Rodding vs. jetting, and how to tell which one your sewer line needs
Hydro jetting is drain cleaning with high-pressure water. A hose with a special nozzle goes into the sewer line and blasts the inside of the pipe with water at up to 4,000 psi, scouring grease, scale, sludge, and tree roots off the pipe wall and flushing all of it out to the main. Rodding, what most of Chicagoland calls snaking, cuts a hole through a clog so water can get by. Jetting cleans the pipe back to its full diameter.
Rodding is the right first move for most clogs. Jetting is what you need when the same line keeps backing up, because the rodder is opening a path through the buildup and leaving the buildup in place.
How does hydro jetting compare to rodding?
A rodding machine spins a steel cable with a cutting head down the line. It chews through whatever is in the way: a wad of paper, a hair mat, a soft plug of grease. It’s fast, it works, and it’s the right tool for a single slow drain or a middle-of-the-night backup. What it doesn’t do is clean the pipe. The cable bores a channel through the middle of the buildup and leaves a ring of sludge stuck to the walls. That ring catches new waste, the channel closes up, and you’re calling again in a few months, sooner each time.
Jetting takes the wall down to bare pipe. The nozzle has jets pointing backward that pull the hose up the line and blast the walls as it goes, then everything gets flushed toward the sewer main as the hose comes back. Grease, mineral scale, and years of sludge come off. Fine roots get sheared flush at the joint instead of trimmed in the middle.
When is hydro jetting the right call?
Signs the line needs jetting rather than another rodding:
- The main line has backed up more than once in the last year.
- It backs up every spring, or after heavy rain.
- Several fixtures slow down at the same time, especially on the lowest level.
- The toilet gurgles when the washing machine or dishwasher drains.
- A sewage smell keeps coming from the basement floor drain.
- The last plumber pulled roots out of the line.
Roots are the big one on the North Shore. Mature trees over old clay sewer lines send fine feeder roots into every joint looking for water, and they grow into dense mats. Rodding clips the middle of the mat. Jetting cuts it back to the pipe wall, which buys a lot more time between visits. It doesn’t stop the roots from coming back through an open joint; only lining or replacing the pipe does that.
On cost, national guides put a hydro jetting visit at roughly $350 to $600, more for a long or badly clogged line. A rodding call costs less. But three or four rodding visits in two years costs more than one jetting that actually fixes the problem, and that’s before you count the cleanup from the backups in between.
Why do we run a camera before we jet?
Because 4,000 psi of water in a broken pipe makes it worse. A lot of homes here still have the original clay or cast iron sewer line. If a section is cracked, offset at a joint, bellied, or partially collapsed, jetting can wash out the soil around the break and turn a repairable pipe into a dig. So the camera goes in first, every time.
The camera tells us three things: what the blockage is made of, whether the pipe wall can take the pressure, and where the problem sections are. If it’s grease, scale, or roots in a sound pipe, we jet. If it’s a broken pipe, we stop and talk about repair, lining, or replacement instead of jetting a line that’s going to fail anyway.
After the jetting we run the camera again so you can see the pipe wall clean and confirm nothing was missed. You get the footage.
What hydro jetting can’t fix
Jetting cleans a pipe. It doesn’t repair one. If the camera shows a collapsed section, a belly holding standing water, a pipe pitched back toward the house, or joints that have separated, the line will keep failing no matter how clean it is. Those are repair jobs, and depending on the damage they can often be done trenchless.
Jetting also isn’t the tool for a small branch line clog in a bathroom sink or tub. Rodding handles those fine, and the jetter is overkill.
How to keep the main line clear between visits
- No grease down the kitchen sink. Pour it in a can and throw it out. Grease is the number one thing we jet out of North Shore lines.
- Nothing but toilet paper down the toilet. Wipes labeled flushable don’t break down and are the second thing we pull out.
- Hair catchers on tub and shower drains.
- Skip the chemical drain cleaners. They rarely clear a main line clog, they eat old pipe, and they make it dangerous for whoever rods the line next. An enzyme drain treatment once a month is fine for maintenance.
- If you have big trees over the sewer line, get the line looked at with a camera every couple of years so roots get handled before they turn into a backup.
Frequently asked questions
Is hydro jetting safe for older pipes?
Yes, as long as the pipe is sound, which is why we camera it first. Cast iron and clay lines that are intact handle jetting fine. Cracked or collapsed sections don’t, and we won’t jet a line the camera says can’t take it.
How long does hydro jetting take?
One to two hours for a typical residential main line, including the camera inspection before and after.
Can hydro jetting remove tree roots completely?
It removes the roots that are in the pipe, cut flush to the wall. It doesn’t seal the joint they came through, so they’ll grow back over time. If roots are a recurring problem, lining the pipe is the permanent fix.
How often should a main sewer line be jetted?
For a home with mature trees over an old clay or cast iron line, every two to three years as maintenance is reasonable. For a newer PVC line with no history of trouble, only when there’s a problem.
What’s the difference between rodding and hydro jetting?
Rodding uses a spinning steel cable to cut through a clog. Jetting uses high-pressure water to clean the whole inside of the pipe. Rodding is faster and cheaper for a one-time clog; jetting is the fix for a line that keeps clogging.
Hydro jetting and sewer rodding on the North Shore
Biagi Plumbing has been rodding, jetting, and repairing sewer lines on the North Shore since 1989, for homes and businesses in Highland Park, Northbrook, Glenview, Wilmette, Evanston, Winnetka, Glencoe, Lake Forest, Lake Bluff, Deerfield, Buffalo Grove, Libertyville, and the surrounding communities.
If your main line keeps backing up, call Biagi Plumbing at (847) 512-8921 for a sewer camera inspection. We’ll show you what’s in the pipe and whether it needs rodding, jetting, or a repair, and we won’t sell you a jetting if the camera says the pipe can’t take it.