The important difference between jetting and a drain snake is what you are left with. A snake bores a hole through the middle of a blockage. Water flows again, the customer is happy, and the grease or root mass is still sitting on the pipe wall ready to catch the next thing that passes.
Jetting works the other way around. The nozzle fires most of its jets backwards, which both drives the hose up the pipe and scours the full internal wall as it is drawn back. You end up with a pipe closer to its original bore, not a tunnel through a blockage.
How drain jetting works
- 01Access the lineUsually through an inspection opening. The hose goes in with the nozzle facing up the line toward the blockage.
- 02Match the nozzle to the blockageRoots need a cutting head. Grease needs a different pattern. Silt and sand need volume more than pressure. Using the wrong head is how pipes get damaged.
- 03Work through the blockageRear-facing jets pull the hose forward while the water breaks the blockage apart and flushes the debris back toward the access point.
- 04Scour on the way backThe real cleaning happens as the hose is drawn back through the line, stripping the wall rather than just the centre.
- 05Confirm with the cameraJetting without a camera afterwards is guesswork. The camera is how you know whether the pipe is clean and whether it is intact.
Why jetting suits Gold Coast drains
- Tree roots
- A cutting nozzle shears the root mass off at the pipe wall instead of punching through the middle of it. It buys far more time before regrowth, though roots will return unless the joint is repaired.
- Fat and grease
- Hardened grease is the job jetting does best. Hot water and pressure take it off the wall in a way nothing mechanical manages.
- Silt and sand
- Common in canal estates and on acreage. Jetting moves volume, which is what silt needs.
- Wet wipes
- A knitted plug of wipes gets broken up and flushed rather than compacted further down the line.
What jetting will not fix
Jetting is a cleaning method, not a repair. If a pipe is cracked, collapsed, back-falling or has a joint pulled open, jetting will clear it and the problem will return, because the defect is still there.
That is the honest reason we camera afterwards. If a drain needs repairing we would rather tell you that on the first visit than keep coming back to jet it twice a year.
On a badly deteriorated earthenware pipe we adjust pressure and nozzle choice to clear the line without making an existing defect worse.
John & Mark were amazing. Arrived on time & fixed the problem quickly without the usual plumber’s hefty invoice. Very professional, highly recommended. Would not use any other plumber now. Thank you so much.
Paul RidleyI called Fair Dinkum Drainage after a co-worker used them. She could not say enough good things about them. So I decided to give them a try. I’d like to thank Nath, who came on time, did the job right, with no hassle. Thank You Nathan!
Dania