1. What a snake actually does
A drain snake is a flexible cable that is fed down the line until it reaches the obstruction, then rotated to break through it or hook it out. It is quick, inexpensive and ideal for a single fixture blocked by hair, a wipe or a build-up of soap. What it does not do is remove the material coating the pipe around the hole it just made.
2. What jetting does differently
Hydro jetting sends water down the line at high pressure through a nozzle that sprays backwards as well as forwards. That scours grease, scale and sludge off the pipe wall and flushes it away, leaving the full original diameter rather than a channel through the middle of the blockage.
3. Grease, roots and scale each need a different answer
Kitchen lines clogged with cooled fat are the clearest case for jetting — a snake will pass straight through soft grease and leave the walls exactly as coated as they were. Root intrusion usually needs a cutting head first and jetting afterwards to clear the debris.
A single bathroom drain blocked by hair, on the other hand, rarely justifies bringing a jetter to the property at all. Thirty seconds with a snake solves it.
4. When jetting is the wrong call
Old clay, cast iron that has corroded thin, or any line with a known crack should be inspected before jetting. The pressure that scours a sound pipe clean can open a weak one up. A plumber who jets an unknown line without looking first is taking a risk with your floor.
“If the same drain blocks twice in a year, the first clearance did not fail — it was the wrong method for what is actually in the pipe.”
5. Ask for a camera before you choose either one
A camera survey takes a few minutes and settles the question completely. It shows whether you are looking at a soft blockage, a hard scale layer, roots, a collapsed section or a fall that was laid wrong in the first place.
That last one matters most, because no amount of snaking or jetting fixes a pipe that does not drain downhill. Knowing which problem you have before paying for a cure is the whole point.
Pipewise Team
Field notes from licensed technicians
