In days gone by, any inspection of drainage systems would have to be carried out manually. This could cause a lot of hassle, as pipes would have to be excavated for even the most minor or speculative of work. Nowadays, drain companies like our own – based in Croydon and covering Bromley, Caterham, Coulsdon, Purley and Warlingham – can use sophisticated technology to make the process quicker, simpler and far more affordable for the client. These services are referred to as CCTV drain surveys or CCTV drain repairs.
We use a high-spec camera attached to a cable that is fed down your drain system. This links back to screens monitored by our drainage engineers, who can inspect the condition of the drain lining and note any potential issues – emerging or already fully in play. The key differences between CCTV drain surveys and CCTV drain repairs, and what each can be useful for, are explored below. But if you live or work in any of the aforementioned principal service areas of Bromley, Caterham, Croydon, Coulsdon, Purley and Warlingham, or indeed anywhere else in Surrey or South London, then call us should you require tailored advice, or a quote on either of these important services. A high-definition recording of the survey can be issued to you on DVD, alongside a written report you can file in your records.
There are a number of reasons. For example, a prospective house buyer in Bromley or Caterham may call the Drains Ahead team to inspect a property’s system to check whether it’s in good condition; after all, you wouldn’t want to move into a home that seems to be in great condition, only to find it needs thousands of pounds worth of remedial work done on damaged or long neglected drain pipes. In fact, some insurance companies even require CCTV drain surveys to be carried out before a policy is offered on a property. This shows how useful and important they can be.
Other times, it’s because a client in Coulsdon, Purley or Warlingham notices their system is malfunctioning or performing poorly, but the cause of said fault isn’t immediately identifiable. CCTV drain surveys in these situations can locate blockages, cracks, advanced states of corrosion and similar issues which require professional intervention (which, oftentimes, we can fix with on the spot CCTV drain repairs).
So the surveys cover the diagnostics and maintenance side of things, but when we speak of CCTV drain repairs we mean repairs conducted with the assistance of such technology; for example, there is a crack deep within your system that would prove incredibly costly to excavate and repair in the “traditional” fashion. Typically, we then recommend our Bromley, Caterham, Croydon, Coulsdon, Purley and Warlingham clients patch repair, which sees us feed a new, remotely deployed lining which we position into place through monitoring the camera feed.