The cleaning crew lead worker will position the truck at the appropriate distance from the maintenance hole being accessed.

The rodder uses a 25-foot guide hose to transition the rod from the truck to the main being cleaned. The rodder typically carries 1500 feet of 0.785mm rod.

Once the appropriate cutter blade is attached, the crew inserts the guide hose into the maintenance hole.

The cutter blade must be inside the main to continue. If not set properly, the blade will spin out of the main once the rod starts rotating, causing damage to the cutter and rod.

Once the cutter is set, the truck must be re-positioned to remove any excess bending of the guide hose. Now the operator sets the rotation and pay-out controls and prepares to rod the main.

The rodder can be set up to go any direction. The crew can also navigate the cutter blade through maintenance holes so as to continue longer runs.

The rodder must be used on mains that are too steep for the hydro-jetter to clean roots and/or grease that is too thick for hydro-cutters to remove, and to assist in removing equipment that gets stuck midway through lines, such as hydraulic cutters, and sometimes, the video camera.