Using drain rods yourself might sound like a good idea (you can buy a DIY kit for under £20), but the reality is that this is a technique best left to the experts and their own equipment! This week, we want to explain why.
Screwing Up (And Together)
The rods that our drain experts will bring to your property are lock-tight, meaning that if you have to twist them to break up a blockage, they won’t break apart in your pipes. However, the cheaper DIY kits are usually in pieces that screw together, meaning that if you do the same and twist anti-clockwise, you may end up with half a drain rod in your hands and the other half stuck in your pipes! This is a very easy mistake to make, but you will have to call a drain expert like TWC Draincare to retrieve the rod, meaning that you could have saved money and time by avoiding the DIY solution altogether.
Clearing Up
Without CCTV equipment to assess the problem, your DIY drain rod solution will be done entirely by guesswork (and, if you’re particularly frustrated by a stubborn drain blockage, it can be easy to be a little too forceful). At this point, you may cause further damage to your pipes, or get your drain rod caught on an obstruction like a tree root or a displaced joint. A drain engineer, however, will not only be able to conduct a CCTV survey, but can blast through stubborn blockages with a high-pressure water jet without causing further damage to your plumbing.
Worst Case Scenarios
So, how do we remove a broken DIY drain rod, or repair a pipe that the rods displaced? With CCTV surveys, water jetters, and occasionally a more complex solution– all of which will cost more than trusting your blockage to an expert in the first place! For an expert opinion on your drainage issues, please contact the TWC team.