When one of your drains develops a clog, what’s the first thing you do? Do you reach under your sink for a bottle of store-bought drain cleaner? If so, stop doing that! Store-bought drain cleaners are actually terrible for the health of your drain and sewer system. They’ll resolve the clog, but at a very high cost for your pipes.
Instead, you should always trust a professional to clean out your drains for you when you need it. Our plumbers are the ones for the job. Read on to find out more about why professional drain cleaning services are always preferable to using your own drain cleaners.
Why Store-Bought Drain Cleaners are Awful
Store-bought drain cleaners do tend to resolve clogs with little fuss. However, the reason they’re so effective is that they use a variety of extremely caustic materials to eat through whatever it is that’s clogging your drain. There’s a reason why most drain cleaners are plastered with lengthy warnings in several languages. Being around the kinds of chemicals present in those cleaners isn’t good for you, and it isn’t good for your drains. Using those kinds of store-bought drain cleaners over years will eventually corrode the inside of your pipes, making them more likely to leak and shortening their lifespan. This is why it’s better to use professional services.
The Benefits of Professional Drain Cleaning Services
Professional plumbers rely on mechanical means to clean out drains, rather than using chemicals that will damage the pipes. There are two main methods used by plumbers across the country when it comes to drain cleaning: drain snaking and hydro jetting.
Drain snaking involves using an auger head on a long cord to drill through the blockage in the drain, or even pull it back up and out of the system. Drain snakes are effective, easy to use, and found in practically every plumber’s vehicle. They’re the go-to method for professional drain cleaning. On occasion, though, a clog may present itself that is too stubborn for even a drain snake to remove. That’s usually when hydro jetting is employed.
A hydro jet is like a small fire hose. It fires a high-pressure stream of water into the drain pipe, blasting all built-up waste and debris out of the system. The omnidirectional sprayer head on the hose allows it to clean the entire pipe, much more thoroughly than either store-bought drain cleaners or drain snakes. Hydro jets are not used in all situations, mainly because it’s often overkill and there are some kinds of pipes that are not able to stand up to the water pressure. If you have a really nasty drain clog that won’t succumb to anything else, though, a hydro jet will probably take care of it just fine.
Carney Plumbing Heating & Cooling provides comprehensive drain cleaning services in Ambler, PA. If you need help cleaning out some of your drains, contact us today to schedule an appointment with one of our professional plumbers. We’ll get your drains running smoothly again.