What Hydrojetting Does That a Drain Machine Can’t

A drain machine bores a hole through a blockage and the water starts moving again. Hydro jet drain cleaning in Adelaide does something different to the same pipe, shearing the grease film, scale and fine root hair off the wall until the line runs at the diameter it was laid at. That difference in finish is why one drain stays clear for years and another gurgles again by the next long weekend.

PA Plumbers has been servicing the Adelaide community since 1981. Our hydro gear runs from small trailer-mounted jets up to Jetvac combination trucks that clean pipes from 40mm through to two metres across, self-contained units that recycle their own water and carry roughly 12 tonnes of debris. The phone is answered 24 hours a day, and sewage backing up through a shower base is work for a licensed plumber.

How a drain machine clears a blockage

An electric drain machine, called an eel by most plumbers, feeds a rotating steel cable down the line with a cutting head on the end. The head chews a passage through the root mass or grease plug in front of it, and the instant water finds that passage it drains away.

The rest of the obstruction stays where it was. Root stubs sit in the joint they entered through, ready to regrow toward the same moisture, and the greasy rind keeps its thickness, so a 100mm sewer running at a working 60mm goes back to 60mm. SA Water recorded 5,132 sewer main blockages across the state in 2024-25, with tree roots behind 3,275 of them and the prolonged dry pushing them toward the moisture inside sewers.

What the water is doing inside the pipe

A jetting hose carries a nozzle with a ring of rear-facing jets and usually one forward jet. The rear jets push back against the water they expel, dragging the hose up the line under its own thrust, while the forward jet cuts into whatever sits in the way.

The nozzle is fed past the blockage first, so the cleaning pass begins upstream of the problem.

Rear-facing jets strike the wall at an angle and shear off grease, scale and root hair that a steel cable slides straight past.

Dislodged material travels downstream with the flush water rather than being packed harder into the line.

The vacuum side of the Jetvac unit lifts that debris out at the inspection point, so nothing settles in the next section.

A CCTV camera run afterwards shows the bare bore, any cracked collar and any root entry still open.

Homeowners underrate that camera pass. Seeing the joint the roots came through tells you if the next step is a repeat jet in twelve months or a section of pipe replaced, which is where our blocked drain work across Adelaide’s north-east begins.

When a drain machine is the right call

A cable machine earns its place on short internal runs and one-off obstructions. A hair and soap plug in a bathroom waste, a wipe caught on a bend two metres from the gully, a kitchen line that has blocked once in eight years: those clear in twenty minutes. Pipe condition decides the rest. AS/NZS 3500.2 sets the requirements for sanitary plumbing and drainage from the fixture through to the sewer, and a drain laid to grade in sound material takes jetting pressure comfortably. A corroded line with an open collar wants the camera first, as our notes on common block drains in Golden Grove explain.

Signs your drain needs more than a cable

The same fixture blocks two or three times a year despite being cleared each time.

More than one fixture backs up at once, which points at the main line rather than a single branch.

The toilet drops slowly and the shower gurgles when the washing machine empties.

You can smell sewage in the yard near the overflow relief gully after heavy rain.

A commercial kitchen line or grease arrestor slows down within weeks of its last clean.

Repeat clears on one line usually mean a joint is open to roots or the wall has built up past anything a cable can address. Where the blockage sits also decides who pays. SA Water owns and maintains its network from the connection point at your boundary out to the main, so a fault on their side gets reported to SA Water and they attend to it.

Hydro excavation, digging with water instead of steel

Hydro excavation in Adelaide turns the same high-pressure water downward. A lance cuts the soil into slurry and a vacuum pump lifts it into the tank, exposing the pipe, cable or gas service without a blade touching it. Nothing gets nicked, and the spoil goes into the truck rather than across the driveway.

Before You Dig Australia advises locating assets electronically, then potholing by hand or hydro vacuum extraction where plans show infrastructure near the dig. On a Golden Grove verge carrying an NBN conduit, a gas main and a water service in one trench, water is the only way we will go down, and any exposed gas service stays with a licensed gas fitter. Both jobs sit on our hydro jetting and excavation page.

Why Adelaide property owners call PA Plumbers

We have been on Adelaide drains since 1981, from Golden Grove and Modbury out through Salisbury, Mawson Lakes and Para Hills. The fleet runs past 30 fully stocked vehicles, hydro-excavation trucks among them, so the machine that suits your pipe turns up rather than the one that happened to be free. Any plumber working on your property in this state carries a photographic registration card and must issue you an electronic certificate of compliance, a legal requirement under the Water Industry Act 2012. Ask for yours, and meet our licensed team on the expert plumbers page.

Call any hour, any day

The office number is (08) 8251 1733, answered 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, public holidays included. We work out of Golden Grove, cover Adelaide metro, and quotes cost nothing. Tell us what the drain is doing and how many fixtures are affected, and we will tell you if a machine, a jetter or a camera run is the first move. Book through our plumbing enquiry page.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does hydro jet drain cleaning cost in Adelaide?

Pricing turns on the length and diameter of the line, how much material has to be recovered, and if a CCTV inspection is included. A single residential sewer run sits at one end of that scale and a commercial car park system at the other. PA Plumbers quotes free of charge, so call (08) 8251 1733 for a figure first.

Will high-pressure water damage my drain pipes?

PVC, HDPE and sound earthenware pipe take jetting pressure without trouble, because the water scours the wall rather than loading the pipe structurally. Corroded or already broken lines are the exception, which is why our technicians assess the system and often run a camera before choosing pressure and nozzle.

What is a Jetvac truck and when do you use one?

A Jetvac is a combination unit carrying a high-pressure jetting system and a heavy vacuum on one chassis. It cleans the pipe and lifts the dislodged debris out at the inspection point in a single visit, holding around 12 tonnes of material and recycling its own water. We send one to sewer mains, stormwater systems and commercial lines.

Who is responsible for a blocked sewer, me or SA Water?

You are responsible for the drainage from your fixtures to the connection point at your boundary, and SA Water owns and maintains its network beyond that. A blockage on their side gets reported to SA Water, who attend to it.

Can hydro excavation be used near gas and electrical services?

Water excavation is the standard approach around live gas, electrical, water and telecommunications assets, because the soil is cut into slurry without a blade or bucket contacting the service. Plans should be requested through Before You Dig Australia first and the assets located, then potholed by hydro vacuum. Gas work stays with a licensed gas fitter.