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How Scheduled Drain Cleaning Service Saves You Money | Myrtle Beach, SC
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Scheduling a semi-annual drain cleaning service to come and remove the hair, gunk, scum, and other nastiness from your drainage system pays for itself in spades. Not only will you avoid costly clogs and disgusting back-ups, but your drains will also work more efficiently and smell better too. Hot and humid weather in Myrtle Beach, SC, makes drain matter decay faster.
Yes, one of the causes of household halitosis (bad breath) is that rotting organic stuff that is stuck down in your drains. Even if you have been an excellent drain steward and not poured food, oil, and other no-no’s down there, it is still a drain and by definition, it is going to stink.
Just as within your mouth, the cause of that drain stench that raises the eyebrows of guests in your home is bacteria. You live with it daily and have likely grown so accustomed to it that you no longer notice it. Do a test: Go to your bathroom or kitchen sink, bend down into the basin, and take a good sniff. Not the best smell, eh?
That means you should contact a plumber right away to remove whatever is down there before it causes additional headaches, and which in turn will be much more costly.
What Will a Drain Cleaning Service Tech Do?
Your expert plumber, trained in the art of purifying putrid drain systems will typically begin by removing the drain pop-up. Some horrifying things may be pulled out with the pop-up, so if you are going to look over the plumber’s shoulder, be prepared for disgust.
Once the pop-up is out of the way, the technician may decide to visually inspect the drain before sending down the auger or drain snake.
This auger is a long, flexible metal device that is fed into the drain slowly in an attempt to push any debris down through the narrow drain pipe and into the larger diameter main sewer outlet pipe.
The drain snake is typically hand-cranked so that it spirals as it travels down into the drain, burrowing through grease and soap scum, food residue, hairballs, and whatever else has accumulated over the years. In Myrtle Beach, SC Benjamin Franklin plumbers tend to use more modern tools of the drain cleaning service trade.
A Clog with a View – Deploying the Borescope
Some plumbers prefer to eyeball the drain pipe first and use a tool relatively new to the drain cleaning service industry. That tool is called a borescope or an endoscope. Just like the endoscope that a doctor uses to inspect your personal “plumbing, ” the plumber’s endoscope is a smallish camera mounted on a thin insulated wire that is snaked down the drain.
Top-side, the other end of the wire is connected to a small monitor that allows the plumber to see what the camera sees.
Using this method is most beneficial when the plumber’s mission is not only to perform drain cleaning service but also to retrieve an heirloom that has accidentally fallen through the pop-up. Tip: If you permanently remove your drain’s pop-up, you increase the chances of something valuable falling through. If your pop-up breaks or no longer works, have the attending plumber replace it with a shiny new one. It’s worth the investment.
The camera is, of course, waterproof. The plumber can then push through any back-up water and sludge. Once he is confident that no metallic or other hard blockages exist and that he’s dealing only with simple organic plugs, such as hair and scum, he may opt to use another modern marvel, the hydro jetter.
Cute Tiny Pressure Washer for Drains
The hydro jetter is just that: a pressure washer small enough to fit into your drain, but powerful enough to blast through the mess that is clogging your drain.
A knowledgeable plumber will first remove the sink’s p-trap and then feed the hydro jetter through the drain from there. He’ll typically set a small bucket beneath the p-trap to catch the backwash and debris as he works the hose through the pipe, a few feet at a time.
Tip: You must have your drain cleaning service performed by someone who knows what they are doing. The tiny device packs quite a hydro wallop. At 3600 psi, a misdirected blast could punch a hole in something like drywall. These little modern marvels are engineered to cut through quarter-inch tree roots. While safe as a babe in the hands of a professional, this is not a good idea for the DIY nut who only wants to “save you some money.”
The hydro jetter not only breaks apart the clogged mass and pushes the matter down into the sewer line, but it also removes any remnants from the drain walls.
Your drain receives a new beginning. Clean drain walls do not harbor rotting organic materials and the accompanying bacteria, so you will not have to deal with those nose-wrecking odors.
The Old School Method Is Still Effective
Time has proven the auger (also known as a drain snake) a handy and useful tool for removing simple drain clogs. While it can remove most clogs and get your drain flowing again, it will not scour the pipes and remove residual scum and waste that is the likely culprit of the blockage in the first place.
The old workhorse can clean clogs with the best of them, but that tiny pressure washer device, it hydro blasts your drains to a whole other realm of cleanliness! Schedule that drain cleaning service twice a year and never have a severe clog again!
The auger certainly still has a place in the hearts of drain cleaning service experts worldwide, but if you want truly clean drains, clean like-new drains, you’ll need to find someone in Myrtle Beach, SC like Benjamin Franklin Plumbing.
They handle everything from residential and commercial drain cleaning service to replacing water heaters, bathroom remodeling, entire house re-piping, to your common emergency plumbing repairs. All performed at affordable prices that you are sure to appreciate. Contact them today!