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Bruce (Drain Cleaning AUSTRALIA @ YouTube) is working in a washroom with a toilet that isn’t draining properly. He starts by trying to plunge the toilet, but this isn’t successful.

He then goes outside, and locates the inspection opening in a box under a metal lid. There appears to be some toilet paper and sewage backed up inside the box. After prodding around inside the box briefly with a long drill bit, he pulls out some toilet paper and what appear to be light blue paper towels.

The high-pressure water jetter is used to clear the drain, and some more of the blue paper towels are removed by hand before they continue through the system. When the drain appears to be clear, the drain camera is used to check the line. What seems to be a fragment of concrete is discovered to still be in the line. This piece is removed by hand, but some more pieces of concrete are soon located using the camera.

Two more chunks of debris are removed by snagging them with the jetting hose and nozzle while the jetter is turned off, and then pulling them out of the drain pipe through the inspection opening. The camera is used once again to check the line, and some tree roots are found, although no more pieces of concrete are found. Even before the roots are removed, the toilet is tested, and it is flushing better.

Gavin (Penetrator Blocked Drains @ YouTube; Turbo Plumbing Solutions) is in a relatively rural area, at a property with a septic system leach field that isn’t draining properly.

He removes the lid of the leaching field’s distribution box, and the box itself is full of wastewater. While wearing a long, shoulder-length glove, he feels around beneath the surface of the water to try to locate the pipes connecting to the box. Afterward, he notes that there are some large trees near where the leach field pipes likely are, leading him to suspect that their roots may have entered the leaching pipes.

Using the high-pressure water jetter, he begins to clean one of the leach field’s pipes. He encounters what seems to be a blockage, and after working at it briefly, the water in the distribution box does start to drain away. It doesn’t take long for the box to almost completely empty.

After removing the hose from the first pipe that was jetted, he moves it over to another one of the pipes connecting to the distribution box. As he jets this one, though, it becomes apparent that it’s the pipe bringing wastewater into the distribution box. He removes the hose from that pipe, and then begins to jet up another outgoing leach field pipe that he initially thought was higher up in the box, and thus the input. Gavin notes that the distribution box might not be level, resulting in only one of the output pipes possibly handling the bulk of the wastewater.

He does some more jetting with a different nozzle to try to break up what seems to be roots in the line as much as possible, and he ends up pulling some of them back when removing the hose. With the distribution box no longer retaining water, he replaces its concrete lid.

Oliver (Drain Addict @ YouTube; Drain Go) has been called in by Isaac, a plumber, to clear a blocked drain for a newly-renovated bathroom. Isaac had already cut the stack pipe in a crawlspace area, and pulled out what appears to be fragments of tile or other demolition debris from the old bathroom. The drain camera reveals that there is additional debris in the line.

Some more of the easy-to-reach fragments are pulled out by hand by Oliver, including what appears to be an old drain grate of some sort. Once he removes all of the debris that he can reach, he decides to use the high-pressure water jetter to pull back the remaining debris where possible, with the rest of it being pushed toward the boundary trap. A plunging rod with a disc on the end has been inserted down the boundary shaft to try to catch any material before it ends up in the trap.

Oliver starts jetting the line and removes some more of the looser debris, but a subsequent camera investigation shows a significant blockage. He changes to a smaller jetting nozzle, which does get more of the rocky fragments out, including a small unknown mushroom-like object. After using the camera again, Oliver switches to a reverse nozzle, to try to blast the larger pieces out. The camera reveals that some of the chunks were removed, but some still remain. The nozzle is changed once more, and some more jetting is done, with an old tampon eventually being brought back on the end of the hose.

Instead of jetting some more, Oliver decides to try sucking out the debris using a wet/dry vacuum. He puts the vacuum hose down the pipe, and although some pieces are removed by the vacuum, the work is still going very slowly.

