Hydrojetting is a drain cleaning method that uses high-pressure water to strip buildup off the inside of your pipes. A specialized nozzle cuts through the blockage while rear-facing jets scour the pipe wall, restoring the line to its full inside diameter — no chemicals involved.
How It Works
A hose with a purpose-built nozzle is fed into the line through a cleanout. Forward jets cut through the obstruction. Rear-facing jets do two things at once: they propel the hose through the pipe and they blast the wall from the inside, removing grease, soap scum, mineral scale, and root hairs. Debris is flushed downstream to the main.
Nozzles are matched to the job — different heads for grease, roots, and sediment — and pressure is adjusted to suit the pipe material and condition.
What Makes It Different From Snaking
A cable bores a hole through a blockage and restores flow. That works, but the coating on the pipe wall stays put, so the line narrows again and re-clogs — often within months. Hydrojetting removes the coating, which is why results last years rather than weeks.
What It Clears
- Grease in kitchen and restaurant lines — where it is most clearly superior
- Soap scum and hard water mineral scale, both significant in Albuquerque
- Sludge and sediment
- Fine root hairs and root intrusion
- General buildup on main sewer lines
The Local Case for It
Two Albuquerque realities make jetting genuinely useful here. Our hard water leaves mineral scale that roughens and narrows pipe interiors, giving grease and hair more to grab. And mature trees in established neighborhoods send roots into sewer laterals through joints and cracks. Both respond well to jetting on a schedule.
The Honest Caveat
Hydrojetting is safe on sound pipe at appropriate pressure, but on cast iron corroded thin or clay with separated joints it can worsen existing damage. We run a camera inspection first on older lines to determine both whether to jet and at what pressure.
B. Carlson has served Albuquerque since 1971. Contact us for drain cleaning.
