Drain cleaning and clogged drains in Tampa Bay

A drain that clogs once is a plunger job. A drain that clogs every few months is telling you about the pipe: grease that has narrowed a kitchen line, a cast iron drain whose bottom has rotted into a channel, roots in a clay or Orangeburg lateral, a belly in a line under a slab that has settled. The bay's older housing, from Seminole Heights to the Old Northeast, has a lot of the second kind.

Call and get connected with an independent local plumbing contractor who serves your part of Hillsborough or Pinellas. Say which fixtures are slow or backing up, whether more than one is affected at the same time, and whether it gets worse in the rain. A call connects you to the contractor directly; the form gets you a call back.

Which drain, which cause

Where the water stops tells you where the clog is.

• One slow fixture: the clog is in that fixture's trap or branch. Hair and soap in a tub, grease and food in a kitchen line, a toy or a wipe in a toilet.
• Two fixtures in the same bathroom: the branch line they share, past both traps.
• The lowest fixtures in the house back up when anything upstream runs, or the toilet gurgles when the washer drains: the main line between the house and the street, or the city main itself if the neighbors have it too.
• Worse after rain: groundwater getting into a cracked lateral, or a city main that surcharges in a storm. The camera is what settles it.
• Bubbling and sewer smell with no clog: a venting problem or a dry trap, not a drain job.

Cable, jetter, or camera

Three tools, and the order matters.

• A drain cable (a snake) cuts a hole through the blockage so the line drains. It is the right tool for a one-time clog and the wrong one for a line that has narrowed with grease or scale, which it only opens for a while.
• Hydro-jetting scours the pipe wall with high-pressure water and takes the grease and scale out rather than through. It is the fix for a recurring kitchen or main-line clog, and the tool a contractor should hesitate to use on cast iron that a camera has not seen first: a rotted pipe can be jetted open.
• A camera inspection, before or after the cleaning, shows what the pipe is (cast iron, PVC, clay, Orangeburg), what is in it (roots, a belly, a break, scale), and where. If a contractor recommends replacing a line, ask to see the video and the locate.
• Chemical drain openers are the thing to skip: they do not clear a grease line, they damage older pipe and rubber gaskets, and they sit in the trap when the plumber arrives.

What the contractor does

Ask for the clog to be cleared and the cause named. A cleaning with a cable and no explanation is a return visit in a few months. A written finding after a camera (the pipe material, the condition, the location of the problem) is what you need for the next decision, whether that is nothing, a spot repair, or a sewer line replacement, and what an insurer or a buyer will ask for later.

Drain cleaning is plumbing under Florida law and the contractor should hold a plumbing license (CFC or RF). Some drain-only businesses are not licensed contractors; ask, and check the number on DBPR.