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
Question: We use cable drain cleaners at our facility, but my young guys keep telling me I should switch to high-pressure water jets to do the same job. Are they right? Answer: Well, yes and no. Traditional cable drain cleaners do a great job cutting up tree roots and retrieving objects. But when it comes…
I have a friend who is quick to label brands or movements with a mysteriously strong following – much like a cult! Examples include Apple, Tesla, Starbucks, the Grateful Dead and, oddly enough, sectional drain cleaning machines and cables. The sectional cable cult, if in fact it is one, has a long and venerable history,…
With the current world health situation, many rental stores that rent our drain cleaning machines have asked us if they should be concerned about disease transmission, particularly COVID-19, through wastewater? People have been increasingly and understandably anxious about the transmission of Coronavirus, HIV, hepatitis, tetanus, dysentery, and other diseases through wastewater. Plumbers, drain cleaning specialists and…
There’s an old curse that reads, “May you live in interesting times!” Well, we can put a checkmark in that box, because none of us have seen anything like the past few months. Malls are padlocked, churches are empty on Easter, people are doing Passover Seders with their family via Zoom. Everyone is wearing masks…
We hope that all of you are well and staying safe during these extraordinary times. For many of you, this is a daily challenge, because you’re doing a lot of heavy lifting, ensuring that the rest of us have the fresh water and clean conditions that we need to fight COVID-19. Although you don’t always…
I was hanging out in the General Pipe Cleaner’s booth at the WWETT show in Indianapolis talking to customers when I met Michael Jackson. No… not the Michael Jackson of moonwalk fame; the plumber from Indianapolis! He might not have sold as many gold records as his namesake, but after talking to him for 15 minutes I was convinced that he had talents that would make his peers green with envy.
With the current world health situation, many contractors have asked us if they should be concerned about disease transmission – particularly COVID-19 – through wastewater. People have been increasingly, and understandably, anxious about the transmission of Coronavirus, HIV, hepatitis, tetanus, dysentery and other diseases through wastewater. Plumbers, drain cleaning specialists and maintenance personnel face health…
“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” Contrary to popular lore, Winston Churchill never said that. But Michael Williams at Just Drains LLC in Philadelphia firmly believes it – especially when confronting Coronavirus (COVID-19) concerns. “Unlike most office jobs,” Williams says, “plumbers and drain cleaners are…
If you work in the plumbing and drain cleaning business and have the task of hiring new talent, then it should come as no surprise that our country is in the midst of a serious skills gap in the trades. There are many factors to blame for this, such as the stigmatization of blue-collar labor,…
Water jetters like General’s JM-1000 Mini-Jet™ and compact, electric JM-1450™ water jetter have become popular in the plumbing industry for their powerful cleaning results for clearing tough stoppages. Recently, General enhanced the performance and cleaning power of these machines by introducing its new, high-performance stainless steel braid jet hose in a variety of lengths. The durable…
Check out our Pro Tool Selection Guide or chat with a Drain Brain! We can help you by answering any questions about our products you may have.
