New York Drain Cleaner
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New York State · Phone only
Drain Cleaning Services in New York
Kitchen line slow again? Basement floor drain filling up? Every fixture in the house draining at once? We connect you with experienced local drain technicians for drain cleaning services across New York, with cameras and jetters on the truck, from Long Island and New York City to the Hudson Valley, the Capital Region and Buffalo, with calls answered 24/7.
- Answered 24/7
- Same-day & emergency response
- Upfront pricing, no hidden fees
- Camera & jetter equipped
- Workmanship guarantee from the crew on completed work
The cesspool and septic question
Every drain slow at once?
Across much of Suffolk County, parts of Nassau and rural stretches of the Hudson Valley and upstate, homes send their wastewater to a cesspool or septic system rather than a street sewer. When the tub, the toilets and the kitchen sink all slow down together, there are two very different explanations, and they need different people.
PATH 1
A clog in the building drain or the line out
- Came on suddenly, often after a holiday, a party or a load of laundry
- The lowest fixture, a basement shower or floor drain, backs up first
- Gurgling in a toilet when the washing machine empties
- Upstairs drains run, the lowest level fills
Who handles it: a drain technician. Rooting or jetting clears the line, and a camera shows what caused it.
PATH 2
A cesspool or septic system that is full
- Drains have been getting slower over weeks, not hours
- It is worse after heavy rain or a run of heavy water use
- Wet or soft ground over the system in the yard
- The line clears, but slows again within days
Who handles it: a cesspool or septic contractor. Pumping and system work are outside what we do.
Why the drain technician goes first: the symptoms overlap, and clearing and camera-checking the line between the house and the system is the fastest way to find out which path you are on. If the camera shows the line is open and water still will not leave, you know it is time to call the cesspool contractor, with evidence in hand.
Drain cleaning, and only drain cleaning
We don't do water heaters, boilers or remodels. Every crew we connect you with is there to clear a drain, find out why it clogged and show you what is inside the pipe.
Every drain backing up
When the whole house slows at once, main line, house trap or the line to a cesspool.
Cesspool & septic home drain clogs
Clearing the building drain and the line toward the system on cesspool and septic homes.
House trap clogs
The U-bend in the cellar that backs up brownstones, rowhouses and two-families.
Main sewer line clogs
Rooting or jetting the building drain and lateral from the cleanout.
Shared stack clogs
When a clog in the building’s vertical line reaches several apartments.
Basement floor drain backup
Why water shows up at the lowest point first, and how it’s cleared.
Tree root removal
Cutting roots out of clay and cast iron laterals under mature street trees.
Cast iron drain cleaning
Careful work on post-war building drains with decades of scale inside.
Kitchen grease clogs
The slow, every-December kitchen line in houses and apartment buildings.
Sewer camera inspection
See inside the pipe: roots, scale, sags, breaks and what caused the clog.
Hydro jetting
High-pressure water to scour grease and scale from sound pipe.
Emergency drain cleaning
Nights, weekends and holidays, when the backup can’t wait.
One drain, or the whole house?
Every fixture in a house feeds a small branch line, and every branch line feeds one building drain on its way out. Where the clog sits decides how it is cleared.
A single slow sink is almost always a branch clog, hair, soap, grease, a short, quick job. When two fixtures on different floors are affected, or the lowest drain in the house fills while something upstairs runs, the blockage is downstream of both: the main. That's when the technician goes to the cleanout with a larger cable or a jetter.
Likely a branch line
One fixture slow · others fine · no gurgling elsewhere · water stays in that basin.
Likely the main
Toilet bubbles when the tub drains · floor drain wet when laundry runs · several fixtures slow together.
Not sure
That's normal. Describe what you see on the phone and the technician will narrow it down.
Brownstones, rowhouses, two-families
Find your house trap
Many older homes in Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and older city neighbourhoods upstate have a house trap: a U-shaped bend in the building drain, usually in the cellar near the front wall, just before the line heads to the street. It holds water like a sink trap does, and like a sink trap, it catches what shouldn't be there.
You'll recognise it by two round cleanout plugs side by side, sometimes at floor level, sometimes in a small pit. Outside, near the stoop or front steps, there may be a short vent pipe or grate, the fresh-air inlet that lets the line breathe.
When a house trap clogs, the whole building backs up at once, starting from the cellar. It's often the first thing a technician checks. Please don't open those plugs yourself: if the line is full, the trap is holding back everything above it.
Your apartment, or the whole building?
In apartment buildings, co-ops and two-families, each unit's kitchen and bathroom lines join a shared vertical stack. A clog in your branch line affects your unit. A clog in the stack affects everyone below it, and usually shows up in the lowest apartment first.
Points to your unit
Only your sink or tub is slow. Neighbours aren't reporting anything. Water stays in your fixture.
Points to the stack
Water appears in your sink when someone upstairs runs theirs. Several units on one line have the same problem.
Tell the super first
Your super, landlord or managing agent knows the building's lines and arranges access. Note which fixtures, when it started and whether it's happened before.