He begins to remove some slabs on the floor surrounding the pipe, and then begins digging down into the ground using his hands. Since the soil appears to be quite soft and sandy, it’s easy for him to quickly clear away a lot of it, revealing more of the drainage pipe. A handheld reciprocating saw is used to cut through some of the drain pipe, and this allows for several fittings and some pipe to be removed.

With the blockage now more easily accessible, Oliver is able to remove some more chunks by hand. Some of the chunks are quite large and firmly wedged into the pipe. He begins to pull out more of the debris, and piles it on top of one of the floor slabs he’d moved earlier. Although he manages to get most of the pieces, the camera shows that there is some remaining debris just beyond his reach. The jetter is used again to clear away some of this debris, although further camera inspection still reveals more pieces. Some more jetting is done to try to clear them away.

Oliver runs some water through the system to try to flush out any remaining debris, but when he checks the plunger that was inserted into the boundary shaft earlier, it doesn’t seem to have caught anything.

The larger drain camera is then inserted into the drain. Some sand and debris are still observed in the line, so some more jetting is done to try to push them to the boundary trap. After reaching the boundary trap with the nozzle, more water is run down the drain pipe. Some additional camera work shows that the pipe is clear, but the rod blocking the boundary shaft didn’t catch it. To ensure that the boundary trap is cleared, Isaac jets it.

Some toilet paper is then placed in the drain pipe, and Isaac pours a bucket of water down the pipe to simulate a toilet flush. Oliver watches at the boundary shaft to ensure it drains through fine.

Isaac then replaces the pipes and fittings that had to be removed earlier to gain access to the blockage.

Carsten (Kempinger Rohrreinigung Berlin @ YouTube; Kempinger GmbH) is in a bathroom with a wall-mounted toilet that is draining very slowly. When the toilet is flushed, the water backs up in the bowl, before gradually draining away. He suspects that there’s something blocking it that has to be removed.

He removes the toilet from the wall, and empties the water inside it into a nearby bucket. The obstruction is clearly visible in the drain pipe within the toilet itself, and it appears to be a short-bristled rubber brush of some sort. The resident mentions having used it while cleaning the toilet, but accidentally lost it down the drain at some point, and wasn’t able to retrieve it using her hand. Carsten removes the brush, and disposes of it in a plastic bag.

With the blockage clear, Carsten remounts the toilet onto the wall. An initial test flush shows that it is draining much better than it did when he’d first arrived, although the water does still back up slightly. He does another flush, with some toilet paper, with the resident there to check if it’s flushing normally, and she suggests that it isn’t. He pours some buckets of water down, and does a test flush with a larger amount of toilet paper. It does seem to flush away, so there don’t appear to be any other significant obstructions. The customer seems satisfied that the toilet is flushing as well as it likely can.

Shawn (Gate City Foundation Drainage @ YouTube; Gate City Foundation Drainage) is at a house with a steeply-sloping gravel driveway. A corrugated stormwater pipe runs underground within the slope and drains some catch basins and gutters at the rear of the house, but it was damaged when some earlier drain work was being done at the neighboring property. Due to the drainage system no longer working properly, the driveway was beginning to get washed out when it rained. The damaged line is to be replaced with PVC piping, and a sump pump hose exiting from the exterior wall will also be drained into the new line.

The existing corrugated piping at the rear of the home still seems to be working, so the plan is to leave it as-is. The new pipe system will connect to that existing piping near a downspout by the back corner of the house. Instead of reusing the original discharge that’s at the bottom of a retaining wall next to the sidewalk, Shawn plans to have the new system discharge next to the retaining wall instead.

Shawn’s crew member begins to dig by hand near the base of the downspout at the back corner of the house, to determine what exactly they’re working with there. An open pipe is discovered below the downspout’s elbow, although the corrugated piping that’s attached to the downspout appears to be routed toward the front of the house. Further investigation reveals that the opening is part of a T-fitting.

