Rodding punches a hole through a blockage. Jetting removes it, fat, silt, scale and root growth cut away and flushed out, so the run keeps flowing long after we have gone.
WJA qualified for jetting · 14 years in the trade · answered 24 hours a day · fully insured
High-pressure water jetting cleans a drain from the inside using water delivered through a hose and a specialist nozzle. Rear-facing jets drive the hose along the run and scour the pipe wall as they travel, cutting through fat, lifting silt out of the invert and flushing the debris back towards the chamber, where it is vacuumed out rather than pushed into the next section of the system.
The reason it matters is coverage. A rod is a single point of contact: it makes a hole in a blockage large enough for water to pass, and everything around that hole stays exactly where it is, ready to catch the next thing that comes down the pipe. Jetting removes the deposit across the whole circumference, which is why a jetted run stays clear for a very different length of time to a rodded one.
Jetting is a controlled process, not brute force. Pressure and nozzle choice are matched to the pipe material, bore and condition, and where a CCTV survey shows a run that is fractured, displaced or made of degraded pitch fibre, jetting pressure is adjusted or the run is treated a different way entirely. So Drainage Solutions is WJA (Water Jetting Association) qualified, which is precisely the training that governs those judgements.
Every partial clearance leaves a rough surface behind, and a rough surface is where the next blockage starts. Fat grips it, wipes snag on it, and silt settles against it. The interval between blockages shortens: annually, then twice a year, then every couple of months, each visit costing money and each one leaving the pipe slightly worse.
There is a structural cost too. A run carrying a permanent layer of deposit never runs at full bore, so it never self-cleanses, and standing water sits against joints for years. On older clay systems that is how open joints and root entry points develop in the first place.
Several partial clearances a year cost more than one proper jetting visit, and the pipe is in worse condition at the end of them.
A grease-blocked kitchen waste line surcharges at the busiest moment, and a food premises with foul water on the floor stops serving.
Root hairs that could have been cut out and the entry point patched become a solid root mass and, eventually, a fractured pipe requiring excavation.
A camera in a silted pipe reports silt. Without cleaning first, defects stay hidden and decisions are made on incomplete information.
Chambers lifted, flow direction confirmed, and the material, bore and likely age of the run established before any equipment comes off the van.
The camera goes down first wherever access allows, so pressure and nozzle are chosen for the actual condition of the pipe rather than an assumption about it.
Standing water and heavy silt are wet vacuumed out, surrounding surfaces protected, and the working area kept safe, jetting equipment operates at pressures that demand it.
The hose is worked along the length with the nozzle selected for the deposit: descaling, degreasing, root cutting or bulk silt removal, scouring the full circumference of the pipe wall.
Everything cut loose is flushed back and vacuumed out, then the camera goes down again to confirm a clean pipe wall and a run flowing without ponding.
Waste taken away by us, and a straight account of what was in there, what caused it and whether anything structural was exposed by the clean.
The deposit comes off the whole pipe wall, not just the middle, which is what restores the original capacity of the run.
A smooth pipe wall gives fat, wipes and silt nothing to grip, so the next blockage is a long way off rather than a few weeks away.
Hardened fat and fine root growth do not respond to rodding. Cutting nozzles and high-pressure water deal with both.
WJA qualified, City & Guilds qualified and fully insured. Jetting pressures are dangerous in untrained hands and damaging to the wrong pipe.
Water and pressure only. Nothing corrosive is introduced into your drainage system or the ground around it.
Debris is vacuumed out and taken away in house, so the blockage is not simply transferred to the next chamber down the line.
Jetting covers a range of situations, and the equipment set-up changes with each one.
Fat, oil and grease build in layers on the pipe wall and set hard. A degreasing nozzle with a controlled rear-jet pattern cuts the layer away and flushes it back. For pubs, takeaways and restaurants across Southampton this is normally best done on a planned interval rather than waiting for the run to surcharge mid-service.
Fine roots are cut out with a rotating or cutting nozzle. This restores flow immediately, but roots enter through a defect, so the camera pass afterwards is what identifies the entry point and whether a patch repair or reline is the sensible follow-up.
Yard drains, channel runs and surface water systems silt up steadily, especially after building work. Bulk silt is vacuumed and jetted out of the invert, and mineral scale in older runs is cut back with a descaling head.
Vitrified clay, PVCu, concrete and cast iron all tolerate jetting well when sound. Pitch fibre, common on some mid-century estates, deforms and delaminates and needs a far more cautious approach. Fractured or displaced pipework is jetted with restraint if at all, because the correct answer there is repair, not cleaning.
A camera cannot report on a pipe wall covered in grease or submerged in silt. Where a survey matters, pre-purchase, insurance, condition reporting, cleaning the run first is what makes the footage worth having.
Commercial kitchens, care homes, pubs, laundries and managed estates benefit from jetting on a schedule set by how the system actually behaves. Planned visits are booked around trading hours; emergency ones are not, which is the real cost of leaving it to chance.
Domestic work is typically 100mm to 150mm foul and surface runs with short lengths between chambers. Commercial work brings larger bores, longer runs, interceptors, grease management and yard drainage, with more emphasis on doing the work without stopping the site.
High-pressure water is genuinely hazardous. Working areas are controlled, discharge is contained, chambers are guarded while open and everything is reinstated before we leave. That discipline is what the WJA qualification exists for.
Based on Cutforth Way in Romsey, covering Southampton, Romsey and the surrounding towns and villages. If your postcode is not listed, ring and ask; it is usually still within reach.
It depends on the length and bore of the run and what is inside it. The camera goes down first wherever possible, so you are told what is there and what it takes before any work is priced or started.
A single domestic run is usually cleared within one visit. Heavily greased commercial lines, long runs or systems needing bulk silt removal first will take longer, and that is made clear before we begin.
Not when pressure and nozzle are matched to the pipe. That is exactly why the run is inspected first and why WJA training matters. Sound clay, PVCu, concrete and cast iron take jetting comfortably; pitch fibre and already-fractured pipework are handled very differently or not jetted at all.
Far longer than after a rodding, because the deposit is removed from the whole pipe wall rather than punched through. How long depends on what goes down the run; a domestic foul drain cleaned properly can go years, whereas a busy commercial kitchen benefits from a planned interval.
For fat, silt, scale and root growth, yes, decisively. Rodding still has its place for a discrete obstruction in an accessible run, and part of the job is choosing correctly rather than defaulting to one method.
No. Jetting uses water and pressure only, so nothing corrosive goes into your drainage system or the surrounding ground.
Where the situation allows, work is planned around your trading hours to keep disruption down. In an emergency the priority is getting the site running again, and we are available 24 hours a day to do it.
Yes. Wet vacuuming and waste removal are handled in house, so debris leaves with us instead of settling in the next chamber.
Yes: WJA (Water Jetting Association) qualified for high-pressure jetting work, City & Guilds qualified, fully insured, with 14 years in the trade.
Yes. The phone is answered 24 hours a day, seven days a week, including nights, weekends and bank holidays.
Stop paying for the same blockage. Ring any hour, or send your postcode and a short description and we will come back to you.
Call 07940 156407One visit that clears the blockage, shows you what caused it on screen, and leaves the run flowing before we pack up, so you are not paying for the same drain twice.
Read moreA camera down the run turns a guess into a fact: you find out exactly what is wrong, where it is, how deep it sits, and what it genuinely takes to put right.
Read morePubs, kitchens, care homes, shops and managed estates kept running: work planned around your hours where it can be, and answered 24 hours a day when it cannot.
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