What is hydro jetting, and when do you need it?

Hydro jetting is high-pressure water used to clean the inside of a pipe. That sentence undersells it, because the pressures involved are closer to industrial cleaning equipment than to a garden hose.

How it works

A hose with a specialised nozzle goes into the line through a cleanout. The nozzle has a forward jet to break up the blockage and several rear-facing jets angled backwards. Those rear jets do two things at once: they drive the hose forward up the pipe, and they blast the pipe wall behind the nozzle as it travels.

That is the part that matters. The debris is pushed back toward the cleanout and out, rather than being compacted further down the line.

When you need it

• Recurring clogs in the same line — the strongest single indicator
• Grease, which coats and hardens and which a cable simply bores through
• Mineral scale, which is common here because San Juan County water is hard
• Root intrusion, after the roots have been cut, to clear the remaining mass
• Any commercial kitchen line, as routine maintenance rather than emergency response
• Before a pipe lining or trenchless repair, because the surface has to be clean for the liner to bond

When it is the wrong tool

Jetting is not universally appropriate, and a company that says it is has one truck and one answer.

• Pipe that is already cracked, offset or partly collapsed — pressure can worsen it
• Very old, thin-walled or corroded lines where the wall integrity is unknown
• Where the actual problem is a structural fault rather than a build-up — no amount of cleaning fixes a broken pipe

What to expect on the day

1. 1We locate and open a cleanout, or establish access
2. 2Camera goes in first — we look at the condition of the line before any pressure is applied
3. 3Jetting run, usually from the cleanout out toward the main
4. 4Camera goes back in, so you can see the pipe wall afterwards and compare

Ask for the after footage. A jetted line looks obviously different, and if it does not, you should be asking why.