What Is Hydro Jetting?

Picture a pressure washer built for the inside of pipes: a hose that pulls itself along the drain while jets cut, strip and flush everything that shouldn’t be there.

Why It Matters

• It cleans the whole pipe, not just the clog. The old-style electric eel drills a hole through a blockage, which often re-blocks within months. Jetting scours the full diameter.
• It’s the tool that handles tree roots: cut back to the pipe wall, then flushed out of the line.
• Grease doesn’t survive it. Kitchen-line fat build-up, the slow-motion blockage, gets stripped from the walls rather than tunnelled through.
• Paired with a CCTV camera before and after, you see the blockage, the clean pipe and, crucially, whatever damage caused the problem.

Jetting vs the Electric Eel

Both have a place. The eel suits some fragile old pipes and simple soft blockages. But for roots, grease and recurring blockages, jetting is the modern standard: the difference between clearing a drain and actually cleaning it.

Common Mistakes or Misunderstandings

• “High pressure will wreck my old pipes.” Operated properly, pressure is matched to the pipe’s material and condition, assessed on camera first. A qualified operator, not a rented machine, is the point.
• “The drain’s cleared, so it’s fixed.” If roots got in, they got in through a crack, and they’ll return through the same one. Jetting clears; relining or repair fixes.
• “All plumbers carry a jetter.” Many still rely on eels alone. Worth asking before you book a recurring blockage job.

When to Call a Plumber

Blocked drains that gurgle, back up or keep re-blocking after clearing: jetting plus a camera inspection answers both what’s blocking the line and why.