Drain clearing · Tampa, FL
Drain clearing in Tampa
Cable, jet or camera: the right tool for the line, and a straight answer about why it clogged and whether it will again.
- Camera on older lines
- Cast iron assessed honestly
- 30-day warranty on the line
Sound familiar?
Signs of a drain problem
Where it's slow tells us where to look.
One slow sink or tub
Usually hair, soap or grease close to the fixture. A quick job.
Several drains at once
The main line. Often roots or old cast iron in older Tampa homes.
Gurgling or backing up
A blockage downstream, or a venting problem that looks like one.
Why the kitchen sink keeps clogging
Grease, old cast iron, and the difference it makes
A kitchen line blocks with grease: it goes down warm, cools in the pipe and lines the wall. A cable punches a hole through it and it closes again, so kitchen lines usually want jetting.
In older Tampa, Seffner and Brandon homes the drains are often cast iron, which corrodes from the inside until the bottom of the pipe channels out. Clearing PVC is a fix. Clearing channeled cast iron is a delay, and the camera shows you which one you have.
How we do it
How we clear a drain
The right tool depends on the line.
Find where it is
Which fixtures are slow tells us whether it's a branch or the main.
Cable or jet
A cable for roots and solid blockages; a jet for grease and sludge.
Camera when it matters
On older lines, before jetting, and whenever it keeps coming back.
A straight answer
What we saw on the screen, and how long a clearing will honestly last.
What it costs
What drain clearing costs
What moves the price
- Where the blockage is: a fixture branch or the main line.
- Access: a cleanout outside is quicker than pulling a toilet.
- Tool: jetting and a camera inspection cost more than a cable.
- Condition of the pipe, which the camera shows you.
The visit charge, up front
There is a diagnostic charge for a service call, and we tell you what it is on the phone before anyone drives out. You keep the written report whether or not you go ahead.
Repairs are priced as a job, part and labor named, and agreed before we start.
Request serviceThe details
Kitchen, laundry and the main line
Each fails in its own way.
Kitchen lines block with grease
Grease goes down warm, cools in the pipe and lines the wall, catching coffee grounds on the way. A cable punches through and it fills back in. That's a jetting job, and no amount of boiling water substitutes.
Laundry lines block with lint
Lint packs, often where a long, flat run meets a junction. And on a standpipe that's too short or has no trap, what looks like a blockage is often a venting problem.
Cable, jet, or neither
A cable cuts a passage through what's in the pipe. A jet scours the whole wall. You don't jet an old cast-iron line that may be paper-thin at the bottom until you've looked at it, which is why the camera isn't an upsell on those lines.
What we won't do
We won't sell you a repipe off a slow drain: a repipe is your supply water, a drain is waste. And we won't clear a line we've seen is finished, charge the warranty rate, and act surprised when it backs up in a month.
Questions
Drain questions
My drains are slow. Do I need a repipe?
Almost certainly not. Drains are waste and a repipe is supply; they're different systems. Slow drains in older homes are usually cast iron that needs clearing, and a camera tells you whether that's a fix or a delay.
Should I use chemical drain cleaner first?
We'd rather you didn't. It rarely clears a real blockage and it sits in the trap, where it's hard on old pipe and on whoever opens it next.
Do you guarantee the drain stays clear?
Thirty days on the same line, cleared the same way. If the camera shows a broken or finished line, we tell you before you pay that the guarantee doesn't apply to that line.
More from Copperfield
Tampa · Hillsborough County
Drains that drain, and an honest look at the pipe.
Tell us which drains are slow. We'll tell you if it's one fixture or the whole house.