Sewer cameras have been in use for plenty of years now, but with the economy in a stagnant mode, some plumbers have found they can use the cameras to locate more than just a blockage in a customer’s sewer line. The cameras also can be used to find dollars—in the form of additional work.
    Paul Fisher, owner of Fisher Plumbing in Simi Valley, Calif., runs what he calls a “medium-sized company” of about 20 employees and seven trucks—three drain cleaning trucks, three full service plumbing trucks, and a sewer crew truck.
    “I believe we’ve slowed down a little bit on drain cleaning, but it’s actually hard to say because the economy hasn’t been crappy that long and there are shifting tides in business,” Fisher said. “Typically, summer is slower for us, but that’s not always the rule and we’ve been busy. Our overall profit for 2007 was stable and we’re stable this year too.”
    One of the reasons Fisher has continued to be busy, he believes, is because he focuses on camera work in his business. In most cases, he will use a camera to inspect a line at no charge and advertises that fact far and wide.
    “By putting the camera into the line that has a blockage, you’re able to give the customer some indication of the kind of problem confronting him,” Fisher said. “A customer can’t see the sewer under ground and has little understanding of it. They don’t want to spend money on something they can’t see—it’s not like remodeling a kitchen.”
    Fisher, who has 21 years in the business, said he sees himself and his crews as educators.
    “We use the cameras to educate customers on why they should spend money on fixing their drain pipes,” he said. “When we see bad stuff on our cameras, we show the customer what we see on the monitor and inform him of the importance of getting it fixed because it will only become worse, not better.”     Fisher Plumbing runs three sets of cameras, one on a full service plumbing truck, one on a sewer-and-drain truck and the third in Fisher’s own truck.
    “All I do during the day is camera work,” Fisher said. “I’ll follow the guys around (the ones without a camera on their truck) and camera a line when they’re cleaning it. If we get backed up on work, sometimes I’ll have to camera the line a day later, but it does get done.”
    At that point, Fisher said he can consult with the customer and educate him about the problem and the necessity of fixing it, often by replacing the drain line.
    “Any sewer line put in before 1968 is going to have cemented collars or joints,” Fisher said. “Those joints chronically come loose and leak water, which allows roots to get into and clog them, and maybe even offset the pipe.”
    Fisher Plumbing uses high-density polyethylene piping for most of its replacement jobs, although it sometimes uses ABS, too.

RIDGID’s SeeSnake units allow for DVD recording so your customers can have a nice little souvenir of their plumbing work. Photo courtesy of RIDGID.

