Drain cleaner for occasional use.

[Truckcab79]

Anyone recommend a drain cleaner for pressure washer. I have the 7hp Loncin from Jetmac. Just think it’s handy to have on van. Not a service I’ll be actively offering. Is there a budget friendly version, and do I just need the jet to attach to an existing hose or is there a reason that most are sold with hose attached?

Many thanks.

 

[Iron Giant]

I'd have thought it's potentially not a good idea as you don't what the issue is with a blocked drain it could be blocked or partially collapsed, we had Jet Aire out over a year ago through the water board they checked with a camera first as ours are 87 years old and pot, not plastic.

a mate of mine is a builder and for one job that he was doing a big renovation on the customer assumed the drain was blocked as the bath was draining slowly they tell him this halfway through the work turns out it was a collapsed drain and they had to dig the lawn up and replace over a meter of waste pipe another mate of mine had to replace over 4 metres at his own house

 

[scottish cleaning service]

No one really uses drain cleaner for clearing drains. They all use a rotating nozzle on end of the hose so it can get round bends. I leave drain cleaning to Dynorod and the rest because if you don't have the camera then it can be pretty hard work.

 

[THL4KEL]

Cameras are very expensive for drain cleaning. If you wanted to go.down that avenue your gonna need a much bigger pressure washer. I spoke to a guy a couple of years back who was a drain cleaner, he'd had his van broken into and along with a number of other pieces of equipment his camera had been stolen, replacement costs was touching 2k. He was saying he had a 40lpm pressure washer onboard to big to be stolen.

 

[Truckcab79]

No one really uses drain cleaner for clearing drains. They all use a rotating nozzle on end of the hose so it can get round bends. I leave drain cleaning to Dynorod and the rest because if you don't have the camera then it can be pretty hard work.

That’s exactly the sort of kit I’m referring to. No intention of getting into drain cleaning proper and well aware of the issues. I’m thinking more something that I can pop into a drain that I know flowed well beforehand but perhaps has become blocked during the course of my driveway cleaning etc.

Don’t think I’d even be wanting to run my current machine at full power let along risk something bigger.

So are the nozzles being sold with hose attached as most seem to be, just on a standard pressure washing hose or are they different in the sense that they’re maybe more flexible, narrower bore etc?

 

[THL4KEL]

What happens if you push the blockage further along and dont clear it. The only thing I would do is try and clear it via suction - gutter Vac.

 

[Truckcab79]

What happens if you push the blockage further along and dont clear it. The only thing I would do is try and clear it via suction - gutter Vac.

What happens if I don’t push it further along and do clear it ?. Was just asking whether there was a sensibly priced recommended attachment rather than all the reasons I shouldn’t do it to be honest.

 

[scottish cleaning service]

What happens if I don’t push it further along and do clear it ?. Was just asking whether there was a sensibly priced recommended attachment rather than all the reasons I shouldn’t do it to be honest.

I wouldn't get involved because nothing worse than a blocked drain. Everyone needs to use a toilet so that's the reason companies specialise in it. I watched the program from United Utilities who were clearing drains on a daily basis. Their vans were kitted out and we are talking about thousands of pounds worth of stuff. Don't think they take the vans home at night in case they get nicked. I would stick to PW driveways and pvc cleaning as an add-on and you will do well financially. fwiw

 

[Truckcab79]

I wouldn't get involved because nothing worse than a blocked drain. Everyone needs to use a toilet so that's the reason companies specialise in it. I watched the program from United Utilities who were clearing drains on a daily basis. Their vans were kitted out and we are talking about thousands of pounds worth of stuff. Don't think they take the vans home at night in case they get nicked. I would stick to PW driveways and pvc cleaning as an add-on and you will do well financially. fwiw

I’m a landscaper primarily. PW is only an add-on, cleaning up after jobs and the occasional lucrative extra bit of driveway work. And I really enjoy it. I was really only after the opinion of anyone who might be in a similar position. I have no intention whatsoever of offering to clean drains but if nobody knows the answer then I’ll just take a punt on the Jetmac one I reckon.

 

[Iron Giant]

I’m a landscaper primarily. PW is only an add-on, cleaning up after jobs and the occasional lucrative extra bit of driveway work. And I really enjoy it. I was really only after the opinion of anyone who might be in a similar position. I have no intention whatsoever of offering to clean drains but if nobody knows the answer then I’ll just take a punt on the Jetmac one I reckon.

Landscaper by trade so I assume not insured to be sticking a high pressured drain cleaner down people's drains

 

[Truckcab79]

Landscaper by trade so I assume not insured to be sticking a high pressured drain cleaner down people's drains

I’ll check actually. Insured for the pressure washing but whether that includes cleaning out a drain I couldn’t honestly tell you. Though again I think you’re overthinking it a bit to be honest. I’m just after a simple set up to clean something like a drain gully if I block it while working. I’m not planning on taking on DynoRod.

 

[ched999uk]

I don't do pressure washing but I do have a couple of small electric Nilfisk machines. One came with a drain clearing attachment. It is a smaller diameter hose with a brass nozzle on the end, this nozzle has 1 hole pointing forwards and 3 or 4 pointing backwards so it pushes itself along the pipe.
It does work on blockages quite well. We used to have holiday apartments and once a loo was blocked! A plunger wouldn't work neither did the off the shelf chemicals like mr muscle. I hooked up the pressure washer (sat it in shower) and used the drain un-blocker hose, it worked within about 30 seconds!
So I would say a basic hose with the right nozzle might come in handy as long as it's just for minor obstructions.

 

[K in Kent]

I don't pretend to know anything about the subject and have never tried it, but to try and assist with your question : one time when I bought a replacement gun and lance it also came with a free "drain cleaning lance" which was basically a U bend at the end of the lance with a standard quick-fit nozzle. As I understand it it can be fitted into pipes like that rather than gulleys