Hydro jetting uses high-pressure water to scour the inside of a drain line back to the pipe wall. MVP Plumbing jets residential sewer lines, kitchen and laundry lines, and commercial grease-fed sink lines from two inch up to six inch, across Baytown, Mont Belvieu and the Houston area.
If a line has been cabled several times and keeps backing up, jetting is usually what actually fixes it. Call 832-334-2836.
A cable clears a path. Jetting cleans the pipe.
This is the whole thing in one line, and it is worth spelling out.
If your kitchen line backs up every few months and it has been cabled three times in two years, that is not bad luck. That is grease coating the inside of the pipe, narrowing it down from the wall inward.
A cable punches a hole through the middle of that grease. Water runs again, everyone is happy, and then the hole closes back up over the following weeks. You are on a cycle, paying for it every time.
Jetting cuts the grease off the pipe wall. The line goes back to its full inside diameter, and the cycle stops.
Our equipment, and why flow rate matters
Equipment
Jetters Northwest “Brute” cart unit. 9 GPM at 4000 PSI. Lines from two inch up to six inch — residential sewer, kitchen and laundry lines, and commercial grease-fed sink lines.
Pressure gets advertised; flow rate does the work. Nine gallons a minute is what actually scours a grease-lined pipe and carries the debris away. A lower-flow machine at the same pressure just bores through the middle of the grease — which puts you back to what a cable already did.
Being a cart unit matters too. It gets to cleanouts that a truck-mounted machine cannot reach, which on residential jobs and tight commercial kitchens is most of them.
Where our machine is not the right machine. Some commercial jetting jobs need a bigger unit than a cart. When that is the case we subcontract it out rather than turning up with something undersized and charging you for a partial result.
Jetting plus camera
Worth pairing the two: jet the line, then camera it.
That does two things. It confirms the pipe is actually clean, rather than assuming it because water is moving again. And it catches a bellied or broken section that the grease was hiding — because a line packed with grease looks the same on camera whatever is going on behind it.
If the camera does find a break or a belly, jetting was not a wasted trip. It was the step that let anyone see the problem at all. More on sewer camera inspection and sewer line repair.
Commercial kitchens and grease lines
Most restaurants call us when the line is already backed up, usually at the worst possible time — a Friday evening, a full dining room, a kitchen that has to close.
A scheduled jetting a couple of times a year costs a fraction of a weekend emergency call and a closed kitchen. We do take on scheduled maintenance: quarterly or twice a year depending on volume.
If you run or manage a restaurant, a school kitchen or a facility with commercial sinks, get in touch and we will work out a sensible interval based on what your line actually does rather than a generic schedule. See also commercial plumbing.
When jetting is the right call
- A line that backs up repeatedly on roughly the same interval
- Kitchen or commercial sink lines where grease is the known cause
- A line that has been cabled more than once with no lasting result
- Sewer lines with root intrusion, where the jet cuts the roots back rather than punching through them
- Before a camera inspection, when the line is too dirty to see anything
When jetting is not the right call
We will tell you when it is not. Jetting is not the answer for a one-off hairball in a tub line — that is a small drum machine and ten minutes, and covered on our drain cleaning page. It is not the answer for a line that has already broken or lost its fall, because cleaning a broken pipe does not stop it being broken. And it is not something we will do blind on a line we have reason to think is deteriorated.
Asking what the line has been doing, and cameraing it where there is any doubt, is how we avoid that.
What a jetting visit looks like
- We ask about the history — how often it backs up, what has been done before, whether it has been cabled and how many times.
- We find the cleanout and get the cart to it. Where there is no usable cleanout, we will tell you what it would take to add one, because it makes every future visit cheaper.
- We jet the line with the nozzle that suits it, working the hose out so the debris is carried back toward the access rather than pushed further down.
- We flush and check flow.
- We camera it if it is warranted, and show you what is on the screen rather than describing it.
Questions we get asked about this
Hydro jetting in your area
We jet lines in Baytown, Mont Belvieu, Anahuac and across the rest of our service area, and we take commercial grease line work across the wider Houston area.
Common questions
What is the difference between cabling and hydro jetting?
A cable clears a path. Jetting cleans the pipe. A cable punches a hole through the middle of the grease so 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.
What size lines can you jet?
From two inch up to six inch. That covers residential sewer lines, kitchen and laundry lines, and commercial grease-fed sink lines. For commercial jobs that need a bigger machine than our cart unit, we subcontract that out rather than pretending our machine will do it.
What machine do you use?
A Jetters Northwest Brute cart unit, 9 GPM at 4000 PSI. The flow rate matters as much as the pressure. Nine gallons a minute is what actually scours a grease-lined pipe; a lower-flow machine just bores through the middle of the grease.
Will jetting damage my pipes?
Not a sound pipe. That is why we ask what the line has been doing and, where there is any doubt, camera it first. If a line is already broken, bellied or badly deteriorated, jetting is not the answer and we will tell you that rather than finding out the hard way.
How often should a restaurant have its grease lines jetted?
Quarterly or twice a year depending on volume. Most restaurants call us when the line is already backed up, usually at the worst possible time. A scheduled jetting costs a fraction of a weekend emergency call and a closed kitchen.
Should I camera the line after jetting?
It is worth pairing the two. Jet the line, then camera it. That confirms the pipe is actually clean, and it catches a bellied or broken section that the grease was hiding.
Last updated · written by a licensed master plumber, MPL 38224