Years ago, we hired a sales representative out west who had spent decades selling a competitor’s plumbing products. After initial training, he returned to his territory and we sent him a smattering of cables, cutters and drain cleaning machines to get him started. The first time he demonstrated our Flexicore Cable, he called me up to complain that the pipe snake, “just didn’t feel right!” It didn’t feel “springy.”
There is a difference is in the design that makes our Flexicore cables feel different.
Virtually every other brand of cable in the drain cleaning industry is simply a long, thin and hollow spring. Sometimes, to make them seem closer to General’s Flexicore Cable construction, they will insert a wire rope or piece of plastic down the middle of the spring to give it the appearance of added strength.
General’s Flexicore Cable is the result of a radically different process. Instead of coiling a hollow cable, we tightly wrap spring steel around a 49 strand aircraft quality wire rope using a patented process. We do this in order to give the cable additional strength when it is under torque.
When a General drain cleaning machine rotates a pipe snake down the drain and it hits a clog or stoppage, tension or torque builds up in the cable. Because of the direction the drum is turning, the reaction of the outer coil of spring steel is that it wants to contract due to the tension. However, because the wire rope is in the way, the only thing that it can do is tighten, which makes it stiffer and stronger. Essentially because of the way that we engineer the cable, it strengthens and stiffens just when the operator needs it the most. This makes the cable much less likely to kink or break when in use, and allows the operator to get through tougher clogs!
This is all good, but it has the effect of making the cable feel less springy than hollow cables. This perceived limpness was the difference my rep was confused about. I got back on the phone with him and explained the engineering behind his experience. Within a few weeks he was out on the road converting his old customers to General-style drain cleaning machines and cable!
About a year later I got another call from him, this time singing our cable’s praises! According to him, he was selling less than one-tenth of replacement cables that he used to sell to these same customers when they used competitive equipment! Although I found this hard to believe, he continued to insist it was true until the day he retired.
Since then I’ve heard the same story from many customers in many ways. Once you convert to General and get used to the feel of the cable, the Flexicore advantage pays for itself many times over. Try it and see!
Contact the Drain Brains® at General at 800-245-6200 or by email [email protected].
Watch our Flexicore Advantage video here and see for yourself! Take a look at our many drain cleaning machines utilizing Flexicore cables here. If you’re ready to purchase, please use this page to find a retail dealer near you.
As always, you can contact General Pipe Cleaners on our website to get answers or more information on our complete array of plumbing tools and equipment for professional plumbers and contractors.
