Over the years, our customer service staff has collected tips to avoid various problems, tricks to get you out of jams, hints on the right tool for the right job, and so on. This Ask the Drain Brains blog is a selection of some of those hints and tips. You can search by category, for instance, Drain Cleaning, Sewer Cameras, Water Jetters, Cool Plumbing Tools and more.
Feel free to ask a question or to add a new tip or idea. Just click on the Contact button below.
– The Drain Brains
Here’s an interesting safety tip courtesy of an unexpected source: actor, Tom Hanks. Hanks was recently interviewed about his role in “Captain Phillips,” the true story of a kidnapped sea captain. He recalled what he learned from the real Captain Phillips. “He begins and ends his day with a walk-around of the entire ship.…
The sewer line of a one-year-old Kentucky house should have run clean and free, but the homeowner kept suffering persistent back-ups, and repeated snaking failed to work. That’s when Jarboe’s Plumbing, Heating, Cooling, Electric & Remodeling sprang into action. The Louisville-based plumbing professionals marshaled an arsenal of General Pipe Cleaners diagnostic and drain cleaning equipment…
Pipe Inspection and location systems represent a significant investment for most small businesses. In return, they offer unique diagnostic and marketing potential that can either save or earn a tremendous amount of money for your company. Choosing the right system for your needs is a task that should be taken with serious attention to detail…
Much to my wife’s embarrassment, I love talking about sewers. I love telling people that five thousand years ago, the ancient Indus River civilization, the Sumerians and Egyptians all had flush toilets. I love quoting physicians and health officials who say that a safe and effective waste water infrastructure saves more lives than penicillin. And…
Not long ago, placing an ad in the yellow pages was the only marketing decision that a drain cleaner needed to make. The rationale was simple; when a customer had an emergency, they would reach for the yellow pages and pick the first contractor that caught their eye. This logic led to bigger color advertisements…
High-pressure water jetters come in all shapes and sizes. There are massive trailer jetters with huge water tanks that blast out 4,000 pounds per-square-inch of pressure at 18 gallons-a-minute flow. There are gasoline-powered portable units that attempt to suck your garden hose dry while producing 3,000 psi. And, as we mentioned before, there are small…
Since the debut of high-pressure water jetters more than thirty years ago, it’s fair to say that they’ve revolutionized the drain cleaning industry. First, they put another arrow in the contractor’s quiver when he or she is struggling to open a grease, sludge or sand-clogged sewer line. Second, working in tandem with pipe inspection camera…
Q: I dread winter. Every time an arctic blast moves south, the pipes freeze in one of my buildings. What method do you suggest to thaw the pipes and get the water moving again? A: The first thing to do is insulate all your pipes, especially those located close to the outside walls. Then, when you…
Q. I handle maintenance for a fast food chain, and the grease clogs are wearing me out. I clear it with my snake, but the clog comes right back. Is there a better tool for clearing grease clogs for good? A. Nothing clears a clog for good, but the best tool to clear grease clogs…
“When you have hot water gushing through the kitchen ceiling of an historic landmark in mid-January, you don’t waste time fooling around!” That’s how Bob Schneider of Schneider Plumbing & Heating described the scene at a renovated hotel in Northampton, Mass., one frigid January evening. Pipes had burst between floors, flooding food preparation areas as…
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