CCTV Drain Inspection Wollongong

When a drain camera inspection is worth it

Not every blocked drain needs a camera. These are the times it earns its place:

• The same drain keeps blocking. If a line has been cleared more than once, the camera shows whether a crack, a sag or roots are behind the repeat visits.
• You're buying a house. NSW Government guidance says a pre-purchase building inspection does not normally check plumbing, drainage and gasfitting, so the underground pipes go unseen unless you arrange a separate look.
• You've been told you need relining or excavation. Footage shows how much of the pipe is actually damaged, so the repair is matched to the fault rather than estimated from above.
• Trees grow close to the sewer line. Roots work their way into joints and small cracks, and a camera shows how far they've got before the drain stops altogether.
• You're renovating or extending. Before building over or beside a drain, it pays to know what condition it's in.

What the camera shows you

The picture from inside the pipe answers two questions: what is wrong, and where it is.

• Tree roots, from fine strands at a joint to a mass that fills the pipe
• Cracks, breaks and sections that have collapsed or been crushed
• Joints that have shifted out of line, leaving a lip that catches waste
• Low spots where the pipe has sagged and water sits instead of draining
• Grease, scale or silt narrowing the pipe, and objects that shouldn't be there

Pinpointing the problem

We note how far along the line each problem sits from the access point and tell you roughly where that falls on your property. That way any repair is aimed at the right spot instead of opening up the whole run, and we talk you through the footage as we go.

How a CCTV drain inspection works

We start at an inspection opening, an outdoor gully or another way into the line. A pipe full of water or packed with a blockage hides most of what the camera needs to see, so we may clear it first with jet blasting and then go back in for a proper view.

The camera then travels along the line while we watch the screen, stopping wherever something needs a closer look. By the end you'll know whether the drain needs cleaning, a repair, or nothing at all.

Your drain or Sydney Water's?

Across the Illawarra, the wastewater network is run by Sydney Water. Everything from your house to the connection with that network is the owner's to maintain, and a camera inspection is one of the clearest ways to tell which side of the connection a fault is on.

If a licensed plumber finds the problem is in Sydney Water's system, Sydney Water's rules say the plumber must report it on 13 20 90 before any digging starts, because Sydney Water needs to inspect its main line. We follow that process, so a fault on Sydney Water's side goes to Sydney Water to fix.

What happens after the inspection?

If the camera finds build-up, a thorough clean usually sorts it, and we can book that in through our blocked drain service. If it finds damage, the choices usually come down to digging out and replacing the damaged section, or lining the pipe from the inside. Our guide on pipe relining vs pipe replacement weighs up the two, and our stormwater drainage page covers repairs to rainwater lines.

If the footage shows damage and you're thinking about a claim, read does home insurance cover blocked drains? before you call your insurer.