Drain jetting that cleans the whole pipe, not just the blockage
Drain jetting uses water at high pressure to scour a pipe clean from wall to wall. We check first that your pipe can take it.
- Jetting from £150
- No call-out fee
- Always a fixed price agreed before any work starts
- If the same drain blocks again within 30 days, we come back free
- On site usually within 60 minutes in Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch
What drain jetting is, in plain terms
A jetter pumps water down a tough hose to a nozzle: a small metal head drilled with tiny holes. Most of the holes point backwards. As water blasts out of them, it drives the nozzle forward along the pipe and scrubs the walls behind it. When the engineer draws the hose back, the loosened muck washes down to the sewer.
That's the difference from drain unblocking with rods. A rod pushes through a blockage and leaves a hole. A jet cleans the pipe back to its full width, leaving nothing on the walls for waste to catch on.
Pressure and flow: why both matter
Pressure, measured in bar or psi, is how hard the water hits. It cuts through grease and breaks a blockage apart. Flow, measured in litres per minute, is how much water comes out. It carries the broken-up waste away. Think of pressure as the chisel and flow as the broom: a narrow house drain needs a sharp chisel, a wide sewer a bigger broom. The right balance cleans a pipe without harming it.
Nozzles for different jobs
- Penetrating nozzle: has a forward-facing jet to punch through a solid blockage.
- Scouring nozzle: all its jets face backwards at a wide angle to strip grease and silt off the walls.
- Rotating nozzle: spins as it travels, polishing away stubborn fat and soft scale.
- Cutting heads: spin inside the pipe to shave away roots and hard deposits (more on these below).
Signs your drains need jetting rather than rodding
- A drain that blocks again a few weeks after being rodded clear.
- Every plughole in the house draining slowly, not just one.
- Grey, greasy build-up you can see in the manhole channels.
- Smells from gullies even though water is getting away.
- A survey or relining job is booked: the camera needs a clean pipe to see, and a liner needs one to bond to.
How we jet a drain
- Check the pipe first
We find out what the pipe is made of and how sound it is, lifting the covers and running the camera if there's any doubt.
- Pick the nozzle and pressure
Plastic and clay pipes in good shape can take full working pressure. Older or weaker pipes get less, or rods instead.
- Work up from the lower end
We usually jet from the lower manhole towards the house, so everything we loosen washes downhill and away.
- Flush and test
Each section is flushed through, then we run the taps and toilets and watch the flow in every chamber.
- Show you the result
We show you the camera footage before we leave, so you see clean pipe walls instead of taking our word for it.
Drain jetting cost
- Simple blockage cleared with rods, no jetter neededfrom£80
- High pressure drain jetting of a household runfrom£150
- Descaling or root cuttingFixed quote once we've seen the pipe on camera
- Planned jetting for a restaurant or rentalFixed price per visit, agreed up front
Included: setting up, jetting the run between two access points, flushing, testing and washing down afterwards. What changes the price: the length of pipe, how many runs need cleaning, how thick the build-up is, and whether covers are hidden under decking or paving. All prices include VAT. The same price day, night, weekends and bank holidays. Compare every service on our prices page.
What drain jetting can and can't fix
Jetting is the right tool for a sound pipe that's dirty. It's the wrong tool for a pipe that's broken, and a good engineer will tell you which one you have before switching the pump on.
Where jetting works best
Fat and grease, silt and sand, soap build-up, soft scale, paper and wipes caught along the pipe, and light root growth. It's also the standard way to clean a pipe before a CCTV drain survey, so the camera sees the pipe and not the dirt.
Pitch fibre pipes need a gentler approach
Pitch fibre is a pipe made from wood fibre soaked in tar pitch, laid under many homes from the 1950s to the 1970s. With age it blisters inside and sags out of round. High pressure can tear the blistered layer away and make the damage worse. Where we suspect pitch fibre, we look with the camera first, then use low pressure or rods. A badly deformed pitch fibre pipe usually needs drain relining, not cleaning.
Collapsed and broken pipes
If a pipe has cracked open or caved in, jetting forces water into the ground around it. That can wash soil away and leave a hollow under your drive or lawn. The blockage is often the broken pipe itself, so no amount of water will move it. Our guide to the signs of a collapsed drain explains what to look for, and the fix is a collapsed drain repair, not a clean.
Sags, cracks and slipped joints
Jetting clears the waste in a sag (a dip in the pipe) but can't change its shape, so waste settles there again. Nor can it close a crack or pull a slipped joint back into line. We'll show you these on screen so you can decide if a repair is worth it.