“The new piping today doesn’t degrade like older plastic pipe did,” Fisher said. “HDPE is tremendously strong pipe that’s also flexible.”
    Chad Edwards, operating manager of TEPCO in Tucson, also uses sewer cameras to sell additional services to customers.
    “When customers see a video of their sewer lines and the root intrusions into the system, that usually sells them 95 percent of the time for repair of the line or replacement,” Edwards said.
    Edwards maintained that, in his business, he can increase his closing rate on a repair job from 60 to 95 percent just by using a camera to inspect the line and show it to the customer.
    “It’s not just your word there’s a blockage down there, because you’ve shown them the image from the camera,” he noted. “That picture is worth a thousand words.”
    TEPCO handles both residential and commercial work and has been using cameras full time since 1995. Approximately 80 percent of its business comes from residential customers and it runs two cameras, one on each of its trucks.
    Edwards said simply having a camera to slip into a drain line doesn’t necessarily mean the operator is skilled at using it. “Anybody can clean the drain and put a camera down there, but it takes a bit of practice to find where the camera is in the line,” he said.
    He guarantees customers that he can locate the blockage with his camera or give their money back. “The most I’ve ever been off is eight inches, but I practice a lot with the camera, too,” Edwards added. “You don’t want to locate your camera under a terrazzo floor and jackhammer it up only to find you located a power line.”
    Because more and more plumbers are turning to using cameras in drain cleaning work, manufacturers say they’ve been as busy as ever.
    Sarah Golish, director of inspection systems and networks for RIDGID in Elyria, Ohio, said her firm has had a line of sewer cameras for more than 10 years. RIDGID’s standard camera is the SeeSnake Plus, a large unit used to inspect 2-inch lines or larger. The camera has a self-leveling ability, which keeps the picture upright at all times, as well as high intensity lights. The camera head, in order to sustain the rugged environment of a sewer line, is designed to withstand 5Gs of force, she said. Cable lengths are either 200 or 325 feet.
    RIDGID also makes a Mini SeeSnake Plus that handles lines between 1.25 and 6 inches in diameter with a slightly smaller camera head. Cable lengths are the same as the standard unit.
    There’s also the SeeSnake Plus Compact, an all-in-one unit with 100 feet of push cable. It can handle lines from 1.25 to 6 inches, but is more lightweight, weighing about 20 pounds, compared to the Standard’s 50 pounds.
    For quick-and-easy drain inspection,  RIDGID makes the FlatPack SeeSnake Plus, a basic, portable unit with 100 feet of push cable.
    “Monitors associated with our units allow for recording capability in DVD and VHS,” Golish said. “We’re working on a digital platform right now.”
    She said the standard unit is the company’s best seller, followed by the mini. “Our customers have a need for durability, image clarity and ease of use, so those are the top three features we build into our units,” Golish said. “We want to make sure you can slam our unit and it’s not going to break.”

The Gen-Eye GL features a self-leveling, color camera head. It also records its views onto DVDs. Photo courtesy of General Pipe Cleaners.

At McKees Rocks, Pa., General Pipe Cleaners makes the Gen-Eye GL, the latest version of its camera system. Dave Dunbar, customer service manager, said the Gen-Eye GL features a camera head that transmits in color and is self-leveling, as well as having a DVD recorder.
    Also, the pushrods on the GL have been changed to the Gel-Rod, a stronger and more flexible rod that is self-sealing if it gets cut.
    “You can push it further by hand, even through pipe with turns in it,” Dunbar said.
    Andy Zelasny, the sales manager, pointed out that in Texas and parts of California, banks are requiring camera inspection of drain lines for new and used homes before they will issue a mortgage.
    “For instance, in Texas, most of the homes are built on slabs and the banks want to be sure there are no problems under there, like broken or dropped pipes, or roots in the pipe,” Zelasny said.
    He added that he thinks the plumbing industry is “moving toward camera systems and jetters where a plumber can go into a home, do diagnostics with the camera, and then clean the line to make between $600 and $700, instead of just cleaning pipes for $200 or $300.”
    Dunbar said the Gen-Eye GL gives plumbers the opportunity to get a good picture of what’s wrong in the drain line, show it to the owner, and then sell the customer on replacing the bad pipe.
    “It’s not just a diagnostic tool,” he said, “but a tool that can be marketed to make more money.”
    Chris Vernon, general manager of Rothenberger USA in Rockford, Ill., said his firm has been making the Rocam Mobile line of cordless cameras for pipe and drain inspection for nearly 10 years.
    Rothenberger makes the Rocam Plus, which fits one- to 12-inch diameter pipes, has a self-leveling color image camera head for four- to 12-inch pipes and a mini module for one- to four-inch pipes.
    The unit includes a distance counter and a 33 kHz transmitter for use with the locator. Cable lengths are either 200 or 325 feet.
    The Rocam Mobile fits two- to six-inch diameter pipes and comes with 100 feet of flexible cable, designed for use by residential service plumbers. An optional distance counter and optional 512 Hz transmitter for a locator are available for the Mobile.
    Newly-introduced this year is the Rocam Mini, which includes a distance counter and 72 feet of flexible cable. Vernon noted the system fits one through four-inch diameter pipes and is “perfect for septic systems, vents and small pipes and traps.”