Hydro Jetting in Hiram, GA

When wipes pack a sewer line, hydro jetting usually clears it more completely than a cable can. Baby wipes, cleaning wipes, makeup wipes and many products sold as flushable do not come apart in water the way toilet paper does. They travel a short way, catch on a joint or rough spot, and gather other debris into a dense, stringy mass. In a Hiram home, the first sign is usually a toilet that will not clear, followed by the lowest drain in the house backing up.

Why wipes behave differently from toilet paper

Toilet paper is made to lose its strength soon after it gets wet. Most wipes are made to stay strong when wet, which is exactly what makes them handy for cleaning and troublesome in a pipe. Many contain synthetic fibers. Once a few of them snag, they act like a net: paper, hair and grease collect on them, and the mass grows with every flush. Paper towels, tissues, cotton swabs, dental floss and feminine products cause the same kind of trouble.

Why a cable machine struggles with wipes

A drain snake can bore a hole through a wipe blockage, but the fibrous tangle tends to wrap around the cable head instead of breaking up. Sometimes the snake pulls back a clump; sometimes it simply punches through and leaves most of the mass behind to catch the next flush. A jetter's stream tears the tangle apart and carries the pieces downstream, while its rear jets scrub the pipe wall so there is less for the next wipe to cling to.

How a wipe clog is jetted

The technician usually works from the main cleanout toward the blockage, with a nozzle chosen to cut through soft, fibrous material. Several passes may be needed, since a large wipe mass can stretch a fair distance along the pipe. If the backup started at a toilet branch, that line may also be cleaned from a pulled toilet or a cleanout. A sewer camera inspection afterward checks that the line is clear and looks for whatever the wipes were snagging on, such as an offset joint, a root or a rough patch of pipe. The jetter itself is described in our general hydro jetting overview.

Houses with a sewage ejector pump

If part of the house drains to a sewage ejector pump, for instance a basement bathroom that sits below the sewer line, wipes are an even bigger worry. They can wrap around the pump's impeller or jam its float switch, stopping the pump and backing up that bathroom. Cleaning the line beyond the pump does not fix a jammed pump; that calls for sump pump and sewer pump service.

What to keep out of the toilet

• All wipes, including those labeled flushable
• Paper towels and facial tissues
• Feminine products and their wrappers
• Cotton balls, swabs and dental floss
• Hair from brushes and combs
• Cat litter, even types marketed as flushable

A small lidded trash can beside each toilet makes the habit easy for everyone in the house, guests included.

Where permits come from in Hiram

A wipe clog rarely needs more than cleaning, but if the camera finds a defect that calls for main sewer line repair, the permit side runs through the county. The City of Hiram refers building permit questions to Paulding County, whose Building and Permitting Division issues plumbing permits and has its own inspectors check the work.

Wipe clog questions from Hiram

Are flushable wipes really safe to flush?

From a plumbing point of view, it is safer to treat them as trash. Many products labeled flushable stay strong in water far longer than toilet paper and can snag in a pipe, especially an older one with rough joints. Dropping them in a bin instead avoids the problem entirely and costs nothing.

Can I clear a wipe clog with a plunger?

Sometimes, if the wipes are stuck in the toilet itself or just below it. If plunging moves water but the toilet clogs again soon, or other drains are slow too, the mass is probably farther down the line, where a plunger cannot reach. Skip chemical cleaners, which do not dissolve wipes.

How do I know the clog is wipes and not something else?

Often you do not, until it is cleared. A household habit of flushing wipes is a strong clue, and a camera inspection shows the mass directly. Sometimes the technician pulls a clump back on a cable or spots it at the cleanout. The cause matters, because wipes in a sound pipe call for a change of habit rather than a repair.

Clear the tangle

Dealing with a toilet or main line in Hiram that keeps choking on wipes? Give Alpha Plumbing and Sewer a call at (404) 409-4448, and we will jet out the wipes, if the pipe can take it, and check what they were catching on.