Advanced CCTV Drain Camera Inspections & Diagnostics

A CCTV drain inspection involves feeding a specialised, waterproof high-definition camera attached to a highly flexible rod directly into your plumbing system. As the camera navigates the twists and turns of your underground pipework, it sends a live, brightly illuminated video feed back to a monitor monitored by our licensed plumbers above ground.

This technology allows us to visually inspect the internal walls of your sewer or stormwater lines in real-time. We can clearly see hairline cracks, collapsed sections, misaligned pipe joints, and heavy grease build-ups that are completely invisible from the surface, providing a definitive diagnosis of your plumbing system's overall health.

The most common time to request a CCTV inspection is immediately after experiencing a severe or recurring blocked drain. If you have had a plumber clear a blockage only for it to return a few weeks later, there is almost certainly a structural defect or a heavy tree root infestation within the pipe that needs to be visually identified and permanently repaired.

You should also consider an inspection if you constantly smell raw sewage around your property, notice unexplained sinkholes or consistently damp patches in your lawn, or hear loud gurgling noises coming from your toilet when you run the shower. These are all major warning signs of a failing underground drainage system that requires urgent professional assessment.

While our drain cameras are incredibly advanced and feature powerful LED lighting, they cannot see clearly through thick, murky wastewater or a solid wall of compacted sludge. If your pipe is currently fully blocked and holding water, pushing a camera into the muddy water will not yield a clear picture of the underlying pipe defect.

In these situations, the first step is always to use our high-pressure hydro-jetting equipment to blast the blockage apart and flush the muddy water out of the system. Once the line is cleared and the water has drained away, we then send the camera down the freshly cleaned pipe to clearly inspect the walls and identify exactly what caused the blockage in the first place.

Finding the break on the camera screen is only half the battle; we also need to know exactly where that break is located beneath your property so we can dig it up. Our professional CCTV camera heads are equipped with a built-in electronic sonde, which emits a continuous frequency signal from deep underground.

Once we visually spot a crushed pipe or a severe root intrusion on the monitor, we leave the camera in place. We then walk over the surface of your property using a highly sensitive electronic locating wand that tracks the signal emitted by the camera head. This gives us the exact location and precise depth of the fault, allowing us to perform a targeted, minimal-impact excavation.

A pre-purchase CCTV drain inspection is one of the smartest investments you can make before signing on the dotted line, especially when buying an older established property. Standard building inspections only cover the visible structures above ground; they do not assess the condition of the underground sewer and stormwater pipes, which are notoriously expensive to repair or replace.

By having us run a camera through the drains before settlement, you uncover hidden nightmares like massive tree root infestations, collapsed terracotta pipes, or illegal plumbing connections. Armed with this visual evidence, you can either negotiate the cost of the plumbing repairs off the final purchase price of the home or walk away from a potential financial disaster completely.