Snake or jet? An honest comparison
Neither is "better". They do different jobs, and the right one depends on what's in the line and what the line is made of.
| Snaking / augering | Hydro jetting | |
|---|---|---|
| What it does | A rotating cable punches through and pulls back the blockage | High-pressure water scours the full pipe wall |
| Best for | Sudden clogs, roots, objects, toilets, house traps | Grease build-up, scale, sludge, repeat clogs in sound pipe |
| Older cast iron & clay | Usually the first choice | Only after a camera shows the pipe can take it |
| Trade-off | Opens a path; may leave build-up on the walls | More thorough; more setup and cost |
Seven regions, seven kinds of drain trouble
A 1955 ranch in Lindenhurst, a brownstone in Park Slope, an 1890s rowhouse in Troy and a farmhouse outside Watertown all clog for different reasons. Pick your region to see what's typical where you live.
123 places · Nassau & Suffolk
Long Island
Post-war Capes and ranches, cast iron building drains, and many homes on cesspools.
5 boroughs · 57 neighbourhoods
New York City
House traps, shared stacks, brownstones, two-families and restaurant kitchens.
65 places
Westchester & Lower Hudson
Village centres, post-war suburbs, hillside lots and clay laterals under old trees.
63 places
Central New York
Deep basements, long winters, frozen lines and clay and cast iron laterals.
30 places
Western New York
Lake-effect winters, older city housing in Buffalo and Rochester, rooted laterals.
What happens when you call
New York Drain Cleaner is a referral service. We connect homeowners, landlords, building managers and businesses with independent local drain technicians who work in your part of the state. The work is done by them; our job is to connect you with the right crew and explain what to expect.
Most visits run like this: the technician finds the cleanout, clears the line, runs water to confirm it's flowing, and, where it makes sense, puts a camera down to see what caused it. You get a straight explanation, not a sales pitch. If the camera shows damage that cleaning won't fix, the technician can talk you through repair options; that conversation happens with the picture in front of you.
- 01You call. Tell us what's backing up, where, and what kind of building it is.
- 02We match a local crew that works your area and has the right equipment for the job.
- 03The crew tells you the price first. Upfront pricing before any work starts. No hidden fees.
- 04The line is cleared and checked, with a camera when the technician thinks it will help.
If water is coming up right now
Stop the water
Stop running taps, the dishwasher and the washer. Don't flush toilets that drain to the same line.
Clear the area
Keep people and pets away from the water and move valuables off the floor if you can do so safely.
Stay away from power
If water is near outlets, appliances or a boiler, keep away and don't touch anything electrical.
Smell gas?
Leave the building and call the gas utility and emergency services from outside.
Find your region
Pick the part of the state you are in to see how drains behave there and which towns we list.
Common questions
My home is on a cesspool and every drain is slow. Do I call you or a cesspool company?
Often both, in that order. Symptoms of a clogged building drain and a full cesspool overlap. A drain technician can clear and camera-check the line between the house and the system. If the line is open and water still won’t leave, that points to the system itself, and a cesspool or septic contractor takes it from there. We don’t pump or repair systems.
What is a house trap, and do I have one?
A house trap is a U-shaped bend in the building drain, usually in the cellar near the front wall, with two round cleanout plugs on top. They’re common in older brownstones, rowhouses and two-families in the city and in some older homes elsewhere. If you see two plugs side by side near where the drain leaves the house, mention it on the phone.
How do I know if it’s my apartment line or the building’s stack?
If only your fixture is slow, it’s most likely your branch line. If water rises in your sink when an upstairs neighbour runs theirs, or several units on the same line report problems, the shared stack is more likely. In either case, let your super or management know, they handle access to the building’s lines and cleanouts.
Why does my basement floor drain back up first?
It’s usually the lowest drain in the house, so when the main line is blocked, water from upstairs fixtures has nowhere to go but up and out of the lowest opening. That makes a wet floor drain a useful signal: the blockage is probably in the main or building drain, not in a single fixture line.
Snake or hydro jet, which will the technician use?
It depends on the clog and the pipe. A cable machine is the usual first step for sudden blockages, roots and anything in an older cast iron or clay line. Jetting is better for grease, scale and sludge in pipe that’s in sound condition. On older lines, a camera often comes first so the technician can choose the right method.
Do I need a camera inspection?
Not always. For a single, first-time sink clog, probably not. It’s worth it when the main line has clogged more than once, when roots are suspected, before jetting an older line, or when you’re buying an older home. The camera shows what caused the clog, which is the difference between clearing it and understanding it.
Will the clog come back?
Some do, some don’t. A clog caused by a one-off object usually doesn’t return. Roots, heavy scale in old cast iron, and grease tend to rebuild over time. Nobody can honestly promise a line will stay clear; what a technician can do is tell you what they found and what usually helps in a pipe like yours.
How much will it cost?
It depends on where the clog is, how the technician gets to it, what equipment it needs and whether a camera is used. A sink line is a different job from a main line rooted through a clay lateral. The crew we connect you with gives you the price before work begins, and there are no hidden fees.
Do you work on Long Island, in the city and upstate?
Yes. We connect callers with local drain crews across 425 cities, towns, hamlets and neighbourhoods, all of Nassau and Suffolk, the five boroughs, Westchester and the Hudson Valley, the Capital Region, and Central and Western New York. Browse the full list on our areas page or call with your ZIP code.
Standing in the cellar with a drain that won't drain?
Call any time. Tell us the town or neighbourhood and what's happening, and we'll get a local crew moving.
