In the Field · Part 4
Sewer and drain I: the camera, the locator, hydro-jetting vs. cabling, and when each is the right tool
A stoppage is the most common call a plumber gets and the one where the difference between a technician and a contractor shows: the technician clears it, the contractor finds out why and offers the customer the ladder. This lesson is the drain call as a method: the questions and the cheap tests before the machine comes off the truck, the choice between a cable and a jetter and what each one can and cannot do, when the camera goes in and how to read what it shows, how a locator turns a camera image into a spot on the driveway, and how to write up a drain call so that the $340 clearing leads honestly to the $9,000 lateral when that is what the pipe needs.
What the full lesson covers
- Before the machine: verify which fixtures are affected (one fixture, one branch, or the whole house tells you where the stoppage is), check the cleanouts, and look at the yard for the wet spot.
- A cable clears; it does not clean. It bores a hole through roots or grease and leaves the rest on the wall. A jetter cleans the full diameter with water at pressure and is the right tool for grease, scale, and soft roots, and the wrong tool for a broken clay line that will not hold water.
- The camera after clearing, not before: it shows the cause (roots, offset joints, a belly, a break, a collapsed section), and the locator puts the footage counter reading on the ground with a depth.
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More lessons in The Field: Method, Code, and Cases
- 1The diagnostic method: verify, isolate, cheapest test first, cause not symptom, the options ladder, document
- 2Permits: when one is required, what is exempt, pulling it online, the inspection sequence, what inspectors look for, and handling corrections
- 3Daily-use code: drainage slope, venting, water sizing, cleanouts, trap arms, and fixture units, with the section for each
- 4Gas piping in practice: sizing, CSST bonding, the pressure test, appliance connectors and shutoffs, sediment traps, and seismic shutoff valves