Drain Jetting vs Snaking: Which Clears It for Good?

When a plunger will not cut it, the two main ways a plumber clears a drain are a drain snake and high-pressure jetting. They sound similar but they do very different jobs, and which one is right depends on what is blocking your pipe. Here is the straight comparison of drain jetting vs snaking.

What a drain snake does

A drain snake (or “electric eel”) is a long flexible cable with a cutting or hooking head, fed into the pipe and spun by a motor. It works by punching a hole through the blockage or hooking it out. It is quick, it is good for reaching a specific blockage, and it is often the right first tool for a solid obstruction or a localised clog.

The limitation: a snake clears a path through the blockage, but it leaves the rest, the grease, the build-up coating the pipe walls, behind. So the drain flows again, but the stuff that caused the blockage is still there, and it builds straight back up.

What jetting does

High-pressure water jetting feeds a hose with a special nozzle into the pipe and blasts water at very high pressure. Instead of punching a hole, it scours the entire inside of the pipe, cutting through tree roots, stripping out grease and sludge, and flushing it all away. The pipe comes out running like new.

Head to head

• Tree roots: jetting cuts them out and clears the line. A snake can punch through but leaves more behind.
• Grease and sludge: jetting wins clearly, it strips the pipe walls. A snake barely touches a grease coating.
• A solid object or a single tight clog: a snake is often quicker and is the right call.
• Recurring blockages: jetting, because it removes the cause, not just the symptom.

Why jetting lasts longer

Because jetting cleans the whole pipe rather than poking a hole through the blockage, the drain stays clear for much longer, especially when the underlying cause is grease or roots. We usually camera the line first so we know exactly what we are dealing with and can match the pressure to the pipe.

If the problem turns out to be a cracked or root-invaded pipe, even jetting is only a clean-up, the permanent fix is pipe relining. If you are in Newcastle and you are tired of clearing the same drain, book a jetting service and we will get it properly clean.