03/13/2023
I got started cleaning sewers and doing video camera inspection on residential sewer line after a friends parents was told by plumber that they needed to replace the 2" sewer pipe under their concrete basement floor. With have over 12 years in municipality construction doing sewer cleaning, CCTV inspection, and sewer rehabilitation my friend asked me to come take a look. When I showed up to camera this sewer pipe the home owner informed me they have had issues for years with this pipe backing up. Over the years they have had several pumblers out to fix the problem but it always returned. With the last plumber saying it was collapsed and needed replaced. When I put my camera in the sewer it instantly got covered with grease and sledge. So I pulled my camera out and started to jet the sewer pipe. I made several passes with a spinning nozzle until my jetter hose came back clean. I shut the jetter down and put the camera back in. With the pipe clean I was able to push the camera all the way out to the city main. The pipe looked great with no issues.
What I learned is alot of plumbers are useing the wrong tool for the job. What bothers me the most is this homeowner was told they need to spend $5,000.00 plus to replace this pipe but really it only needed a good $600.00 cleaning and camera inspection.