care to identify the nature and location of clogs before choosing drain cleaning methods. This way, they aren’t cutting into drywall unnecessarily or creating blockages in other areas. While annual drain cleaning services limit the risks of costly backups and plumbing repairs, reparative drain cleaning solves urgent problems without creating new ones.
Different Drain Cleaning Methods
Whether cleaning drains as part of annual drain maintenance or freeing up trapped debris or slow drains, plumbers always assess the integrity of pipes first. Aggressive, mechanical drain cleaning in pipes that are already riddled with corrosion can lead to gouges, tiny perforations, and other plumbing leaks. Even the hot, high-pressure jets that are used in hydro jetting can cause aging pipes to fail.
Hydro Jetting
When performing hydro jetting, plumbers use long hoses with powerful nozzles to spray hot, high-powered jets of water into plumbing systems through accessible openings. Hydro jetting uses water pressures as high as 35,000 psi. It removes build-ups of body oils, soap scum, hair, and other organic debris. It also scours off hard water mineral deposits that have narrowed the interior of pipes and are weighing them down.
Hydro jetting is often the first choice for clearing sewer line blockages. However, for newer plumbing systems, it’s also a common choice for preventative drain maintenance and clog repairs.
Hydro steaming
Hydro steaming is a lesser-known alternative to hydro jetting that may be more suitable for older pipes. Much like hydro jetting, it’s performed via accessible openings like clean-outs. Hydro steaming uses high-pressure steam to lift off organic debris and break up mineral deposits. It’s less likely to cause leaks in older plumbing systems. Both hydro jetting and hydro steaming have an average cost of $700.
Mechanical Drain Cleaning
Mechanical drain cleaning is often used for single-drain blockages. It includes the use of drain snakes and augers that either pierce obstructions and pull them out or break them up by grinding through them. While perfect for clearing clogged shower drains and toilets, mechanical drain cleaning is also an effective choice for breaking up some sewer line obstructions.
The Nature and Severity of Clogs
If someone in your home flushes a few paper towels, it won’t take much for a plumber to remove them. However, if someone accidentally drops a toothbrush into your commode while flushing, returning this hard, non-degradable item will require more time, tools, and energy.
Drain cleaning for single-drain blockages is always cheaper than addressing an impending whole-house backup. If your sewer line has been encroached upon by aggressive weeds or tree roots, you’ll likely need a sewer line camera inspection, hydro jetting, and mechanical drain cleaning, among other services.
The Location of Clogs
Not all clogs can be cleared via clean-outs or drain openings. Some plumbing problems are located behind drywall and other building materials. If you have a clogged pipe in a hidden or difficult-to-reach area, be ready to pay a bit more for extra labor.
Why Is Water Barely Coming Out of My Faucet?
In some homes, build-ups of debris aren’t just an issue in wastewater pipes. For instance, if your home has excessively hard water, your water supply lines could be blocked by calcium and magnesium deposits. Water supply line cleaning is a highly specialized effort to ensure that contaminants aren’t introduced into these lines where they’ll impact your water quality.
Plumbers can remove water supply pipes and clean them, replace pipes as needed, or clear your water supply lines with an air pressure technique known as “air bursting.” Clearing water supply lines is more costly than clearing blocked wastewater pipes. The average cost for air bursting is $900. Fortunately, you may be able to prevent water line blockages by installing a water softener.
We help residents of Bridgeport, WV keep their plumbing systems moving. We offer exceptional water pipe repair, drain cleaning, and sewer line services. You can also count on us for emergency plumbing repairs, water heaters, and gas line installation. Contact Midstate Plumbing & Air today to schedule an appointment.