Jetting to stop blockages coming back
For most homes, jetting is a one-off. Some buildings do better with a planned clean, booked before trouble starts.
- Restaurants, cafés and takeaways. Cooking fat cools and sets in the pipe, even with a grease trap fitted. A planned jet is cheaper than a blocked drain in the middle of a busy service.
- Landlords. Shared houses and flats put more down the drains, and tenants rarely mention a slow drain until it overflows. A planned clean between tenancies keeps small problems small.
We agree a fixed price per visit and a schedule that suits the building. Call 0800 246 5347 to set one up.
Drain descaling and root cutting
Some deposits are too hard for water alone.
Drain descaling removes hard build-up such as limescale, urine scale in toilet pipes and concrete that ran into a drain during building work. A spinning chain or cutter grinds it off the pipe wall and restores the full bore. It's often the first stage of relining, because a liner needs a clean, smooth surface.
Root cutting uses a rotating cutter to slice out roots that have grown in through the joints. It clears the pipe, but roots return unless the gap they came through is sealed, so we'll show you where they got in and what fixing that would involve.
Recent jetting jobs
A few of the drains we've jetted lately, with what came out of them.
Real, dated jobs from the job log appear here: town and postcode district, the problem, what was done, and a photo. Nothing shows until real jobs are logged. Service: drain-jetting.
Our guarantee on drain jetting
If the same drain blocks again within 30 days, we come back free, provided the new blockage isn't caused by wipes, cooking fat or anything else fresh going down the drain. If the camera shows damage that will keep the pipe blocking whatever we do, we tell you on the day. Full terms are on our guarantee page.
Areas we cover for drain jetting
Jetting jobs are booked across Dorset and Hampshire, with engineers based in Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch. Planned maintenance visits can be set up anywhere we cover.
Drain jetting FAQs
What is drain jetting?
Drain jetting is cleaning a drain with water at high pressure. A hose fitted with a special nozzle goes into the pipe from a manhole or gully. Jets of water pull the nozzle along, scour fat, silt and debris off the pipe walls and flush it all down to the sewer. It cleans the whole pipe, not just the blockage.
How much does drain jetting cost in the UK?
Our high pressure drain jetting starts from £150 for a household run, at a fixed price agreed before we start. Longer runs, several pipes, heavy fat or hard-to-reach manholes cost more. Prices across the UK vary a lot, so check what a quote covers: some firms charge by the hour after the first one.
Can drain jetting damage pipes?
It can if it's done carelessly. Sound plastic and clay pipes cope with jetting well. Old pitch fibre, cracked pipes and collapsed sections can be made worse by high pressure, because the water gets behind the damage. So we check the pipe material first, and turn the pressure down or use rods where a pipe is fragile.
Is jetting better than rodding?
They do different jobs. Rodding pushes a rod through the blockage to break it up, which is quick and fine for a single plug of paper or wipes. Jetting cleans the pipe walls as well, so it's better for fat, silt, scale and drains that keep blocking. Plenty of jobs start with rods and finish with the jetter.
How often should drains be professionally cleaned?
Most homes never need a routine drain clean: if your drains flow well, leave them alone. Planned jetting makes sense where fat or heavy use builds up quickly, such as restaurants, takeaways, shared houses and blocks of flats. The right gap between visits depends on how fast the pipe fouls, which the first camera check shows.
Will jetting get rid of tree roots?
Jetting clears fine, soft roots and the debris caught in them. Thick, woody roots need a mechanical root cutter. Either way, the roots got in through a gap, usually a cracked pipe or loose joint, and they will grow back until that gap is sealed with a patch repair or a liner. We'll show you where they entered.
What is drain descaling?
Drain descaling removes hard deposits that water pressure alone can't shift, such as limescale, urine scale and set concrete. A cutter or chain spins inside the pipe and grinds the deposit off the wall. It brings the pipe back to its full width and is often done before relining, so the liner bonds to a clean surface.
Is drain jetting messy?
It shouldn't be. The work happens inside the pipe, fed from a manhole or gully outside, and the dirty water goes down the drain to the sewer. Some splashing around the open chamber is normal. We hose down the area before we leave, and if we need to work indoors, we protect the floor first.
Drains blocking again and again?
Get a fixed price for your drain
Call 0800 246 5347 or request a callback and tell us how often it happens. We'll say whether jetting will fix it or just buy you time.