Commercial Drain Cleaning
A blocked drain in a business is a closed business. Commercial drain work is judged on how fast the line is back in service and how long it stays that way.
Commercial Drain Cleaning
When to call
What usually brings people to this
Galvanized supply closes up the same way it always has, showing itself as brown water and pressure that drops the moment somebody else opens a tap.
These are the symptoms that usually prompt the call. Any one of them is worth a conversation, and most of them get cheaper to deal with the earlier they are looked at.
Drains slowing in a kitchen or restroom
Recurring blockages in the same line
Floor drains backing up
Odor from drains in a tenant space
A line that has never been cleaned
Left alone, most of these problems take something else with them: a floor, a cabinet, a section of drywall, sometimes a foundation.
Respond to the disruption first
Getting the line open is the immediate priority. Everything else follows.
Identify why it blocked
Recurring commercial blockages nearly always have a cause: grease, scale, a defect, or a line undersized for what it now carries.
Clear it properly
Cabling for obstructions, jetting where the pipe is coated. Half-clearing a commercial line guarantees a return visit.
Put it on a schedule if it needs one
Many commercial lines are far cheaper to maintain than to keep emergency-clearing.
Worth knowingWhat commercial drain cleaning actually involves
You will know the cost before the work starts. Surprises on an invoice are how contractors lose customers permanently.
For a business, the relevant number is not the cost of the service call. It is the cost of the hours the drain was out of service. That arithmetic is why scheduled maintenance makes sense for commercial kitchens and high-volume properties in a way it rarely does for a house. Clearing a line on a schedule during closed hours costs a fraction of clearing the same line as an emergency during service.
The equipment on the truck reflects what this region needs: hard-water problems, aging cast iron, slab construction and properties on septic.
The territory we cover spans three counties, which is a practical consequence of having been the plumber people call here since 1982. If you are outside the usual radius, call and ask. We cover more ground than most shops our size.
We check the obvious causes before the expensive ones, in that order.
Keeping it from happening again
Left alone, most of these problems take something else with them: a floor, a cabinet, a section of drywall, sometimes a foundation.
If a drain has slowed, deal with it while it is slow. A slow drain is a partial blockage announcing itself, and it will finish the job eventually at a less convenient moment.
For commercial property, a maintenance schedule on drains and interceptors costs a fraction of emergency response, and it is the difference between planned work and a closure.
The cheapest plumbing is the kind that gets looked at before it fails. An annual walk of the visible plumbing, checking under sinks, around the water heater and at any exposed pipe, catches most problems while they are still small and dry.
Exercise your shutoff valves once a year. A quarter turn and back keeps them from seizing, and a main shutoff that will not turn during an emergency is a much more expensive problem than one that gets used occasionally.
Who you are calling
Same-day service is normal here rather than a premium add-on, and after-hours calls get answered by someone who can dispatch a truck.
Three of Big Mike's family run this company now. They grew up in it, learned the work from him, and took it over because he knew they would look after people the same way.
We are set up so that a job involving the house, the tank and the ground between them is handled by one company under one set of licenses.
The phone is answered by a person at any hour, so a problem at midnight gets the same answer it would get at noon.
Big Mike's · Yucaipa, California
Questions we get about commercial drain cleaning
If yours is not here, call and ask. We would rather talk it through than have you guess.
Can you work outside business hours?
Yes. Most commercial drain work is scheduled around trading hours, and emergency work runs around the clock.
How often should commercial drains be cleaned?
It follows use. A busy kitchen needs a regular interval; an office restroom line may need very little.
Why do our drains keep blocking?
Usually grease or scale coating the pipe rather than a discrete obstruction. Jetting addresses that; cabling does not.
Do you handle multi-tenant buildings?
Yes, including coordinating access across tenants and scheduling around their hours.
Do you work nights and weekends?
Yes. Nights, weekends and holidays are ordinary working hours in this trade, and emergency calls are answered around the clock.
Does a real person answer when I call?
Yes. The line is answered live around the clock, so you are talking to somebody who can send a truck, not leaving a message for the morning.
What areas do you serve?
Yucaipa and out across San Bernardino County, Riverside County and the eastern edge of Los Angeles County. If you are not sure you are in range, call and ask.
Do you guarantee your work?
We stand behind what we do. If something we repaired is not right, call us and we will come back and deal with it.
How this fits the rest of the system
Commercial plumbing is judged on continuity rather than on the repair itself. A fault that closes a kitchen, empties an office or takes rooms out of service costs far more in lost operation than in plumbing labor. That changes the right answer to a lot of questions: whether to schedule work overnight, whether to build in redundancy, and whether a maintenance interval is worth paying for.
Before we come out
If the property is on septic and you know where the tank is, that saves locating it. If you do not, we will find it.
We reach the valley cities routinely and the outlying communities regularly. If you are unsure whether you are in range, the answer is usually yes and it costs nothing to ask.
Related work and where we do it
Other commercial work
- Commercial Water Heaters
Commercial hot water systems.
- Commercial Repiping
Repiping occupied commercial buildings.
- Commercial Leak Detection
Locating leaks in commercial structures.
- Commercial Water Line Repair
Failed commercial water services.
- Plumbing Products and Fixtures
Supplying and installing fixtures.
- Commercial Sewer Repair
Commercial laterals and mains.
Where we go
We run commercial drain cleaning out of Yucaipa across Lake Elsinore, Calimesa, Victorville, La Quinta, Pomona, Desert Hot Springs and Redlands, and the rest of San Bernardino, Riverside and the eastern edge of Los Angeles County.
Call the shop. A person picks up.
Tell us what it is doing and we will tell you what it takes to fix it. Plain language, no sales pitch, and the number before we start.
Yucaipa, California · Serving San Bernardino, Riverside and eastern Los Angeles counties · Open 24 hours