Drain Cleaning Services in Crawfordsville, IN
Keeping a home’s plumbing system working at peak levels is incredibly important. Summers Plumbing Heating and Cooling offer a wide array of plumbing services like repiping, pump installation, water treatment system installation, and more for homeowners in Crawfordsville, IN.
One of the most important services we offer to help homeowners keep their plumbing systems running is drain cleaning. Our technicians have all the skills needed to remove waste buildup and debris from your pipes to keep the water flowing.
Difference Between Drain Clearing and Drain Cleaning
“Drain clearing” and “drained cleaning” sound deceptively similar, but they are not interchangeable services. Drain cleaning is a service performed when something is blocking the drain – a clog. To perform a drain cleaning, plumbing technicians use a snake. Snakes are cable-like devices that are fed into a pipe and are used to dislodge the clog that is blocking the drain.
Drain cleaning is a more comprehensive service. Using something called a jetter, plumbing technicians remove any buildup that has formed inside drain lines. Jetters use water under high pressure to remove waste and ensure optimal flow through the sewer pipes.
Causes of Clogs
Clogs are a common problem in many homes and while many things can cause them, there are four primary types of clogs: hair, grease, plants and roots, and other foreign objects.
Hair
People shed hair naturally every day, and it’s easy for this hair to end up in the drains that lead from sinks and showers even when grates have been installed to prevent hair from going down the drain.
Hair that has gone down the drain can turn into a clog over time and can be challenging to remove with a snake since it can easily tangle and tends to turn soft the longer it sits in the drain. Because snakes aren’t always effective for removing hair, drain cleaning with a jetter is often a better solution for solving the problem.
Grease
Of all the sources of drain clogs, grease is the worst. Many homeowners know that they cannot put grease and oil, such as the ones that are leftover after cooking, down the drain. But even when these greases are disposed of elsewhere, some of them still make their way into the drains through dishwashers and sinks. Many laundry detergents contain fats and oils or remove them from clothes, so grease can even enter a home’s drains through washing machines.
Like hair, grease clogs are soft, and therefore difficult to remove with snakes. In fact, all snakes can do to a grease-based clog is poke holes in it, which may seem to solve the problem. But, in reality, simply poking a home does very little. Grease tends to gather in pipe bends and will actually attract other debris thanks to its sticky nature, creating large blockages over time. Again, a thorough drain cleaning using a jetter is the best way to remove clogs created by grease.
Plants and Roots
Unpleasant as it may be to us, sewage lines are very attractive to plants because they contain two things that all plants need to grow: water and nutrients. Because of this, plant roots are commonly attracted to pipes. After a while, roots can actually break through into pipes and create clogs. If not treated quickly, these roots can continue to grow and will eventually break a home’s pipes.
During a drain cleaning to address roots, jetters will be used in conjunction with other tools to make sure every root and other pieces of plant waste are removed from the pipe. After they’ve been removed, plumbing technicians will also repair the damaged pipe or replace it if necessary.
Foreign Objects
Foreign objects are the final “catch-all” category of clogs that covers anything a homeowner or a member of their family might drop or flush down a drain. It is amazing what some people can find inside their drains, and these kinds of clogs are very common.
Foreign objects, especially large ones, can cause total blockages all on their own. They can also provide a surface for other clogging culprits like hair and grease to accumulate on, meaning they are more likely to cause a major clog than other clog creators.
Drain Cleaning Schedules
The right schedule for routine drain cleanings will vary depending on a few variables, including the number of people living in a home and the age of its plumbing system. For most homes, an annual cleaning is enough to keep water flowing easily. A plumbing professional can help determine if more frequent cleanings are needed to prevent backups in a home.
Local Drain Cleaning Services
Summers Plumbing Heating and Cooling is ready to help you clean your drains before a major clog creates a big problem. Regular drain cleanings from our experienced technicians can help save homeowners money on larger repairs and services that can result from an unaddressed clog.
