Clogged drains, wastewater backups, and smelly drains are normal in many Germantown, MD homes. When they occur, they can cause problems with your plumbing, disrupt your comfort, and even pose a health risk. Hiring a professional drain cleaning service is a great way to avoid these issues.

While you can use a plunger to clear clogs, doing so may do more harm than good to your plumbing system. This is where the help of a plumbing service comes in. Expert plumbers utilize cutting-edge equipment to securely remove obstructions from drains and analyze the piping beneath the ground to ascertain the cause of your drainage issues.

Below are signs indicating you need to call a drain cleaning service and what to expect.

How Can You Tell Your Drains Need to Be Cleaned?

You may be tempted to use a drain cleaner when you notice one or more of your drains is clogged. We can’t stress enough how unwise this would be. Drain cleaner is ineffective and potentially dangerous to your health and the pipes in your house. Instead, you should contact a drain cleaning service if you’ve seen any of the following:

• Constant blockages: Your sink can get blocked when you try to drain too much too fast. However, if you have consistent drain clogging issues, there’s probably some buildup in your drains that needs to be cleared.
• Gurgling sounds: You might not be easily startled by unfamiliar noises, but a gurgling sound in the bathroom or kitchen could indicate your drains are clogged. The noise is usually caused by water trying to pass through a clog in the drain.
• Sewage smell: The presence of a sewer-like odor is a clear indication that your drains need professional cleaning.
• Slow drainage: Have you found that water takes longer to drain from your sinks in the bathroom and kitchen? If this happens, it’s because debris and other waste have accumulated in your pipes and are blocking the drains.
• Fruit flies: Fruit flies can be attracted to the stench of rubbish, waste, or sewage built up in clogged pipes. There’s a high probability that the fruit flies you’ve seen around your house recently are the result of the odor coming from a clogged drain.

What to Expect During Drain Cleaning

Most Germantown, MD property owners have no idea what goes into professional drain and sewer cleaning. To make things easier, we’ve highlighted all the services you can expect when you hire a professional drain cleaning service. These include:

Drain Inspection

One of the first and most important things a drain cleaning company will do is inspect your drains. Experienced plumbers will visually inspect the pipes and sewer lines and use video cameras to better look at any problems. Likewise, this service aids in pinpointing the precise location of clogs.

A professional plumber will use a rod-like connection to place a camera into your sewer lines and stream live footage of the sewer system. The plumber can then analyze the condition of your drains, pipes, and sewers by watching the live feed.

Removal of the Clog

It’s not uncommon for sewers and drains to become clogged. Debris, detergents, grime, oil, hair, or grease tend to accumulate in pipes and cause clogs. Clogged drains and sewers provide an ideal environment for the growth of bacteria and other pathogens that can be detrimental to your health.

After locating the source of the blockage, a professional plumber will use cutting-edge tools like a hydro jet, drain snake, and eco-friendly drain cleaner to remove it. They will also remove all drain traps to guarantee the best possible performance of your drainage system.

Hydro-Jetting

Upon investigation, there may be no sign of a clog. However, there may still be evidence of mineral deposits, muck, or food particles in your system. If this buildup is allowed to continue, then clogs are almost inevitable. A professional drain cleaning service will suggest hydro-jetting to eliminate this buildup.

The process of hydro jetting involves the use of pressured water to flush the pipes and remove any clogs. It’s one of the most common techniques plumbers use to clear clogs from pipes and drains. Furthermore, its 4000-PSI water press can dislodge even the most stubborn clogs.

Chemical Drain Cleaner

You should not use store-bought chemical drain cleaners to clear clogs in your drain. They can cause damage if they come into contact with metal or plastic plumbing. Drain cleaning service companies use safe chemicals formulated explicitly for sewer and drain systems.

The right cleaning solution will be determined by the type of pipes you have. On top of that, expert professionals will determine the root cause of the clog before deciding which chemical detergents to employ. For instance, soap and scum-dispersing chemicals may not be effective against buildups caused by oil.

Drain Snaking

Snaking involves extending a long, thin cable into your drain with a pointed attachment at the end, which is then used to hook or break up the clog. This is effective for removing the majority of clogs that do not react to plunging. Depending on the length and width of your drain and the stubbornness of the clog, a drain cleaning service company may use a hand-cranked snake or a motor-operated one.

Your plumber may also suggest expert pipe repair to restore pipe integrity and eliminate leaks if the clog has damaged your plumbing.

Drain Auger

During drain cleaning, plumbers may also use drain augers to clear clogs. Like drain snakes, drain augers are pliable wires ranging from a few feet to hundreds of feet in length. Similar to plumbing snakes, augers can grab clogs or split them into smaller pieces.

The only consideration when choosing between a drain snake and an auger is the diameter of the pipe. A drain snake will work better in a sink or bathroom drain because of the smaller diameter of the pipe. The diameters of these piping systems are less than two inches. A plumbing auger, on the other hand, can work with pipes that are a little bit wider. A drain cleaning service provider can decide which tool is best.

Schedule Professional Drain and Sewer Cleaning with Clarksburg Plumbing

If you need your drains cleaned quickly and effectively, call Clarksburg Plumbing. You can count on us whether this is your first time dealing with a major clog or you keep getting sewer line backups. Call us at 301-234-8034 or contact us online if you need a drain cleaning service provider in Germantown, MD.

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