Air Conditioning, Heating and Plumbing - Advice, Discussion and Tips from ARS®/Rescue Rooter®. Welcome to the ARS/Rescue Rooter Home Connect, your online resource center for information, answers and interactive advice about air conditioning, heating, plumbing and drain maintenance. As part of our commitment to providing exceptional service, we created the ARS/Rescue Rooter Home Connect to be a useful tool with many helpful ways to find what you need.
I have three inch drain lines in the front yard which are full of palm tree roots. Can this be snaked out or do I need to just take out the drain pipe and start over?
Thank you for such a great question. Every situation with regard to tree roots and drain lines is different. Usually a sewer camera/video inspection will be able to tell you the condition of the pipe, as well as the severity of your root problem (assuming you can even get the camera in the pipe). You can sometimes cable drain lines and remove the roots. Using high pressure water (the ARS/Rescue Rooter Scour Jet® service) to remove the roots from the drain lines is another option. Sometimes you can use a pipe bursting method to install a new pipe inside the old pipe. (This would save you from having to dig up the entire line.) Even if you are successful in removing the roots with a cable or Scour Jet®, the roots may have already damaged the pipes. Finally, if these options are unsuccessful and/or not available to you, then you will need to dig up and replace the pipe. I suggest you contact a professional plumbing contractor, such as the ARS/Rescue Rooter branch in San Diego at (800) 968-7758.
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