Choosing the Right Drill for Sewer Cleaning: A Comprehensive Guide

The importance of getting the correct type of drill for flexible shaft sewer cleaning:

There are a few factors to take into consideration when choosing your drill.

Choose a drill capable of providing the torque required for your shaft diameter and length. The appropriate range is approximately 60–170 Nm. Thinner shafts require less torque and can withstand less torque; thicker and longer shafts require more. A correctly set torque limiter or slip clutch is essential. Start at the lowest limiter setting and increase it only until the shaft and connected tool rotate smoothly. Do not continue increasing the setting once the tool operates correctly.

Higher torque allows you to drive a bigger shaft, but you will need the same torque to drive a thinner yet longer shaft. In short, I recommend that you get the drill with the best torque capacity first. This is more important for sewer cleaning than speed.

The second factor is speed. It must have a variable speed setting that allows the drill to spin at an RPM of between 500 min and max 2500rpm. That being said, the most common operating range is between 900 and 2000 rpm. At 900 rpm and below, the chains will bounce around on the inside of the pipe, while from 900rpm upwards, the chains will start to centralize themselves using centrifugal force.

The third factor is the slip clutch (Slip chuck, or torque limiter). This is crucial because it will disengage the drill when you hit a solid obstruction and prevent your shaft from kinking. While it is not a hard and fast rule, the chances are that a metal chuck is usually indicative of a better quality torque limiter. In most cases the inner gearbox is also made from metal parts.

It is not possible to kink a flexible shaft if your torque limiter is set correctly. We have another post on the website which talks about the correct way to set your torque limiter.

The slip chuck allows the drill to disengage when it encounters a solid obstruction, such as a stubborn clog or a thick layer of scale.  This feature is especially useful during descaling operations, as it prevents damage to the drill or the sewer pipe.

The fourth consideration is the diameter of the “jaws” or the “chuck opening”. This must be a minimum of ⅜” (10mm)

It makes no difference whether you use a corded or a cordless drill, but keep in mind that if you choose a cordless drill, you should get extra batteries so that you don’t need to stop your work to charge the batteries.

It also makes no difference if the drill has the hammer function or not, BUT, please, please do not use the hammer function with these sewer cleaning tools because that will definitely damage the set screws that hold the shaft to the drill. It will also damage the chains.

“Anti kickback”, or “Auto-Stop” features are also excellent to have, but they are less important than the torque limiter, so weigh up the price difference carefully because these drills are sometimes more expensive for a feature which is of secondary importance.

Descaling tasks require more torque than blockage removal tasks, and thinner shafts can manage less torque than a thicker shaft. Additionally, longer shafts require more torque for sewer cleaning than shorter ones, so it is wise to keep this in mind too.

A few clients have reported that they use a car polisher with our half-inch shafts instead of our regular drill-to-shaft adapter. They use a shaft-to-shaft connector with 14mm (35/64″) on one end and 12mm (1/2″) on the other end.Bear in mind that the polisher doesn’t have a torque limiter, so you run the risk of kinking your shaft.

From popular feedback, I can recommend:

Cordless drills:

Bosch GSB 18v-150 C (US GSB 18v-1330 CN)

Dewalt DCD 799 or DCD805 Dewalt

Milwaukee M18 2606-22CT

Makita LXT BL – DDF481ZJ

Corded drill – Makita DF0300 10mm Drill Driver

For a more visual representation, please take a look at this video.

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