A drain snake bores a hole through a blockage. Hydro jetting scours the pipe wall back to full bore. Which one your drain needs depends entirely on what the blockage is made of.
If you have been quoted for jetting and are wondering whether the cheaper option would do, the honest answer is that sometimes it would. Here is how to tell which situation you are in.
Quick answer
- Solid object, or a one-off blockage: a snake. Cheaper and correct
- Grease, fat, silt or anything coating the pipe wall: jetting. A snake will not remove a layer
- Roots: usually cut first, then jetted, then a camera to find where they got in
- Old, fragile or damaged pipe: jetting can make it worse. Camera first, always
What a Drain Snake Actually Does
A drain snake, also called an electric eel, is a long flexible cable with a cutting head on the end, fed into the line and rotated by a motor.
It works by boring. The head punches through whatever is in the way and opens a channel, and once water can pass again, the job looks finished.
For a solid obstruction that is exactly right. A toy, a rag, a wad of paper caught at a junction, or a mass of roots that needs cutting before anything else can happen. There is a discrete object in the way, and a cutter removes it.
What a snake cannot do is clean a pipe. If the problem is a layer on the wall rather than an object in the middle, the cable simply makes a hole through the middle of it.
What Hydro Jetting Actually Does
Jetting sends water down the line at high pressure through a nozzle with rear-facing jets. The jets drive the hose forward and blast the pipe wall as they travel, so the line is cleaned from the far end back towards the access point.
The difference that matters is coverage. A jetter does not make a path through the blockage. It removes the blockage from the surface it is stuck to, and takes the pipe back to something close to its original bore.
That matters most on anything that coats: kitchen grease, soap and detergent residue, silt in a stormwater line, fine root hair left behind after cutting. It is why a kitchen line that gurgles when the dishwasher drains is a jetting job rather than a snaking one.
Which Blockage Needs Which
| What is in the pipe | Right method | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Foreign object, toy, rag | Snake | A discrete object to be broken up or pulled through |
| Paper and waste, one-off toilet blockage | Snake | Clears easily and nothing is coating the wall |
| Kitchen grease and fat | Jetting | A layer on the wall. A snake bores through and leaves it |
| Silt or sand in a stormwater line | Jetting | Fine material that has to be flushed, not cut |
| Tree roots | Both | Cut first, then jet out the remaining hair, then camera |
| Recurring blockage, cause unknown | Camera first | Choosing a method without knowing the fault is guessing |
| Collapsed, cracked or bellied pipe | Neither | Clearing does not fix a shape or structure problem |
When a Snake Is Genuinely the Right Call
Worth saying plainly, because plenty of pages treat jetting as automatically better, and it is not.
A first-time blockage with an obvious cause. Something went down that should not have; it comes out, and the line runs freely. Paying for jetting adds nothing.
A blocked toilet or a single branch line. Short runs with a discrete obstruction. A snake handles these quickly and cheaply.
Cutting roots before anything else. You cannot jet through a solid root mass. The cutter goes first, and on some jobs that is all that is needed for now.
Old or fragile pipe where jetting carries risk. See the next section.
If a plumber reaches for a jetter on every job regardless of what is in the pipe, that is a business model rather than a diagnosis.
When Jetting Can Make Things Worse
The part that rarely appears on pages selling jetting.
High-pressure water in a pipe that has already failed structurally can turn a blockage into a collapse. Older Sydney properties on vitrified clay or earthenware are the ones at risk: joints that are already loose, sections that are already cracked, pipes that have been holding together under no real load.
A collapse is not a worse blockage. It is an excavation, and that is a different order of cost entirely.
Which is why a camera run should come before jetting on any line whose condition is unknown, and why hiring a jetter and doing it yourself is the version of this that goes badly. The operator needs to know what the pipe looks like inside, and needs to match nozzle and pressure to the pipe rather than to the blockage.
If the footage shows the pipe has failed, neither method is the answer, and you are into a drain repair or a section of pipe relining.
Been quoted for jetting and not sure?
Call R&G on 0461 330 531. Tell us what came out last time it was cleared and whether it has happened before. If a snake would do the job, we will say so. $0 call-out fee, fixed price before any work starts.
Why the Cheap Quote Is Almost Always the Snake
A very low headline price usually reflects the method, and that is worth understanding before you compare two numbers.
Typical Sydney market rates put a standard machine clear at around $150 to $400 and jetting at roughly $250 to $600, rising towards $1,500 where there is extensive root removal. Our guide to blocked drain costs in Sydney has the full breakdown.
So a headline price well under the snaking band is not a better deal on the same work. It is usually an attendance fee, with the actual job quoted once someone is standing in your yard.
The real cost comparison is not one visit against another. It is one visit against three. A grease-lined kitchen branch bored through by a snake runs freely for a few months and then blocks again, and two cheap clears in a year cost more than one proper one, with the blockages in between thrown in free.
That said, the reverse is equally true: paying for jetting on a one-off toilet blockage is money wasted. The method should follow the fault, not the invoice.
What to Ask Before You Agree
- What do you think is in the pipe, and what are you basing that on?
- Has this line been cleared before? If it has, why is this time different?
- Is a camera included, before or after?
- What happens if the pipe turns out to be damaged? Work should stop, op and you approve a separate quote.
- Is the price fixed?
A plumber who can answer the first two has diagnosed something. One who cannot is selling a method. If the drain is only gurgling rather than blocked, that conversation is cheaper again, because you are at the warning stage.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is hydro jetting safe for old pipes?
Not automatically. On old clay or earthenware that is already cracked or has loose joints, high pressure can turn a weak point into a collapse. That is why the pipe should be inspected before jetting when its condition is unknown, and why pressure and nozzle are matched to the pipe rather than to the blockage.
Can I hire a jetter and do it myself?
You can hire one. The problem is that the decision is not about operating the machine;ine, it is about knowing what the pipe looks like inside before you send high-pressure water down it. Without that, the cheap version of this job occasionally becomes the most expensive one.
How long does each method last?
It depends on the fault, not the method. Both last indefinitely if the blockage was a one-off and the pipe is sound. Neither lasts if the pipe has a crack, a belly or a root entry point, because the cause is still there. That is the entire argument for putting a camera down a line that has blocked more than once.
Does jetting damage the pipe if it is in good condition?
No. On a sound pipe, correctly set up, jetting cleans the wall without harming it, which is why it is used on stormwater, sewer and commercial lines routinely. The risk is specific to pipe that has already failed, which is what the inspection establishes.
The method should follow the fault.
We work out what is in the pipe before choosing how to clear it, and if a snake will do the job,b we will tell you that rather than sell you the bigger machine. $0 call-out fee, fixed price before any work starts, across the North Shore, the Hills and Western Sydney. See how we find and clear blocked drains across Sydney.
