How it works
A jetter pumps water at high pressure, typically 3,000 to 4,000 psi for a residential sewer line, through a hose with a nozzle on the end. Jets angled backward pull the hose down the pipe and scour the wall as it goes. Jets pointed forward cut into whatever is in the way. The debris washes downstream into the public sewer.
When jetting is the right tool
- A kitchen line that keeps closing up with grease.
- A main line with years of sludge or scale that a cable only tunnels through.
- A flat line with too little slope to clear itself. Jetting it on a regular schedule keeps it open.
- After roots have been cut, to flush out what the blade left behind.
- Restaurants and apartment buildings, where the lines carry grease every day.
- Before a pipe is lined, to flush out what descaling knocked loose.
Most single clogged fixtures don't need it. A cable is faster and costs less, and for a wad of hair or paper it does the whole job.
Where jetting gets used around St. Louis
Most of it is done on lines that carry grease every day.
- Restaurant kitchens. Grease goes down the drain all through service, and a grease trap catches only part of it. The line past the trap coats over until it closes. A restaurant line on Euclid in the Central West End does better jetted on a schedule than cabled after each backup.
- Apartment buildings. One stack carries every kitchen above it, so a whole building's grease lands in a single pipe. A cable opens it for the tenant who called and leaves the coating in place for the next one.
- Hotels and commercial buildings. Maryland Heights has a lot of them, and their lines see more grease and more wipes than any house does.
The other common case is a house with a flat line. In towns built mostly on plastic pipe, O'Fallon and the newer parts of Chesterfield among them, a repeat clog usually traces to a stretch of pipe that settled with the trench and lost its slope. Debris collects there until the line closes. If the pipe is flat but still drains, jetting clears what a cable would leave behind.
Jetting on a schedule
A line that needed jetting once will usually need it again. How soon depends on what goes down it.
The fix is to book the cleaning before the backup. There is no maintenance plan to sign up for. You call when the line is due, and the visit is billed like any other. For a restaurant or an apartment building, that means the kitchens stay in use and nobody calls at midnight. For a house with a flat line, it turns an emergency into an appointment.
The interval comes from the line's own history. Take the time between the last two backups and book the next cleaning a little short of it.
When it is the wrong tool
High-pressure water doesn't fix a broken pipe, and it can make a fragile one worse. A clay line with cracked or shifted sections, or cast iron that has rusted thin, should be looked at with a camera before anyone jets it. A careful operator runs the camera first for this reason, and again afterward to show you the clean pipe.
Jetting also needs a way in. It is done through a cleanout, so a house without one may need one installed first.
Common questions
Will hydro jetting damage old pipes?
Sound pipe handles it, old clay and cast iron included. Pipe that is cracked, shifted or rusted thin may not, which is why the line should be looked at with a camera first. If the camera shows a fragile section, a cable is the safer way to open the line, and that section likely needs repair either way.
How long does hydro jetting last?
It depends on what was in the pipe. Grease comes back as fast as the kitchen sends it down, so a restaurant line may need jetting every few months and a house line may go years. For a flat line that collects debris, the time between your last two backups is the best guide to how often to jet it.
Can hydro jetting remove tree roots?
Yes, with a root-cutting nozzle, and it flushes the cuttings out as it goes. Like a cable blade, it cuts the roots off at the pipe wall and they grow back from outside. If the joint they came through has cracked or separated, the lasting fix is to line or replace that section.
Does a house ever need hydro jetting, or is it for restaurants?
Most houses never need it. It earns its place at home in three cases: a kitchen line that closes up with grease soon after it was cabled, a flat or sagging line that keeps collecting debris, and a pipe being cleaned before it is lined.