More than a decade ago, G.R. Stob Mechanical (dba Stob Plumbing) invested in a hot-water, trailer-mounted jetting machine from HotJet USA, primarily to clean grease lines in low-income housing complexes.
The cost? Around $40,000. The resulting return on investment? Priceless.
“I used to pull 1,000 pounds of grease a week from some of those housing complexes with that machine,” says Rich Stob, who bought the suburban Chicago business from his father in 2013. “It was one of the highlight investments we made during that time period — it was a game-changer for me and the company.”
The company owned a smaller jetter at the time, but it couldn’t handle the grease lines that Stob commonly encountered in the seven-unit, row-house apartments, all connected by one grease line that emptied into a sanitary sewer line.
“All seven units would be connected by that one grease pipe,” Stob explains. “Our rodding machines couldn’t get through the grease, either.”
The 8036V GPC model features a 350-gallon water tank, a water pump that generates flow of 10 gpm and pressure of 4,000 psi, 300 feet of 3/8-inch-diameter cable and a second reel that quick-connects to the main hose and holds 300 more feet of hose. The second reel includes a pedal for remote operation, he notes.
The 600 feet of hose, not to mention the hot-water option, allows Stob to do jobs he otherwise couldn’t do.
“It’s incredible how you can do so much with this machine,” he says. “I’ve even used it to remove graffiti.”
In one instance, Stob unthawed 1,000 feet of frozen, 4-inch-diameter sewer line with the two hoses.
“You lose some of the flow at that distance, but it still created 4,000 psi,” he explains. “It took four days to finish that job. I wasn’t sure it would work, but it did the job.”
These days, the company primarily uses the trailer jetter to clean laterals as well as commercial downspouts that drain into underground pipes.
“It’s been a very good investment,” Stob says. “It probably paid for itself in a year. It’s been a real blessing for me and our clients.”
Read more about Stob Plumbing in the October 2024 issue of Plumber magazine.
