Plumbers in Tempe

Late August, the first week of the semester. Four roommates, one kitchen sink, and a garbage disposal that has already processed an entire box of pasta. By October the drain is slow. By Thanksgiving it is someone else’s problem, which in a rental means the landlord’s.

Tempe’s housing near ASU is largely postwar, and much of it has been converted to rentals, putting more people through each drain than the original owners ever did. Supply lines are galvanized and copper. The drains in many older homes are original cast iron, and cast iron doesn’t fail all at once. Its interior roughens with corrosion and scale, grease catches on the rough spots, and wipes labeled “flushable” catch on the grease. The result is a stack that narrows a little every year.

So most Tempe drain calls are not a collapsed main line. They are years of buildup in pipe that still has life left in it. A cable punches a hole through the clog; hydro jetting scours the pipe back to its wall. Before anyone quotes a replacement, a camera inspection should show whether the iron is sound or scaling through. Owners with several units near campus usually come out ahead on a maintenance plan rather than a string of Sunday-night calls.