If a drain is slow or has stopped altogether, MVP Plumbing clears it — tubs, lavatories, kitchen sinks, laundry drains and main sewer lines — across Baytown, Mont Belvieu and the surrounding area. Licensed master plumber, MPL 38224.
We carry three drain machines and we bring the one that matches your line. That sounds like a small thing. It is actually the difference between a drain that is cleared and a drain that is damaged.
The machine has to match the line
We run three drain machines, sized to the job:
- Small drum machine — tubs and lavatories
- Mid-size machine — kitchen sinks and washing machine drains
- Large machine — main sewer lines
This matters more than it sounds. Run a mainline cable through a lavatory line and you will damage the trap. Run a small drum machine down a six-inch sewer and it just wanders around inside the pipe without cutting anything — you get charged for a visit and the line is no clearer than it was.
A company that turns up to every job with one machine is going to do one of those two things to somebody.
A recent job — slow tub in Chambers County
Job notes · Chambers County, residential
The customer called about a tub that was draining slowly. We pulled the overflow faceplate and ran a small drum machine through there. What came back was a hairball on the cable. After it was cleared, the cable ran through smoothly with nothing catching.
It was the first stoppage they had had in six or seven years.
We offered a camera inspection and then told them that if it was our house we would not bother. The hairball came out, the cable ran clean, and nothing about the job pointed to a bigger problem. They would only be paying an extra charge for a picture of a working pipe.
We run a camera when something warrants it
Some companies camera every job as standard and bill for it. We do not, because on most stoppages there is genuinely nothing to see.
What makes us reach for the camera is a line that behaves wrong after it is cleared. A cable that catches repeatedly at the same distance. A line that clears and then sits full of water again. A stoppage that keeps coming back on a schedule.
On a kitchen line in Clear Lake, the drain machine told us something was not right, so we put a camera down. The camera showed the line sitting full of water, which meant at minimum it had lost its fall. That is what justified tunneling under the slab instead of guessing — and what we found underground was a line that had shifted and pulled apart at a joint.
Same tool, opposite advice, and the difference was what the line was actually doing. More on sewer camera inspection.
Signs it is more than a blockage
Call us and mention these specifically, because they change what we bring:
- The same drain backs up every few months. Usually grease on the pipe wall, not a blockage. See hydro jetting.
- More than one fixture is affected. Two or more drains backing up together points at the main line, not the individual fixture.
- A smell, or gnats, that cleaning does not fix. A drain that clears but still smells, with flies in the kitchen no matter how much you clean, often means a broken line rather than a dirty one.
- Water surfacing in the yard. Combined with slow drains, that points underground. See sewer line repair.
- Gurgling from another fixture when you run water or flush.
Most people do not connect a fly problem to a plumbing problem. At an assisted living facility in Baytown we cleared the kitchen drains, but the customer still had a smell and was getting gnats no matter how much they cleaned, and water was increasingly surfacing outside the building. Those three things together usually mean a broken line under the slab — not a blockage.
What we do on a drain call
- We ask what it has been doing. How long, how often, which fixtures, whether anything has been used differently. This is not small talk — it decides which machine comes off the truck.
- We find the right access. A cleanout where there is one, an overflow or a pulled trap where there is not. We would rather use proper access than force a cable through a fixture.
- We clear the line with the machine that fits it, and keep going until the cable runs clean rather than stopping the moment water moves.
- We run water through it and watch how it goes away.
- We tell you what we found. If it was a hairball, we say so. If the line behaved like there is a bigger problem, we say that too, and we tell you what we would do about it.
Cabling versus jetting
A cable clears a path. Jetting cleans the pipe.
Worth understanding, because it decides whether your problem comes back:
A cable clears a path. Jetting cleans the pipe.
If your kitchen line backs up every few months and it has been cabled three times in two years, that is grease coating the inside of the pipe. The cable punches a hole through the middle of it and water runs again for a while, then the hole closes up. Jetting cuts the grease off the pipe wall so the line runs at full bore.
For a one-off hairball in a tub, cabling is the right tool and jetting would be overkill. We use the one that fits the problem.
Commercial drains
We clear drains for restaurants, daycares, churches, schools and facility managers across the Houston area. Commercial kitchen lines are almost always a grease problem, which means jetting rather than cabling, and they are better handled on a schedule than at the moment they back up. See commercial plumbing.
Questions we get asked about this
Drain cleaning in your area
We clear drains in Baytown, Mont Belvieu, Anahuac and across the rest of our service area. A sewage backup is an emergency and we take those on our 24-hour line.
Common questions
Do you run a camera on every drain job?
No. We run one when something warrants it. On a hairball in a tub line that clears clean, there is nothing to see and you would only be paying for a picture of a working pipe. On a kitchen line sitting full of water, the camera is what tells us whether it is a blockage or a broken pipe.
Why does the size of the drain machine matter?
Because the machine has to match the line. Run a mainline cable through a lavatory line and you will damage the trap. Run a small drum machine down a six-inch sewer and it just wanders without cutting anything. We carry three machines sized to the job.
My kitchen sink backs up every few months. Why does it keep coming back?
That pattern usually means grease coating the inside of the pipe rather than a one-off blockage. A cable punches a hole through the middle of the grease and water runs again for a while, then the hole closes up. Jetting cuts the grease off the pipe wall instead, so the line runs at full bore.
Can I use a chemical drain cleaner first?
We would rather you did not. They often fail to clear the actual blockage, and then a plumber is working on a line full of caustic liquid. If you have already used one, tell us when we arrive so we can handle it safely.
What if clearing the drain does not fix it?
Then the problem is not a blockage, and we will say so rather than cabling it again. That is the point at which a camera earns its money, because it tells us whether the line has lost its fall, has a belly, or has come apart. On a Clear Lake job that is exactly what happened.
Do you clear commercial drains and restaurant lines?
Yes. Commercial kitchen lines are usually a grease problem rather than a blockage problem, so they are better dealt with by jetting than by cabling. See our hydro jetting page.
Last updated · written by a licensed master plumber, MPL 38224