If the drains in your home are clogged, you may have an issue with your sewer line. Rather than dig up your yard from the start, we can provide a sewer line camera inspection to assess the issue! Call us today in Chicago, IL., for all your plumbing needs.
The thought of a plumbing issue is stressful. Digging up the yard is one thing, but the fear of what might be found can take it to another level. Thankfully, with sewer line camera inspection services, you can find out what the issue might be before needing to dig.
Toilet replacement and toilet installation are issues that can’t wait. If you’re faced with a problem, you need a reputable plumber that can fix the issues right away. In Cook County, call VanDerBosch Plumbing today!
What Are Sewer Line Camera Inspection Services?
Without having to dig up the yard or make an educated guess as to what the issue is, a sewer camera’s goal is to be able to observe what is producing a clog or backlog within the sewer line. This helps homeowners avoid costly repairs without knowing for sure that their problem will be remedied when the job is finished since sewer repairs, and pipe replacements can be costly.
Plumbers feed a snake-like cable with a small, flexible sewer camera connected to it through the pipe, looking for the obstruction source or the break in the line. The location of the blockage and the distance from the surface of the line are recorded by a transmitter on the camera, which also tells the plumber what needs to be done to fix it.
What Issues Can a Camera Detect?
New technology means that a sewer line camera inspection can detect almost any plumbing problem. Some of the more common problems are addressed below.
Issues with tree roots: Old pipes composed of cast iron, clay, or other porous materials are most susceptible to tree root infiltrations. As they spread out, tree roots look for water sources, and if they discover a breach in your sewer pipe, they will grow into it to reach the water inside. Find out here how to prevent tree root penetration.
Broken or collapsed pipes: The plumber will be able to determine whether the pipe has collapsed, moved, or been damaged because the camera feeds along the pipe itself.
Blockages due to years of use: Your pipes might be in excellent shape, but over time, flushing trash that belongs in the trash can down the drain has led to a build-up of gunk that is now blocking a clear path.
Sagging sewer lines: When a piece of the sewer pipe starts to sag, waste gets stuck in the segment and repeatedly blocks the pipe, which can cause major problems.
If you need a residential plumbing contractor to assist you with plumbing repairs and installations, we are the team for you. Contact our Chicago Metro Area team today, and we’ll send someone out right away!
Can Sewer Line Camera Inspection Services Detect Leaks?
This is one area where a camera inspection alone might not be your best option. It’s a great secondary tool to assess for leaks, but by itself, it’s not the tool for the job.
A leak is when water escapes from a pipe due to a hole, crack, or break. The camera cannot view the outside of the pipe because it is inside of it, meaning that it only sees what’s inside the pipe.
The monitor that shows what the camera “sees” is in the plumber’s line of sight. As a result, the plumber must interpret or infer from what he sees. Keep in mind that we are talking about your sewer system. Your waste flushes and flows through here. Years of build-up make it difficult to determine whether a leak is there based merely on what can be seen on the monitor.
Cast iron or PVC, both of which have strong walls, are typically the two types of sewer pipes we see. Therefore, something may very well appear to have a hole, crack, or shatter. However, because of the thick pipe walls, it’s possible that what the plumber is observing does not extend all the way through the pipe, resulting in no water leakage at all.
On the walls of your sewer pipes, anything from calcium to soap scum to grease to debris accumulates for several years. Therefore, any splits or holes the plumber discovers may very possibly be in the accumulation rather than the pipe itself. This is why the camera alone shouldn’t be used to detect leaks.