The Clog Hog is a simple drain cleaning system using your power washer or pressure washer to unclog and flush out the built up gunk in your drain lines including the main line.
Ease of Use/Performance: 25/25
Convenience/Storage 25/25
Appearance/Design 22/25
How much I enjoy 25/25
Total: 97/100
It’s not often that I enjoy cleaning out my sewer lines, drain lines or clogged sinks but now I can get those lines clear easily and with water. Using my pressure washer, power washer if you like, I can blast away those clogs and clean out the pipes to prevent clogs in the future.
Instead of using caustic chemicals or calling the plumber to get the job done you can use the Clog Hog to jet those lines clear easily at very little cost. A power washer is a handy tool around the home and now it becomes an essential plumber’s tool along with the Clog Hog sewer jetter hose and adapters.
After a little back and forth with the company, they will also work with customers, I found the exact model suited to my needs and for the review. The Clog Hog needs to be teamed up with a specific power washer because the power of the washer is an important factor in determining the strength needed for the hose.
A more powerful washer will need a hose that is reinforced so you need to know the rated flow and the working pressure of your power washer before ordering a Clog Hog. Once you know the pressure and flow you can find matching hoses, the brand of your pressure washer is used for the adapter needed to connect your washer to the Clog Hog.
The Clog Hog 50 foot Drain Cleaner Set I received comes with a fifty feet of hose with the attached nozzle and a threaded adapter that is sized for the included adapters. The set includes four adapters and a tube of LocTite to lock the adapter on the threaded adapter of the hose.
The set also includes instructions and a hose tie to wrap up the hose when not in use to keep it neatly coiled, the nozzle is already attached to the hose and an important part of the set. The nozzle has four holes with one pointing forward and three pointing backward to help propel the hose forward when in use and all are design according to the pressure rating of the washer you use.
The Clog Hog I received is rated up to 4000 PSI and from 1.5 to 2.0 gallons per minute flow rate so my Campbell Hausfeld electric 1600 PSI pressure washer works well with this set even if it is at the low end. Connecting the right adapter is only a matter of comparing the included wands for your pressure washer as the hose connects to your spraying wand.
The Adapter kit that comes with the set includes four adapters for common pressure washer like Karcher, Campbell Hausfeld, Bosch and Kew among some. The threaded adapter allows connection to other models along with the other adapters that Clog Hog has available for other models.
You simply screw on the correct adapter and connect the hose to your spray wand which is how you turn on and off the washer and the Clog Hog when you want to use it. Other systems of drain jetters require an on/off valve or foot control but the Clog Hog is designed to attach directly to your wand and use it for your controls.
Once you have the Clog Hog connected to your pressure washer you connect your garden hose to the pressure washer and power cord and you’re ready to clean those drains. Clog Hog hoses come in various pressure ratings for higher pressure washers and even gas operated washers so the better washers can be used and are even better at cleaning out your drain lines.
If you’re using the Clog Hog in a basement or other unfinished areas the mess is not much of a worry but for nice rooms like a bathroom you may want to do a little covering of the floor with a drop cloth or old blanket. Rags and gloves are also recommended as the gunk in drain lines can be a mess and even stain your hands which require a lot of soap and water to clean off.
In my bathroom it was an easy task of putting the pressure washer and all the hose in the tub and then using the Clog Hog through the under sink connection. The Clog Hog is meant more for the main lines of a houses plumbing from sinks and other attaching points to the main sewer line connection of the house.
The Clog Hog can be used in the smaller two inch pipes up to the four inch drain lines but they do have to be passed through lines and the hose is pretty solid. It does not bend easily but can handle the bends of a drain line like 90 degree elbows but not the “U” shaped drain traps under sinks.
It is not meant for clearing the traps under sinks or showers as the Clog Hog is pulled through the drain using backward facing jets of water. These jets not only propel the hose forward but would get water everywhere if you don’t have the hose at least a foot or two inside a pipe.
For my bathroom pipe I simply put a few rags over the hose as I fed it into the line until it turned its first corner downward toward the basement. The under sink work was the messiest but not nearly as bad as I had predicted it could be, I simply had the power washer in the tub while I worked.
