When the trap's empty and the line's still slow.

Why a pump-out sometimes isn't enough

A grease trap catches fat, oil, and grease before it hits the sewer line. It doesn't catch everything. Over months, a thin film of grease coats the inside of the drain pipe past the trap, then thickens every time hot grease-laden water runs through it and cools against the pipe wall. Eventually that film narrows the pipe enough to slow drainage, and no amount of pumping the trap itself fixes a coated line. That's a jetting problem, not a pumping problem.

We see this most in older strip-center kitchens along the I-10 frontage and around Katy Mills, where the drain runs are longer and the grade is flatter than in a newer build. Flatter grade means slower flow, and slower flow means more grease settles out along the way.

How the jetting process works

1. Camera or manual assessment first. We confirm the blockage is grease buildup and not a broken or bellied pipe before running water at pressure.
2. Access point set. Usually a cleanout, sometimes the trap itself if there's no dedicated cleanout downstream.
3. Jetting hose run. A rotating nozzle sends high-pressure water down the line, cutting grease off the pipe walls and pushing it toward the trap or the main.
4. Multiple passes. Heavy buildup takes two or three passes to get the line back to bare pipe, not just an open channel through the middle.
5. Trap check. Since jetting pushes loosened grease toward the trap, we check and pump the trap again if it fills from the debris.
6. Flow test. We run water and confirm drainage before we call the job done.

What makes jetting harder

Long horizontal runs with almost no fall lose flow speed fast, which is exactly the condition that let grease build up in the first place, and it takes longer to clear because there's less gravity doing the work with us. Cast iron lines from older buildings develop rough interior scale that grease grabs onto harder than it does smooth PVC. A line with no accessible cleanout means we have to find another entry point, sometimes pulling a fixture. And any line that's actually bellied or cracked, not just coated, needs a camera inspection and a different fix entirely, jetting a broken pipe just moves the problem.

Duration and price

A single-line jetting job runs $450 to $850 depending on line length and how packed the pipe is. Jobs needing a camera inspection first, or multiple access points, run $700 to $1,200. Most jobs finish in 1 to 3 hours. Heavily bellied or long-run jobs can stretch past that, and we'll tell you on site if that's where yours is headed.

Serving kitchens in Katy, Cinco Ranch, Fulshear, Brookshire, and Richmond. If your line keeps backing up every few months even with a clean trap, that's the tell that it's time to jet instead of just pump.

Hydro-jetting questions

How do I know if I need jetting instead of just a pump-out?

If the trap's freshly pumped and the drain is still slow, or if the same fixture backs up every few weeks no matter how often the trap's serviced, the buildup is in the line, not the trap. That's a jetting call.

Can jetting damage old pipes?

Properly run pressure won't damage sound pipe, PVC or cast iron. That's why we check the line's condition first. A pipe that's already cracked or bellied can suffer under jetting pressure, which is exactly why we don't jet blind.

Do you jet the trap itself?

The trap gets pumped, not jetted. Jetting is for the pipe run between fixtures and the trap, or between the trap and the property line. We don't run pressure equipment inside the interceptor itself.

How often does a line need jetting if I'm already on a quarterly pump schedule?

Most kitchens on a solid quarterly pump cadence need jetting once a year or less. Kitchens with long flat runs or older cast iron lines sometimes need it every 6 months. We'll tell you the real number after we've seen your line once.