Anyone can push a cable through a blockage. The useful question is why the drain filled up in the first place, because a line that clogs twice a year is telling you something that a third clearing will not fix. We clear the drain, then put a camera down it if the pattern warrants one.
Napps Plumbing — Longview & East Texas since 1957
Different blockages want different tools. Sending a cable at a grease-lined pipe clears a channel through it and leaves the walls coated, which is why the same drain is back three months later.
Almost always grease. It goes down warm and liquid, cools in the horizontal run and builds on the pipe wall until the opening is a fraction of its original size.
Hair bound together with soap scum, usually within the first few feet of the drain. Quick to clear, and worth clearing properly rather than dissolving with chemicals.
Longview has mature pine and oak everywhere, and roots find any defect in an older sewer line. Cabling cuts them back; it does not stop them returning.
High-pressure water that scours the pipe wall back to full diameter rather than boring a hole through the blockage. The right answer for grease and for scale.
When a line blocks repeatedly, a camera answers the question a fourth cabling never will — whether you have a maintenance problem or a broken pipe.
Restaurant grease lines, floor drains and fixture banks, on a schedule that keeps the work outside trading hours and the kitchen open.
These are not interchangeable, and being sold the wrong one is the most common reason a drain problem keeps coming back.
A rotating cable is driven down the line to break through an obstruction. It is fast, inexpensive and exactly right for a discrete blockage — a wad of hair, an object, a single mass of debris. What it does not do is clean the pipe wall. Through a grease-lined pipe it bores an opening and leaves the coating in place, which is why the drain runs beautifully for a few weeks and then does not.
Plumbing Repair →Jetting sends water down the line at high pressure through a nozzle that directs most of it backwards against the pipe wall. It scours grease, scale and soft root matter off the pipe and flushes it out, restoring something close to the original diameter. It costs more than cabling and it lasts far longer on any line that has a coating problem rather than an obstruction.
Hydro Jetting →If a line has blocked more than once in a year, the camera is cheaper than the third clearing. It distinguishes between a line that needs periodic maintenance and one with a break, a belly holding standing water, or a root mass at a joint — three problems with three completely different price tags and no way to tell them apart from above ground.
Video Inspection →Caustic drain products generate heat inside the pipe, which is hard on older PVC and on the seals at joints. They frequently fail to clear the blockage anyway, and then whoever opens the line is working in caustic water. On a main line blockage they are close to useless. We would rather you called and left the pipe intact.
Emergency Plumbing →A guide — we confirm on site before recommending.
| Symptom | Likely Cause | Usual Method |
|---|---|---|
| One sink slow, others fine | Localised debris or hair | Cabling |
| Kitchen line blocks every few months | Grease coating the pipe wall | Hydro jetting |
| Every drain in the house slow | Main line restriction | Camera, then cable or jet |
| Blockages return within weeks | Roots or a pipe defect | Camera inspection first |
| Gurgling and sewage odour | Main line or venting fault | Camera inspection first |
Or call 903-758-6482 — 24/7
Clear it, then explain it. The second part is what stops you calling again in April.
One fixture or the whole house tells us immediately whether we are looking at a branch line or the main.
Cabling for a discrete obstruction, jetting where the pipe wall is coated. We tell you which and why before starting.
For a line that has blocked repeatedly we recommend looking rather than guessing. You see the footage too.
We run water through properly to confirm flow, and tell you what caused it so it is avoidable next time.
Drains rarely fail without notice. These are the notices.
The difference between clearing a drain and solving a drain problem.
Or call 903-758-6482 — available 24/7
These come straight from our Google Business Profile — unedited, and updated automatically as new reviews come in.
What Longview homeowners ask about blocked and slow drains.
It depends on which line and which method. Cabling one slow fixture is at the low end. Hydro jetting a main line costs more, and on a grease-coated pipe it is the better value because the result lasts years rather than months. We quote a flat rate before starting, and we will tell you which method your line actually needs rather than defaulting to the cheaper one.
Grease, nearly always. It goes down as a warm liquid and solidifies on the pipe wall in the cooler horizontal run, narrowing the line a little more with every meal. A cable bores an opening through it and the drain runs well for a few weeks. Jetting scours the wall back to full diameter, which is why it holds for years instead of months.
We would rather you did not. They generate heat inside the pipe, which is hard on older PVC and on joint seals, and on a main line blockage they rarely work at all. They also leave caustic water sitting in the line for whoever opens it next. If a plunger has not done it, calling costs less in the long run than the product plus the pipe damage.
It is high-pressure water directed against the pipe wall to scour off grease, scale and soft root matter, restoring close to the original diameter. You need it if the line has a coating problem rather than a single obstruction — the giveaway is a drain that blocks again a few months after each clearing.
Yes, and it is more urgent. When all fixtures slow together the restriction is in the main line serving the whole house rather than in any one branch. That is the situation which ends in waste water arriving at the lowest drain in the building, so it is worth calling before it gets there.
Usually, and that is the part most worth paying for. For a line that has blocked repeatedly we recommend a camera inspection, which distinguishes between a maintenance issue, a root mass at a joint, and a broken or bellied pipe. Those three have very different remedies and there is no way to tell them apart from the top of the drain.
If the problem is in the main sewer line rather than a fixture drain, these pages go further.
We clear it and then tell you why it happened — which is the half that stops it recurring.
Tell us which drains are affected and how long it has been happening. If waste water is backing up into the house, please call instead.
