Drainage has its own vocabulary, and quotes and reports are easier to judge when you speak it. Every term below links to the service or guide where it does real work.
Hydro jetting
Cleaning a pipe from the inside with high pressure water through a specialised nozzle, removing grease, scale, sand and roots and restoring the full bore.
Hydro Jetting service · How it works
Drain snaking
Clearing a blockage with a rotating flexible cable that punches through or retrieves it. Fast for simple clogs; it opens a hole rather than cleaning the pipe.
CCTV drain survey
Inspecting a pipe with a camera on a push rod, recording condition and distance so problems are located precisely without digging.
CCTV Inspection service · When you need one
Grease trap
A tank between kitchen sinks and the drainage that separates fats, oils and grease from wastewater. It only works while it has capacity, which is why it needs scheduled emptying.
Grease Trap Cleaning · Cleaning guide
FOG
Fats, oils and grease: the leading cause of kitchen drain blockages. Liquid when hot, FOG solidifies inside cool pipes and builds up layer by layer.
Stack
The shared vertical drainage pipe in a building that collects waste from the units on each floor. A stack blockage backs up a whole column of apartments, starting from the lowest.
Tower drainage guide · Sewer Line Jetting
Trap (water seal)
The bend under every drain that holds water and blocks sewer gases from entering the room. A dry trap is the most common cause of drain smells in Dubai.
Gully trap
An outdoor or floor level chamber with a water seal that collects surface and waste water. Gullies silt up with sand and need periodic emptying.
Manhole (inspection chamber)
An access chamber where drain lines meet or change direction, used for inspection and clearing. An overflowing manhole usually signals a blockage downstream of it.
Manhole Cleaning · The villa manhole explained
Catch basin
A chamber under a road or yard grate designed to trap sediment before water enters the storm network. Full basins are a leading cause of ponding in storms.
Culvert
A pipe or channel carrying storm water under a road or landscaping. One blocked culvert can dam water across an entire access route.
Culvert Cleaning · Community storm guide
Scale
Mineral deposits left by hard water on the inside of pipes, narrowing them gradually over years. The signature is drains that slow down over time rather than blocking suddenly.
Descaling
Removing hardened mineral scale from pipe walls with high pressure jetting and purpose made nozzles, restoring the original internal diameter.
Root intrusion
Tree roots entering a drain through a joint or defect and growing into a mass that catches debris. The classic sign is the same line blocking on a regular cycle.
Root Removal Jetting · Roots in drains guide
Sump
A pit at the lowest point of a basement that collects water for a pump to lift out. Sumps and their pumps prove themselves during storms, so they are checked before the season.
Benching
The sloped concrete surfaces inside a manhole that guide flow through the open channel. Grease and silt settling on benching is a sign the chamber needs cleaning.
Backup (backflow)
Wastewater rising out of a drain instead of flowing away, caused by a blockage downstream. Stop using water and treat standing sewage as a health hazard.
First 30 minutes guide · Emergency service
Private drain (lateral)
The pipework serving one property, running from the building to the shared or community network. Responsibility usually changes where the private run ends.