Drain Snakes: Why Plumbers Love Them

If you have a drain clog, you need a plumber with the right tools to clear a potentially large obstruction. While some clogs may come loose with a household plunger, other clogs may be too large or too deep within the pipes for you to reach on your own. When you call for professional drain cleaning, a plumbing professional may use a variety of tools to clean and inspect your pipes, but the most popular of these may be the drain snake.

Most plumbers caution strongly against liquid drain cleaners because of potential dangers and because they simply do not work in many cases. Liquid drain cleaning agents, sold in many grocery and hardware stores, may be effective at removing some clogs and not others. For example, while most of these chemicals can dissolve hair, they often cannot do anything about most other solid obstructions. Besides, the harsh chemicals can be toxic, potentially injuring the skin or eyes and damaging the pipes.

This is why a plumber usually will not go near a chemical drain cleaner. Instead, plumbers come to your home equipped with an array of cleaning tools, perhaps most notable of which is the drain snake. Drain snakes, also known as drain augers, are either motorized or hand operated with a crank. A long wire with a coiled end is fed into the pipes, and the coiled end takes hold of clogs so that the plumber can pull the blockage back up through the drain. Some clogs, like tree roots, cannot latch on to this tool. This is why some drain snakes have multiple attachments to choose from, which may instead allow the plumber to break up a clog so it can flow down the drain with the wastewater.

In any case, drain snakes are one of the most effective ways to completely eliminate clogs without damaging your plumbing. When you call the plumbers at My Drain Company for professional drain cleaning in Glendale, CA, we’ll use drain augers and any other necessary means to clear your plumbing system, and we will check our work using the latest in video inspection technology. Talk to one of our plumbing experts today!

Comments are closed.