Some drain cleaners prefer to use a drain machine with an assortment of cutter heads to remove roots from blocked lines. Others prefer high-pressure waterjetters. But no matter what equipment they send down the line to attack roots, there’s no dispute that inspecting a line upon completion is a must – just to make sure it’s clear of debris.

In some situations, contractors must admit defeat and give way to excavating to repair a badly damaged pipe. Here’s what a few cleaning contractors say about their preference for getting to the root of the problem inside blocked lines.

“To remove roots, we use either a snake with cutter blades or a high-pressure waterjetter,” says Dennis Bastarache of D. J. Bass Inc. in New Bedford, Mass. “Jetters don’t cut out roots as well, unless you have a large commercial jetter.

“With a jetter, there’s enough room in the pipe that the roots tend to float around, so they’re not rigid enough to cut with water. It’s not like cutting a rigid board with a saw. Most times, I use a jetter only for removing roots from storm drains – 6-, 8-, 10- or 12-inch lines. But at that size, they’re tough to get out.

“On residential lines, we first try to get a camera in there and see what we’re dealing with. It’s usually either veil roots, which run across the pipe, like a wall, or a tail root, which runs along the pipe, like a ponytail. Then we use a drain-cleaning machine with a spearhead attachment to initiate a puncture. We use a spearhead until we know what we’re dealing with. After that, you know what kind of cutter head to put in there or what kind of equipment to use.

“The cutter head wraps around the roots and rips out what it can. It very seldom completely cuts the roots. The heads aren’t the same exact size as the pipe, so there’s a little space where the roots can get pushed to the side of the pipe, away from the cutter.

“After we rip out roots, we inspect the pipe to check out its integrity. I basically work on a line for no more than two hours. If I can’t fix a residential line with a root problem in two hours, and can’t get a camera down there, then I tell the homeowner they need to get a contractor to excavate the pipe.

“I’m honest with people and tell them they’re better off financially to spend the money on replacing the pipe than having me there for four or five hours trying to remove the roots, or to end up with a recurring problem. After we remove roots, we apply RootX chemical treatment. We like it because you don’t need a license to use it and it’s approved by the U.S. EPA.”

“We still use snaking equipment with cutter blades,” notes Mark Piper, owner of Piper Plumbing, based in Hilton Head, S.C. “But more and more, as we get into larger applications for 6- and 8-inch lines, sometimes even with 4-inch lines for homeowners, we try to use our jetter. With 1,000 to 3,800 psi, our jetter will remove all debris out of the line so we can do a camera shot. It’s a three-stage call: cleaning, camera and correction. That’s the way I work the company right now.

“Jetting equipment will pull the grease, pull the food, and if you know where the problem is with the roots, you run it back and forth a couple times until it cuts them, then clear the debris from the line. It gives you a nice clean line for the camera. With a jetter, that pipe will be as clean as the day it was put in.

“There are applications where the roots are too big for a jetter. But the jetter makes for a lot easier, simpler and cleaner job. And of course, it’s better money with the jetter. It saves more time. You start it on up, let it warm up and then send that jetter down there with 3,000 psi.

“If you want to pull the line out, you move it back and forth. Sometimes it gets stuck, but then it’s just a matter of pulling on a hose, versus manually using a cable and getting on down there and ramming it and fighting it. A jetter requires a lot less effort.”

“I prefer to use a cable machine with cutter blades,” says Charles Bruder, owner of Bruder Sewer and Drain in Nekoosa, Wis., which cleans residential and public lines. “You can do a lot more kinds of jobs with a jetter, but mine is too small to use effectively for root removal.

“I’ve got all kinds of attachments, including one my brother invented that really does a better job than all the other ones I’ve seen. Mostly, I use a saw-tooth cutter. In rare instances, I use a retriever, which you sometimes need to get the roots out.

“The attachment my brother invented has a whip on the front of the cutter, bent into kind of a J-shape. It’s set off to the side so as the knives go around, the end whips around and really cleans the pipe. I’ve been using it for years. It’s really a good knife.

“When I’m done, I use a root retardant to help avoid on-going problems.”