Superior Plumbing & Heating is a local fully-equipped team of expert plumbers, ready to execute any required job for your household in no time. If your drain pipes or fixtures started backing up or you suspect there can be clogs in your drainage system – call us now to have these problems handled promptly and professionally.

Drain snaking vs obstructed pipes

Drain snaking is a pretty old technique, but it still works well in some particular cases. Despite more modern and productive drain cleaning methods (like hydro-jetting) have been invented, snaking is still competitive. It is cheaper and quicker, and snake bunch is much easier to carry than massive hydro-jetting units.

While water jets are irreplaceable when dealing with tightly blocked pipes, snaking is more suitable in breaking soft clogs like common greasy hairballs, often emerging in shower and bathtub drains. Mechanically a drain snake is a thick wire with a spiraliform nosepiece. The plumber pushes it down the clogged pipe until the snake bumps into a clog and then starts turning it around, making the spiral “bite” into the clog’s soft structure. Once it’s done, the snake with the clog is simply being pulled out.

DIY snaking – pros and cons

As snaking appears as an old and simple enough technique, many are willing to try performing it by themselves. But in practice, snaking is harder than it seems. And it’s important to mention that if done wrong, DIY snaking may cause much more harm than it has been early on.

  • A professional plumbing snake is required. Many of those who tried beating the clog with improvised resources ended up calling out emergency plumbers. It’s a common mistake to try rodding the clog with a solid stick or a spike – the risk of poking the PVC pipe through is higher than you can expect. Attempts to create a working plumbing snake out of a wire with a hook on the tip are rarely successful too.
  • The location of the clog must be known for sure. If your drain fails, you can only see the consequences, not the source. You may suggest that the clog is close to the drain hole and spend hours trying to take it out, while in reality, clogs may form at any point of the drainpipe or even in the sewer. Professional plumbers use special cameras to inspect the problematic pipe and see the blockage cause before figuring out the solution. Besides, not any clogs are defenceless to drain snaking, and camera inspection will determine whether snaking would be enough or hydro-jetting is needed.

How much does the snaking cost in Vancouver?

With Superior Plumbing, you only pay for the work done and for the time spent on that work. That’s why it’s hard to provide a client with an exact estimate before pre-inspecting the issue. Prices for snaking depend on the complexity of the problem. The clog we aim at can be located either just below the drain mesh or deep down the pipe and even in the sewer.

In case you agree with the estimate, the service call fee will be included in the overall bill. That’s why you may be sure that we have no extra charges and you never have to overpay working with Superior Plumbing!