Below is a list of equipment we use and prefer. An important thing to consider is what your needs are and the amount of money you would like to spend. For example, we rarely run into a need to clear any drain larger than 6 inch in diameter. Most of the machines listed below work well for us and suit our customers, mostly residential and light commercial, industrial. Rental apartment property managers seem to like the Ridgid K50 for it’s versatility. In my opinion this machine lacks the power to cut roots at long distances so was not considered when buying drain cleaning machines. With that said, the K50 suits others very well so take our view on things to be what works best for us and our type of sewer service call.
The Ridgid K-60sp drain cleaner. A sectional machine we use for 3″ through 8″ clogged lines. We use the 7/8 inch cables but it can also run the 5/8 inch sectional cables. I have not had any problems getting the 7/8 inch cable through a 3″ p-trap. Each 7/8 inch cable length is 15 feet long and very strong. The sp machine comes with several different heads like the shark tooth cutter, funnel auger and grease spade. I have found this machine to be very durable and easy to use. Most drum style drain cleaning machines spin at 300 rpm’s. This k60 spins at 600 rpm’s and devours large tree root clogs. What I don’t like about it is the manual feed. When I first bought this machine I pushed the handle down expecting it to quickly feed out, not the case. I have 105 feet of 7/8 inch cable and have found it some what difficult to pull that much cable back without the aid of a auto feed. This drain cleaning machine doesn’t take up much room in your truck and easily transports to roof jobs.
The Ridgid k3800 has many great features that make it a must for any plumbing service company. The drums of this drain cleaning machine can be removed and quickly changed out to another size cable. We carry drums containing 50 feet of 5/16 inch cable, 75 feet of 3/8 inch cable and 90 feet of 1/2 inch cable. Having three drums loaded with different size snakes is like having three different drain cleaning machines on your truck. We use the 5/16″ cable for tubs, the 3/8″ cable for kitchen sinks and the 1/2″ cable for laterals. The drum of this drain cleaner pivots to adjust for different height drains, has an optional wheeled cart that easily fits through door ways and a gear reduction motor. When this drain cleaner encounters a tough clog, it gears down for extra torque. You can pivot the front part up and use it as a handle to carry it on to roofs, remove the drum if to heavy and carry it up in sections.
The Ridgid Seesnake sewer camera system easily diagnosis any problems with your sewer or drain. With so many different heads and size cables to choose from, it can be difficult to know if your drain cleaning machine did a good job of permanently fixing that sewer or drain problem. Some drains have broken or cracked pipes that a traditional drain cleaning machine just can’t fix. We recommend a sewer video camera inspection for any line 3″ and larger. From my experience here in Florida, 2″ and smaller lines usually have grease or hair clogs, not broken or cracked pipes. Problems with 3″ or larger lines usually have something worth viewing. In many cases it is tree roots entering a cracked pipe, the sewer camera inspection tells me I need to run a large cutter head. I then re- camera the line until the camera shows you it’s all out. A sewer video camera is a drain cleaning tool you will find difficult to work without. Why guess?
The Ridgid toilet auger. 6 feet in length, just long enough to go through the trap way of a toilet. It has a rubberized bottom that will prevent you from scratching the toilet. I can’t tell you how many scratched up toilets I have encountered from people running normal hand driven snakes trying to clear their clogged toilet. This is hand driven but you realy don’t need a powered snake to clear a clogged toilet.
The Ridgid locator is excellent for tracing sewer or other lines that are buried. Our Sewer video camera has a built in 512hz sonde capable of sending a signal to this machine. We simply push are sewer camera to any area to be located and turn on the sonde, This locator then picks up that signal to tell us where to dig. We also have the ability to energize metal lines like your copper pipes beneath your slab. This helps us trace out where a line is when listening for a leak with our slab leak detector.
