Drainage problems can often arise under our very noses. Although many can be identified from a visual inspection, there are instances where they occur in the pipe's deep, dark depths, making it difficult to see what's transpired. If this happens, a CCTV drain camera survey is needed.
What is a CCTV Drain Camera Survey?
In layman's terms, a CCTV drain survey is an in-depth inspection of your drainage system. Essentially, a drainage engineer will use a specialist camera to navigate his way through your drains and identify any potential issues.
CCTV drain camera surveys are a crucial component of drain maintenance and are vital for helping you understand the cause of a blockage or assess the drain’s condition.
Problems a CCTV Drain Survey Will Detect
- Drain blockages
- Collapsed drains
- Cause and location of a leak in the pipe
- Corrosion and wear and tear
- Rodent intrusion
- Damage and cracks
- Poor installation
When Do You Need a CCTV Drain Camera Survey?
Whether you’re a homeowner or business owner a CCTV drain camera survey should be your go to tool to identify any problems or before starting something new.
Identify the Cause of Drainage Problems
Investigating underlying drainage issues can help prevent more severe ones from arising further down the line.
Vendor and Homebuyer Surveys
If you're looking to sell your house or purchase a new property, a CCTV drain survey is highly recommended to ensure there aren't any issues lurking in your drainage system.
Build Over Surveys
If you're planning to undertake any form of building work that’s close to or over an existing drainage system or sewer, you will need to submit a build over drain survey to your local water authority.
Locating Rodent Infestations
If rodents are lingering around in your drainage system, but you can’t see the problem yourself, a CCTV drain camera survey may be required.
The CCTV Drain Camera Survey Process
To help you understand the process of a CCTV drain inspection, here are the steps an engineer will follow:
Step 1 – Book an Appointment
Once you’ve made an enquiry our office will phone to arrange a suitable time for an engineer to attend. At this point, they will discuss the cost and initial details of any existing drainage problems with you.
Step 2 – Arrival on Site and Initial Assessment
After arriving on-site, the Metro Rod drainage engineer will meet you to discuss your current issue. They will then identify the inspection chamber, also known as a manhole, closest to where the problem is. Following this, safety equipment, such as barriers and warning signs, are placed around the manhole before opening the access. The drainage engineer will then check to see if the drain carries foul waste or surface water and the direction of flow.
Step 3 – Set up the CCTV Drain Camera Equipment
The next step in the process is to set up the CCTV drain inspection equipment.
The high-tech, specialist camera is placed onto a long cable which will be fed down the manhole, into the drain. If the drain is larger than 225mm in diameter, the CCTV camera will be placed onto a crawler. Effectively, this is a robotic device that has four wheels and is remotely controlled by an engineer to navigate through, or 'crawl', the pipe.
The cable is connected to an iTouch One system, a computer-like device that sits on top of a push rod. An innovative piece of tech, the iTouch system enables the engineer to examine the drain's condition and report on any issues they find in real-time. Before the survey takes place, the engineer will enter key information relating to the pipe into iTouch. For example, the size, diameter, depth of the pipe, the material it's made of, and water flow direction. The equipment is then placed into the drain to begin the survey.
Step 4 - Conduct the CCTV Drain Camera Survey
During the survey, the engineer will slowly feed the camera through the pipe. The camera sends live footage back to the engineers iTouch device. Any junctions, faults or damages within the pipework are recorded in the system along with a photograph of the issue which is then reported to the customer upon completion of the survey.
Step 5 – Report
Upon completion of the survey, all data collected on-site will be instantly uploaded to the iTouch Live network. An expert back at the office will review the uploaded data and put together an in-depth report to send to the customer on job completion.
What Does the Report Include?
- An overview of the job including initial findings, time taken, length of drain surveyed
- Map of the drains with a markup of section names
- Site photos – showing any damages, blockages and work carried out
- Survey sheet containing an overview of the surveyed drain, pipe details and defects identified
- A recommendation’s list - for resolving any underlying issues
- Full video recording of the drain survey
In the meantime, the automatic feed from the camera allows the engineer on-site to give customers instant feedback on their findings.
Contact a CCTV Drain Camera Survey Expert
Metro Rod is the CCTV drain camera survey expert of choice for many commercial and domestic customers. We have more than 130 bespoke iTouch CCTV systems working across our network of 45 depots, so wherever you are, you can guarantee the best quality service.
To organise a CCTV drain camera survey at your property, get in touch with your local Metro Rod depot today or call us on 0800 66 88 00.
Talk to your local Metro Rod specialist
We are always happy to arrange a free site assessment and no obligation quotations for any work you might need. Alternatively, you can call our emergency hotline number on 0800 66 88 00
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