Jetting a 47 yr old CI main drain?

My Cast Iron main drain is little more than 1/3 full w/ sediment (per recent camera run down pipe). I've been advised by a local plumbing company that I could have it jetted but I would run a 95% risk of breaking the old CI pipe as the jetting machine runs at 2200 psi. They advised replacing all of the pipe to the street to the tune of $5,900. Ouch!

I later called another "jetting" company which does only Jetting of drains. This guy doesn't seem jetting it would be an issue at all. This alternative is obviously the most attractive to me.

Any thoughts on this situation? Is there a seriously high chance of this old CI pipe breaking due to the high water pressure?


Thanks - Jeff

If your piping has the capability of blowing apart by high water pressure by nature of jetting,

yes, you need to replace your piping.

Cast iron that brittle is going to be replaced whether you want to or not.

You're buying time basically...

I would talk to a drain cleaning spe******t, not a plumbing company that does drain cleaning...sounds like they are trying to sell you more than you need. There are many different heads that can be used on a jetter.

Good luck.

What price did they quote you to jet the line?

Not so sure the existing CI is "that" brittle...

That's according to the plumbing company. I was just hoping to see what experiences of others are...is it typical of CI pipe to become that brittle over time? I've read the life expectancy of it is 75-100 years.

The professional jetting company I talked to did say that as long as they use the correct nozzle there should be no issue. They want $600 to jet 70 feet of line and then camera it afterwards.

My thinking at the moment is to take the gamble, and get it jetted. If it breaks from the jetting, then as Rugged said, it likely needs to be replaced anyhow. If it doesn't break, then I save 6-Large.

Jeff