Provider of chemical root control services for over 40 years, with over 85 million linear feet completed across the western United States.
Chemical root control has been the primary focus of PSM for over 40 years. As the oldest provider of chemical root control services in the world, PSM has performed approximately 85 million linear feet of root control in the western United States. PSM has performed dozens of projects for multiple municipal agencies and is actively engaged in the world’s largest chemical root control contract in Los Angeles, California.
Pacific Sewer solely uses Sanafoam “Vaporooter” II, a foaming sewer root control product containing the active ingredient metam-sodium (sodium-N-methyldithiocarbamate) and dichlobenil (2,6-dichlorobenzonitrile) chemicals. Application is performed through the use of a hydro-jet utilizing a two-staged nozzle.
Vaporooter is specifically designed to fill the entire pipe during treatment and allows for expansive coverage that can fill up to 15 feet of laterally connected pipes. This expansion allows the foaming root control to enter the gaps and cracks within the pipe that allow the roots to grow in as well as the lateral service connections.
“If we had found a product that performed better than Sanafoam Vaporooter, we would be using it already. There is simply no other product that is comparable.”
Scott Gayman, President, Pacific Sewer
The specific action that occurs is two-fold; The first being the destruction of the cellulose outer wall of each root cell that the product comes in contact with, thereby causing the cell nucleus to die. The second is the inhibition of regrowth that occurs when the root meristem, the tip of the root where cell division occurs, comes in contact with the regrowth inhibitor and cell division is stopped. The product is applied as a foam, similar to shaving cream, that expands inside the pipe, into surrounding connections and any small gaps. Because the product only affects those parts of the plant that it come in contact with, there is no fear of damaging the overall health of the plant. The Vaporooter product was developed through the University of California Davis and patented by Fred Horne.
PSM has exclusively used Vaporooter for the treatment of roots in sewer lines throughout its 40 years of business.
Industry Partners
Vaporooter, a division of Douglas Products