Sources/prices to hire pipe inspection camera?

We've come up against an obstruction in a soil pipe that runs under a house extension. Has anyone any helpful advice on sourcing/hiring an affordable inspection camera system to see what is the problem?

Cheers,

S
Reply to
Spamlet
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You can hire them from the likes of HSS -

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- but they don't come cheap!

It's probably cheaper to pay a specialist company to actually do the survey for you - which shouldn't cost much more than a couple of hundred quid.

If you fancy a DIY solution, you could attach one of Mr Maplin's cheap [1] cameras such as

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to a drain rod, and stuff it into the pipe - with your end of the cable plugged into a portable TV. [It comes with 10 metres of cable, and longer ones are available - but you'd have to make relevant bits of the camera plus the electrical connections water- (and other things!) -proof by binding them with self amalgamating tape, or somesuch. It's not really designed for unprotected outdoor use - let along being submerged in God knows what - but would probably work for long enough to get a one-off result if you took reasonable precautions.]

[1] Currently 40 quid, but often on offer at 20 quid
Reply to
Roger Mills

Or better,

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is waterproof and comes with a monitor. Might have to cut the weight off.

Reply to
newshound

as

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a

Google this group for this subject - it has been covered in detail a couple of times previously. My dad built a lego vehicle and attached a Maplin camera. Ended up with a really good system. All good fun! Jon.

Reply to
Tournifreak

Thanks for the tips Jon and Roger,

We hired this 'SeeSnake' from HSS for half a day in the end:

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impressed with the way the 'rod' (a reel of very clever stuff that feeds in and out of a holder like a tyre) went round corners that our normal drain rods got stumped at. So, as well as showing that the pipe was relatively clear, bar some clagg at the joins that the stiffer rubber drain pusher would not pass, the SeeSnake enabled us to get a rope right through, with which we could then pull the drain pusher through.

Before realising we could pull the rubber pusher through - by making a couple of holes in it to take a piece of coathanger wire to make an eye for the rope - we had made a wooden shuttle, from a piece of round fence post with floorboard nails hammered in as scrapers, and holes for rope attachment at each end. This we pulled back and forth to loosen any detritus - but it turned out there wasn't much to move in the end. The SeeSnake proved an excellent device for putting one's mind at rest (Note that it can be confusing working out which way up it is, but you soon get used to it.) and might even be worth having one's own...

Roger, that link about the cameras, reminds me I have been meaning to look into DIY home security, but, as there seems to be a very confusing amount of kit out there - some of it hugely expensive - I had not got very far with deciding what we needed and what to buy. I would imagine this is another FAQ...

Ta very much to all,

S
Reply to
Spamlet

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