Cable and drum machines
Drain clearing
The fastest way to get water moving again. A powered steel cable is driven down the line until it reaches the blockage and breaks through it.
Cabling is the workhorse of this trade and for most household blockages it is genuinely the right answer. A cutting head on the end of a rotating steel cable is fed down the line, chews through whatever is in the way, and opens a channel for water to pass. On a hair mat in a shower branch or a wad of paper behind a toilet, you go from standing water to full flow in about twenty minutes.
What matters is sizing the machine to the pipe. A 1.5 inch bathroom branch and a 4 inch main need completely different cable, and forcing an oversized cable down a small line is how pipes get scarred and joints get pushed apart. Our trucks carry the full range, so nobody has to make do.
Right for
- Hair, soap scum and paper blockages
- Sinks, tubs, showers and toilets
- Laundry standpipes and utility drains
- Any line you need open immediately
- Older pipe too fragile to take jetting pressure
What the visit looks like
- Containment and floor protection down first
- Line cleared from the nearest safe access point
- Flow tested under real volume, not a trickle
- Cause explained so it is not a mystery next time
The honest limit
Cabling bores a hole through a blockage. It does not remove what was coating the pipe wall. On a greasy kitchen line that means the opening starts closing again immediately, which is why we will recommend jetting instead when the cutter head comes back coated.
Straight answers
Questions about drain clearing
How long does drain clearing take?
Most branch line clogs are cleared in 45 to 90 minutes including setup, testing and cleanup. Main lines run longer, typically 90 minutes to three hours depending on how far out the blockage sits and what caused it.
Will cabling damage my pipes?
Not when the cable is sized correctly to the line, which is the whole reason we carry machines in every size rather than one machine for everything. The risk comes from forcing a heavy main line cable down a small branch, and we do not do that.
Related
You might also need
Flat rate, quoted before we start
Let's get it flowing
Call and talk to a person. You get a straight answer on what it is, what it costs, and when we can be there.