Drain jetting is a dangerous process requiring heavy machinery and highly skilled operators, it should not be attempted without professional guidance. Drain specialists are on-call 24/7 to respond to drain blockages throughout London. More people are turning to drain jetting as it is environmentally friendly (using no toxic chemicals) and is extremely effective at taking on even the most persistent blockages.
Step 1:
A problem is reported – a drain is overflowing; pipes are backing up or a routine maintenance check has found a blockage in a drain. These blockages are caused by many things, from household waste – baby wipes, oil, grease, or other assorted household detritus, to soil, sand, gravel, or simply tree roots creeping in and making a nuisance of themselves. Whatever the cause, the outcome is the same and it needs to be cleared.
Step 2:
Find where the blockage is and gain access – again this can be simple and obvious such as a household outdoor drain clogged with beauty-wipes, or it can lead to a game of hunt the manhole following the lead of raised water levels until you find the culprit. CCTV cameras can also be used to find the blockage as they can traverse long windy lengths of piping and can help direct the clearing methods used by showing operators the scale of the issue.
Step 3:
Clear the line – Specialised drain jets are attached to hoses of up to 100 metres (330 feet) and pushed down into the drain to spray extremely high-powered jets of water in multiple directions, forward to help punch through the blockage, and backwards at angles which make sure all debris is broken down into smaller pieces and pushed back out of the pipe. Otherwise you could just move the blockage further up the line and compact it even more. Home pressure washers have their uses, but they don’t provide anywhere near the water pressure of professional quality drain jets, they are also often designed to only shoot water forwards, making it much trickier to actually clear the blockage and not simply push it further in.
Step 4:
Prevent recurrence – Ensure that the blockage is fully cleared; though the water level may be back to normal it is always good practice to make sure the blockage is complexly destroyed, having cleared a small channel through it is not enough. At this point CCTV cameras may again be used to view the blockage site and examine for other potential issues further along the pipe. Conducting maintenance to prevent reoccurrence is another way to reduce the likelihood of future recurrence. A simple visual inspection of the area can be enough to see if there are plant roots that in time could become problematic or any erosion of the surrounding area which needs to be repaired. Regular maintenance can be effective protection against more issues in the future.