Hydro jetting vs snaking: which is better?

This gets framed as old technology versus new technology, which is wrong. A cable machine and a hydro jet are two different tools for two different problems, and a company that only owns one of them will tell you their one is always the answer.

What a cable machine does

A motorised cable feeds down the line with a cutting head on the end. It bores through the blockage and, with the right head, can cut roots. It is fast, it works in lines that are already partly collapsed, and it is the right first move for a solid obstruction.

• Best for: a single solid blockage, a foreign object, a quick clear to restore flow
• Limitation: it makes a hole through the material. It does not remove what is coating the pipe wall

What hydro jetting does

High-pressure water — up to 4,000 PSI in our case — through a nozzle that fires backwards as well as forwards. The rear jets propel the hose up the line and scour the pipe wall as it goes. What comes out is the grease, scale and sludge that a cable left behind.

• Best for: grease, soap and mineral build-up, root mass, and any line that keeps re-clogging
• Limitation: it needs a line structurally sound enough to take the pressure. This is exactly why a camera comes first

How to tell which you need

The single most useful question is how many times this drain has clogged.

1. 1First time, one fixture, sudden onset — a cable will very likely sort it
2. 2Gradually getting slower over months — that is build-up narrowing the pipe, and jetting is what restores the diameter
3. 3Third clog in the same line this year — stop cabling it. Something is still in there
4. 4Restaurant or commercial kitchen line — jetting, effectively always, because the problem is grease by definition

The honest cost comparison

Cabling is cheaper per visit. Jetting is cheaper per year on any line that keeps blocking, because you stop paying for the same job repeatedly. If a drain has clogged once in ten years, cable it. If it clogs every spring, jetting it once will cost less than cabling it every spring.