An excavator is used to start digging up the old pipe, but a wooden fencepost at the corner of the house is in the way. This fencepost is removed, and the digging continues. Since the new pipe has to attach to the existing T-fitting, the new trenching has to be dug relatively deeply. While doing this digging, an unanticipated steel pipe that the 811 service didn’t mark is discovered. It’s decided that the new pipe will run below this existing pipe. Shawn also removes a segment of the old corrugated pipe that was running alongside the house, and shows how it is about seventy-five percent full of debris.

A PVC Y-fitting is used below the surface to connect the existing corrugated system to some PVC piping that runs to the existing downspout near the corner of the house. The output of this Y-fitting connects to the long, relatively-straight run of pipe that goes down beneath the surface of the sloped driveway, toward the sidewalk at the front of the house. Care is taken to avoid damaging the sewage drain line that also cuts across the driveway.

Eventually, the digging reaches a large rock near the stairs leading up to the home’s front entry. The excavator is used to move this to the side, and the trenching for the new drain pipe continues. Some small portions of the upper part of the newly-laid piping are partially covered with soil, and a smaller sideline pipe is then added to capture the water coming from the sump pump hose that exits from the side of the home. The existing flexible sump hose is fed into a vertical piece of this solid PVC piping that runs up along the exterior wall of the house.

The remainder of the pipe leading down to the sidewalk is added. A square piece of flat granite rock is embedded in the soil next to the sidewalk for the end of the pipe to rest on. The final piece of pipe is laid down, and then it’s cut to length so the end of it drains over the piece of granite. The pipe is cut at an angle to try to help it blend into the slope of the driveway, to try to avoid it getting damaged.

With all of the pipe laid, the excavator is used to bury the new system. The dirt is graded away from the house, and the excavator’s treads are used to compress it. Shawn shows that some moisture that was in the existing pipes is already beginning to drain out of the newly-laid PVC piping, all the way to the sidewalk.

Shawn return several weeks later, during a rainstorm. Water is observed flowing out of the end of the pipe, as expected, and the system appears to be working. Although some gravel is still getting washed down the driveway when it rains, he notes that it seems to be much less than was getting washed away prior to the new system being installed.

NYDRAINS (NYDRAINS @ YouTube) shows a couple of quick and simple drain-clearing jobs.

The first job is at a bathroom with a walk-in shower that isn’t draining properly. The shower’s water is turned on to allow some to accumulate, and then a motorized drain snake is fed through the shower’s drain. After snaking the drain for a little while, the water that collected earlier in the shower eventually begins to drain away. When the snake is removed, some hair and an unidentifiable piece of hard white plastic is found on the end.

The second job also involves a walk-in shower where the water begins to back up when the shower is on. The drain’s grate is removed using a screwdriver, and a motorized drain snake is inserted into the drain. It doesn’t take long for the water that had pooled to begin draining away. When the snake is pulled back, there is some hair on the end of it. The drain’s grate is then replaced.

Gavin (Penetrator Blocked Drains @ YouTube; Turbo Plumbing Solutions) is at a home with a bathroom drainage system that appears to be obstructed.

He uses a drill-powered drain snake that’s fed into the pipe via a drain in the bathroom floor. Although the system is draining somewhat after a little while of using the drain snake, Gavin becomes suspicious about what’s actually going on inside the pipe. He puts the drain camera down and does see roots, but begins to think that they may be in an overflow relief gully.

After going outside the house, he uses the pipe locator and determines that the camera is below ground in a landscaped area just outside the bathroom’s window. After brushing aside the loose landscaping material using his hand, he quickly discovers a grate covering a gully. Some roots can even be seen growing in through the grate’s openings. Gavin removes the grate, and he’s then able to manually pull out some clumps of roots, thus clearing the obstruction.

Oliver (Drain Addict @ YouTube; Drain Go) is at a home with a toilet that isn’t draining properly.

