Learning About Drain Snaking

Drain clogs are among the most common plumbing issues out there, and at All Hours Plumbing, Drain Cleaning, Heating & Cooling, we’ll provide your home or business with the highest quality drain cleaning services at an affordable rate if you run into an issue. We’ll identify the source of the issue, and work to correct it in a permanent way.

There are a couple different methods by which we might go about doing this, and one of the most well-known is called a drain snake. How does a drain snake work, and when might we use it for your home or business? Let’s take a look.

Drain Snake Basics

A drain snake is also commonly called an auger – a steel cable attached to a metal coil at one end. The auger is placed in the drain, then extended down using the coil, which is typically very long and mobile. The auger can reach down into the depths of the drain until it locates a clog, and then it has the power to quickly and efficiently rid the drain of the major blockages. If there are multiple blockages, it can reach them all – the coil generally extends much longer than a normal drain length.

Benefits of Snaking

There are a few common benefits to using an auger for a big drain clog:

• Historical use and effectiveness: Snaking has been used successfully on drain clogs for decades, and consistently proves effective for basic and even more severe clogs.
• Pipe safety: Using an auger is a process that’s kind to pipes – other formats of drain unclogging can put pipes at slightly higher risk of damage.

Potential Drawbacks of Snaking

There are also a couple downsides of snaking that may appear:

• Width: There will be times where the auger isn’t quite as wide as the pipe it’s cleaning, leading to extra clog deposits being left around the outsides of the pipes.
• Tough clogs: For certain extreme clogs, other modern forms of drain cleaning have generally proven more effective than snaking. However, those other types are typically more expensive and often more time-consuming.

Want to learn more about when snaking is right for your clog, or any of our other drain maintenance or plumbing services? Speak to the experts at All Hours Plumbing, Drain Cleaning, Heating & Cooling today.