The Drain Brain
Company Overview
Celebrating 25 years in the industry, The Drain Brain has been dedicated to serving Ithaca and Tompkins County since 1991. Our team is fully insured, and we prioritize customer satisfaction in every job we undertake. At The Drain Brain, we provide more than just septic pumping and plumbing services; we also educate our clients on the workings of their septic systems. Our goal is to help you maintain peak efficiency in your system. We perform comprehensive inspections of your system to detect current or future problems. If necessary, we provide video pipe inspection services to get a closer look. If you require portable sanitation for a construction site, wedding, or special occasion, we have a comprehensive range of portable toilets available while your septic system is under repair.
Business Services
- Drain repair
- Plumbing inspection
- Plumbing installation or replacement
- Plumbing repair
- Sewer installation
- Sewer repair
- Toilet installation
Business Location & Hours
| Mon: | 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM |
| Tue: | 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM |
| Wed: | 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM |
| Thu: | 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM |
| Fri: | 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM |
| Sat: | Closed |
| Sun: | Closed |
Recommended Customer Reviews
The main drain line from my house became plugged. I called The Drain Brain late morning and they sent a technician immediately - Tom arrived in less than 40 minutes. Tom was polite and attentive. He listened to my tale of woe, checked things out, and proceeded to implement his solution. Tom proved to be knowledgeable, diligent, and efficient. Within 30 minutes he was done, my drain ran free, and I was pleased with the service received.
Called and they showed up same day and on time. Walked around
v e r y s l o w l y. Put snake in open pipe with minimal energy. No interest in walking around yard to find downspout outflow. Left after 45 minutes with pipe remaining clogged. Got bill for nearly $400. Used anger to dig up pipe with pick and shovel (~1 hr work). Removed clogged 90 degree elbow. Runoff now runs clear and free. Try Do It Yourself before calling this ripoff joint!
Drain Brain provides good professional service. However, this week they entered the home of an elderly, high-risk friend of mine to clear a kitchen drain and DID NOT WEAR FACE COVERINGS or MASKS as prescribed during the COVID-19 pandemic. If you call, insist they wear masks.
Brian T.I am happy with the service. We had a disgusting mess. One of our tenants was flushing napkins down the toilet. This caused a backup at the main sewer and we were getting poop and all things disgusting seeping out of the street side access pipes. What a mess. We called Drain Brain. They were there early and finished in 10 minutes.
Base cost was $210. Yes that's more money than I like to dish out for 10 minutes of service but they were there quickly, had all the needed equipment to clean out the mess and they did what they said they would do. I don't know what people expect. Cleaning out pipe and sewage mess is disgusting and smelly, I don't want to do this kind of work and I'm sure most don't. I feel the $210 is well spent considering what it takes: Specialty equipment, trained workers (who deal with the nasty), dispatch system and coordinator at office, a brick and mortar location, cleaning and maintenance of their equipment. All this stuff cost money. $210 is fair.
I will recommend Drain Brain and use them in the future.
If you're trying to find someone to clean up a dead body without asking too many questions, this company would be perfect. Otherwise, call an actual plumber. These folks charged an absurd amount of money to remove a clog of hair from our drain, left it in the toilet (?), and left grease marks on every surface in our bathroom. They also left a horrible, putrid smell behind, and I had to run fans for hours to get rid of it. (I was sort of joking about the ""dead body"" in the first sentence, but seriously, they actually made my house smell like a corpse.)
After using their service recently, I totally agreed with an earlier review - zero star is the best choice for this Drain Brian! I was misled by many ""good"" reviews and called them to clear a clog from my wahsher. Arrived on time, worked for less than 10 min and charged over $200 bucks. Asked them to check a related plumbing issue of the drained, and that young man asked for doubling the price! What?1 $400 bucks for a 15 min work? What is your hourly rate? Unless you have too much money to burn or have no other choice, avoid this one!!!
AJ P.They scheduled me for the following day and arrrived promptly, with a courtesy call. Once here the friendly technician problem-solved for a bit and ultimately found a plug just beneath the septic cap. All is fixed and the fee was totally reasonable. Would highly recommend!
Dan S.Very happy with their service. Last week they ran the snake through our sewer pipe, and it worked then, but it was plugged up again on Saturday. When I called Saturday afternoon they had a guy down here very quickly, and he was able to fix it by re-running the snake. There was no additional charge, which is great considering that they normally would charge a much higher rate on the weekend. I recommend.
--Dan S., Ithaca, NY
I recently had a clog in the drain for my washing machine and a sink. I called my plumber and they recommended The Brain Drain. They arrived the next day and quickly sorted out the problem. Unfortunately in the process of clearing the clog another pipe was damaged. This was due more to the design of the turn in the pipe rather than any carelessness of the employee who quickly contained the mess. Getting this problem under control and repaired became an immediate priority. At one time there were 4 guys there and there was a lot of extra work done since the sink and vanity had to come out.This was clearly a frustrating situation for them but they remained friendly, polite and respectful the entire time.
I feel it is some times better to determine the integrity of a business when there is a problem and see how they react. I give these guys high marks. I can't quite give them 5 stars but would 4 1/2 if possible.
If I could give a 0 I would. I set up an appointment for a week out. I was told there would be a $95 service call fee. OK. Was told someone would show up between 9 and 11:30 AM. At 11:30 I called them only to find out that they were behind and now someone would show up between 11:30-1:30. At 1:30 no one had shown. Still Drain Brain had not contacted me in any way. So now I'm out five hours at work and have to tell them I am canceling. They ask me if I want to reschedule and I told them only if they wave the service fee. The answer was no so my answer was no as well. Terrible customer service!