He starts by cutting a rectangular access hole into the side of the cast iron stack pipe that runs along an exterior wall of the house. This then allows for the drain camera to be inserted to observe the blockage, and the jetter is then used to pop it. The camera is sent down once again, and tree roots are observed coming in through some clay pipe. Some more jetting is done to clear these remaining roots away. The pipe is checked once again using the drain camera, and a toilet paper flush test is performed. The hole that was cut in the cast iron pipe earlier is then sealed with a piece of cut plastic pipe.

The kitchen sink in the house is also making a “glugging” sound. Oliver locates the smaller-diameter drain pipe for that on the outside of the house. After removing the cleanout opening’s cap, some grease or other sludge is observed inside the pipe. Since it’s a smaller pipe, the whip hose attachment is used to jet inside it. Some of the material clogging the inside of the pipe ends up getting deposited onto the concrete of the nearby walkway. Oliver briefly demonstrates the surprising power of the whip hose, and then washes away the debris that ended upon the concrete. A test of the sink shows that the sound heard earlier is no longer occurring.

Post 10 (post 10 @ YouTube) is at a clogged culvert running beneath a remote gravel road in a forested area. On one side of the road, there’s a large accumulation of water. On the opposite end of the culvert, it’s noted that there is only a small amount of water trickling through.

He crosses over to the other side of the road, to observe that end of the culvert. What appears to be a custom-made grate device is found there, presumably to help block any large debris that may wash toward the culvert’s opening. This grate device has poles that can be lifted, apparently to assist with clearing blockages. Despite the grate being present, there does appear to be a blockage of some sort, perhaps a small beaver dam, at that end of the culvert.

The grate is tipped out of the way, to give better access to the culvert. While standing outside the pipe, Post 10 uses a four-pronged fork hoe to try to break apart and dislodge the blockage.

This initial work does make some progress at removing the clog, but it still doesn’t fully clear it. Despite it being a relatively small-diameter culvert, Post 10 opts to cross the road so he can crawl into the culvert from the opposite end where there isn’t yet much water flow.

Once there, he removes his thigh waders to avoid flooding the insides of them. Although his socks and jeans are getting soaked, he crawls into the culvert with the hoe. He works on dislodging the clog for a short while, and then backs himself out of the culvert while using the hoe to pull out the branches and other debris.

With the blockage now removed, the water begins to drain much faster. Post 10 moves the clump of branches out of the way of the flowing water.

After returning to the other side of the culvert once more, he replaces the grate structure that he’d moved off to the side earlier. He mentions that he seemed to have inhaled or swallowed some kind of small flying insect while inside the culvert.

A before-and-after comparison is done, demonstrating how much faster the water is flowing through the culvert with the blockage removed.

NYDRAINS (NYDRAINS @ YouTube) is working in a narrow bathroom, with a clogged toilet at one end, a sink in the middle, and a shower at the other end. When the sink is turned on, water begins to back up into the shower.

A pit with the U-shaped trap connecting the building to the external sewer system is located down a hallway from the bathroom. Some water seepage is noted around one of the trap’s two lids, suggesting that the trap is probably clogged.

The lid that doesn’t exhibit any obvious seepage is removed by tapping at it with a hammer, and once it’s open, the pipe appears empty on that side of the trap. The other lid is then tapped open using the hammer, and it is under pressure. The backed-up sewage leaks out into the pit, where it eventually drains out through the other opening. What appears to be some wipes are visible in the pit after the sewage drains away.

A motorized plumber’s snake is used to clear the clog in the trap. When the snake is removed, wipes are found wrapped around the end of it, and they’re peeled off by hand. The pipe leading back toward the bathroom is briefly cleaned with the auger, too, to ensure there are no additional obstructions in that direction.

Back in the bathroom, the previously-full toilet bowl appears to have drained. The water in the sink is still running, and no water is observed backing up into the nearby shower. The toilet is flushed, and it drains away fine.

At the trap pit, water can be observed flowing through the system via both of the trap’s inspection openings. The lids covering those openings are then put back in place, and tapped in with the hammer. The pile of wipes that were removed from the trap is shown.