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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.

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.

Oliver (Drain Addict @ YouTube; Drain Go) is working at a house that has an exterior stairwell leading to a basement storage area below a building. The drain at the landing at the base of the stairs is clogged, causing rainwater to collect and back up on the landing and also into the nearby basement area. The situation is complicated by how there’s a sump pit and sump pump in the basement that happens to have a hose that empties into the drain that is clogged and causing the water to back up in the first place. The same water ends up going in a cycle, where it collects at the bottom of the stairs, then eventually overflows into the basement storage area, then gets pumped back up to the bottom of the stairs where it can’t drain away, and the cycle repeats.

The high-pressure water jetter is used to try to clear the drain pipe. As Oliver jets it, it becomes difficult to see what’s going on due to there being a few inches of murky water at the bottom of the stairs above the drain’s opening. The hose from the sump pump in the basement is still emptying into that area, too, which makes it harder to tell if the drain might have been unclogged and is draining away the water. To help avoid this, Oliver temporarily moves the hose to empty into the basement area instead.

It takes several minutes of jetting, but eventually the blockage is popped, and the pooled water begins to drain away. The sump pump hose that was redirected toward the basement earlier is returned to the bottom stairway landing, so that the significant amount of water that has collected in the basement storage area can finally be drained away.

Due to the volume of water involved, it takes a little while for the sump pump to remove all of it. Oliver monitors its progress, and ensures that the grate over the sump pit doesn’t get obstructed by any debris or other items that are carried over by the water in the basement. Eventually, enough of the water that was in the basement storage area gets pumped out, and the sump pump shuts itself off.

Gavin (Penetrator Blocked Drains @ YouTube; Turbo Plumbing Solutions) is at a home with a blocked sewage drain. The drain system is located on the exterior wall of the house, but the vertical section of piping runs through an enclosed canopy-covered shed structure with a workbench, tools, and other items inside of it.

In order to avoid getting sewage on the items, Gavin decides to jet from on top of the canopy. He uses a ladder to climb up there, and then removes a segment of what appears to be a vent pipe. This releases some of the backed-up water, and it also gives an opening into the system that he can insert the jetting nozzle and hose through.

It doesn’t take very long to clear the blockage using the jetter. Once that’s done, he rinses down the roof he is working on top of, and manually removes some leaves and other debris that were clogging up the gutter along the edge of the canopy. Jetting on the roof did help avoid getting sewage on the various items in the shed-like structure.

Oliver (Drain Addict @ YouTube; Drain Go) is at a house with a backed-up sewage system.

In the yard, right next to the boundary trap inspection opening, is the stump of a large tree that has been cut down at some point. This suggests that there might be roots in the pipe.

Once the inspection opening lid is removed, there are a large number of flies inside the riser pipe, and roots are visible deeper within the pipe.

The hand lance is used to do some initial clearing of the roots that are visible in the shaft. That’s enough to pop the blockage, and the backed-up sewage begins to drain. The lance is then used to cut some of the roots that still remain. Eventually, Oliver puts his arm down into the shaft through the inspection opening, and manually pulls out a number of the root fragments.

After a brief inspection with the drain camera, a nozzle replaces the lance on the jetting hose, and it’s used to start clearing away the roots that are deeper within the system. While using the camera to check on the progress, some damage to the pipes is noted. More clumps of roots are also noticed throughout the drain.

Using the pipe locator, the point where the pipe leading back to the house switches between plastic and clay piping is found, and it’s marked above-ground using spray paint.

Some more jetting is done to clean up the remaining roots. Once they’re gone, Oliver rinses off some splatters on a wall near the inspection opening, and then has somebody inside the house flush the toilets. The water and some toilet paper pass through the system, indicating it’s flowing again.

Oliver (Drain Addict @ YouTube; Drain Go) starts by jetting though an inspection opening, which seems to be for a sewage system’s boundary trap, that he had to dig through some grassy soil to access.

He then moves to a different location to access the drain pipe, via a small external hatchway that leads to a very short crawlspace under a building. To the left of the small door is a drain pipe that was apparently patched at some point with another fragment of pipe. After the patch is removed, an existing drilled circular hole is revealed in the wall of the pipe. The jetter is used through this access point to pop the blockage.

After the jetting, the camera is used to inspect the state of the pipe, and some remaining traces of root infiltration is observed. Some more jetting is done to clear away the remaining roots. The drilled access hole in the pipe is then patched over once again with a fragment of pipe.

A toilet paper flush test is performed and observed at the original inspection opening, which demonstrates that the blockage was cleared and the system is draining once again.

Oliver (Drain Addict @ YouTube; Drain Go) uses his jetter to clear a blocked sewage pipe that is obstructed by roots. The pipe’s inspection openings are in a rocky, jungle-like embankment, and create an environment that appears to be somewhat awkward and challenging to work in.

Oliver (Drain Addict @ YouTube; Drain Go) is at a site on the edge of a waterfront cliff with a blocked stormwater drain, but isn’t sure where the drain leads. After some investigation, it’s determined that the drain pipe emerges on the side of the cliff.