"HANDYMAN-Plumbing 206-664-1945 all home repairs! Plumbing, Electrical, Carpentry, Drywall"

Snaking a Drain, Cleaning Blockages & Maintenance
Chris D'orr 206-664-1945

Every fixture has a drain, a P-trap, and a waste pipe, the drain pipe is connected to the
P-Trap, the P-Trap is connected to the waste pipe, the waste pipe is connected to the sewer pipe
running to either the street sewer or when street sewer is not available, a septic tank system is
used. A drain is any fixture (sink, tub, shower pan, toilet) that collects water to flow into the
connecting P-Trap, the P-Trap is the U shaped formed pipe designed to trap sewer gas odor
inside the waste pipe, the waste pipe is the portion of pipe connected to the P-Trap and
continues into the wall continuing to your sewer system.

Run hot water into your drains daily, (this keeps your "waste pipes" semi washed) if you
find slow draining, use a plunger and/or pour a vinegar/baking soda 50/50 mixture into the
drain, if the clog does not loosen, either the clog contains some large object that can't be
broken down or the walls of the pipe are covered with hardened materials forming a near
concrete sediment substance that makes it impossible for water to flow properly.

You may try removing the P-Trap (if you can handle the gooey mess), you may discover
the clog is in the bend of that pipe (Trap), in which case you can easily clean it with washing. If
the Trap is clear, then the clog is further into the "waste pipe", which requires a plumbers snake
and pipe pressure washing to properly fix the clogged pipe.

WARNING: If you've been using any sort of chemical liquid drain opener, you shouldn't remove
the P-Trap, and you shouldn't use any plumbing snake either, because the acids in the liquid
drain openers can give you serious burns or blind you if splashed onto you. If you have
resorted to the usual course of pouring a liquid drain opener into the sink, tub or toilet, call a
professional and let that person know what you've used so they can wear protective apparel.

Kitchen, bathroom, laundry room waste pipes become clogged because a combination of
soap, hair, lint and grease. In the kitchen, food particles may combine with hardened grease to
form a nearly impenetrable barrier. Kitchen stop-ups are often among the worst to solve
because code today kitchen waste pipe is 2" diameter and can run 50 feet long before
connecting to the 4 inch toilet pipe, pre-1960 kitchen pipe code was only 1 1/2" inch! Kitchen
sink grease from meats cools before it gets all the way into the 4" toilet pipe, trapping little bits
of food, coffee grounds and eggshells along with it, allowing more chance for debris to harden
clogging the kitchen drain and waste pipe.

Toilets (water closet) are easy, a clog is almost always within the toilet trap, which is built
inside the toilet. Try plunging the toilet first, if that fails use a "toilet auger" there is different
quality augers, they all take some muscle to maneuver, the cheap auger will scratch
permanently your toilet bowl at the drain. Toilet clogs are mostly caused from too much toilet
paper use, and any thing else foreign, toys, Q-tips, etc, etc. Most items can be pushed through
the toilet drain, however, a match box car type item requires the toilet to be pulled "removed"
and turned upside down snaking the toilet auger tool the opposite direction through the bottom
of the water closet toilet.

Determining where the clog is; if your lowest fixture (usually toilet or tub/shower pan)
floods when any higher drain is used, this means you have a clog in your main sewer line from
your house to the street, this could be caused from many things, i.e. tree roots, rag, toy, etc. If
your lowest toilet flushes perfect, then the clog is internal in your home, being clogged either in
the fixture drain, P-trap, or in the waste pipe leading from that fixture drain that is not draining.

A plumbing snake or auger/cable is a long flexible metal cable that's pushed/threaded
through the drain into the connecting waste pipe until it reaches the clog, poking a hole drilling
through whatever is jamming the waste pipe. You can buy or rent plumbing snakes for
do-it-yourself unclogging. Some snakes can be attached to electric drills to give them more
power; others are manual. The snake is pushed into the drain fixture; sink, tub, toilet or other
fixture, until it reaches the clog. The end of the plumber snake will either push through the
obstruction, tear it up with its twisting action, or become attached to it so it can be pulled
retrieved back up through the drain fixture.

Large plumbing snakes aren't usually part of the homeowner's tool kit, they're expensive
specialized pieces of equipment. Plumbing snakes are different size for different size pipes,
there are also different size heads for different size clogs, i.e. tree roots verses grease, toys,
etc.

Plumbing waste pipes are tricky, old pipes can be punched through with a toothpick; running
a plumbers snake requires a certain amount of finesse, as waste sewer pipes invariably contain
turns and angles, weak spots, rises and falls that determine which way the pipe goes as it
makes its way from your drain fixture through the waste pipe to the street sewer or septic tank.

The plumbing snake usually only pokes a hole through the obstruction, allowing for some
water waste to pass, a plumber snake cannot clean all debris from the pipe wall, to complete
cleaning the waste sewer pipe you must pressure wash using 4500 psi, this cleans and restores
the entire waste pipe to original condition. It's important to pressure wash cleaning the entire
pipe not just snake the clogged area, only snaking the clog is just a "temporary fix". It's best to
pressure wash from your roof top plumbing vent, this leaves absolutely no chance of any mess
in your home and cleans the entire waste pipe for certain.

Don't call just any "Plumbing" company, i.e. Fischer Plumbing, Best Plumbing, Beacon,
(Seattle) etc, etc, they're much more expensive than "drain cleaning" company like
PipeSnaking.com or RooterWash.com because "Plumbers" are trained to install new plumbing
and are not equipped to pressure wash waste pipes. RooterWash.com is trained to use both the
plumbers snake and perform high power pipe pressure washing - for a much lower price than a
"plumbing" company. Hiring a plumber to snake a line is like hiring a heart specialist to check
your pulse—overkill, checking your pulse doesn't solve any problem. A plumber will have no
experience with pressure washing that completely fixes your real clog problem, plumbers
snaking only is just poking a hole for a temporary fix.

Maintenance is required to assure your sewer waste pipes and drains are clean and fully
functional. Just like anything else in your home, your plumbing waste pipes too need servicing. I
will pressure wash all your waste and drain plumbing once a year and guarantee you'll have no
normal blockages. If a child flushes a match box toy car down the toilet I can't prevent that, but
I can be right there to fix it for you! Other than that, you can pour all the grease you wish down
your kitchen drain and it will never become stopped up because once a year I'll pressure it all
gone, and inspect all your other plumbing waste pipe in your home including laundry, bathtubs,
showers, etc, etc. I'll even film video showing the inside of your pipes condition with my Seeing
Snake camera!

Warranty: Always ask whomever is doing your sewer pipe cleaning, "what is there warranty?"
Obviously, a "plumber" snaking is poking a temporary fix can have no warranty, while pressure
washing returning the pipe to original is going to last and can be warranted to last, and costing
less.

For more information, Chris 206-664-1945