When pushing the hose in and pulling it out I had several rags around the end of the drain pipe that leads directly into the wall and toward the basement drains. I also packed rags under the drain coming out of the wall and had an old blanket on the floor to soak up any water and catch anything else that fell on the floor.
In the basement where I actually had my problems the Clog Hog did wonders to my clogged drains with not only unclogging them but with cleaning out the pipes to prevent future clogs. I have included a video with this review which will be on both my Yahoo! Page and my own website but it is not as gross as you would think.
I made a video camera that I put down the drain to see exactly what the inside of my drain lines look like, it is simply a backup camera for a car inside an inch and a quarter drain hose for a sump pump attached to a TV and VCR. The video shows the drain and after getting past the first corner bend I come upon the tee of my floor drain, in the video you can see the water running from the floor drain branch.
After some more pushing I feed the camera which is about an inch and three quarters round to some blockage that I could not push the camera through. I marked on the camera hose with a strip of cloth so I could measure how far down this clog was and could show the same area after the Clog Hog did some of its work.
After a few minutes of running the Clog Hog with my pressure washer I removed the Clog Hog hose and sent my camera back in to take a look. The camera could now go further into the drain and you can see that the walls are now scrubbed of some of the gunk that it was lined with.
This was only after a couple of minutes with the Clog Hog washing down the inside of the drain pipe, I continued to use the Clog Hog some more to clear out more of the drain pipe. I also went outside to a cleanout and used the Clog Hog on my main sewer line that runs from my house to the street to get that nice and clear to prevent problems like Christmas Day, 2009.
The first year we moved into our home we had our first major plumbing problem on Christmas Day, the line clogged and I was outside in a snow storm digging out the sewer line so I could get to the clog. The sewer line for my house runs to a pit in our yard and then to the street and this pit was full of sewer water so the clog was somewhere between this pit and the street.
After bailing out the water and using a hose with one of those bladders to push the clog out I vowed to never have to do this again. I worked at updating the sewer line with a clean out and fully enclosed plumbing in that pit as well as looking for alternate means of keeping my sewer lines clear.
I finally got the drain lines enclosed and when I started having problems again with my drain lines in the basement clogging up I looked for a solution before they totally clogged up. I looked over the internet for some way to clean out a drain line without having to call a plumber, I am a do it yourselfer at heart, and found the Clog Hog.
The Clog Hog is a simple way to clear out the lines with the backwards facing jets pulling the hose along and one forward jet to blast through any obstructions that clog up your drain. Actual usage and drain configuration at your home will determine the amount of bends and corners the Clog Hog hose will take but the smaller diameter hose makes for a better turn radius.
When using the Clog Hog I know I made it past three turns on the plumbing but I am not sure exactly how or where this was, I think about three is the maximum my smaller pressure washer would push the hose through. The more turns you add to your length the more friction is added to the hose so it may be you can do a few more with a higher pressure washer and hose set up.
Professionals are now using power washers as a way to clear out clogs that do not wear down the pipe like augers can and they also clean out the pipe of greasy debris that sticks to the side much better. The use of a home version that a home owner can buy at a reasonable cost and use with their own pressure washer simply means not having to call the professional to unclog your drain lines.
The Clog Hog is a cost effective means that home owners can use to keep your drain lines clear and one that works with a pressure washer that you may already have. Doing a little math if you spend the $115 for the 50FT Clog Hog Set and another $100 on a pressure washer you’re about at the cost of having a plumber come out to your house to do the same job.
You get the secure knowledge of not having to call a plumber again and you can wash your car and keep your house siding clean as well. The Clog Hog is a simple to use drain cleaner and not only prevents clogs in the future when using it on pipes that are just slow but can clear out clogged pipes where water is not draining.
My only word of warning on fully clogged drain lines on vertical pipes like under sink ones that run straight into the wall instead of down is use rags to plug the hole when you first use the Clog Hog and your pressure washer. I highly recommend the Clog Hog as an efficient and low cost way to keep your homes drain lines clear and running free.
