I hired a plumber to put the camera down the sewage line. the floor drain backs up I wanted to know why. The brought the snake with the camera. When they put the camera in the line I could see the inside of the sewage line however when he went deeper the TV screen became pitch black at times. He claimed the camera was submerged in water and we cant see anything. So he moved forward and sometimes we see the sewage line sometimes it becomes pitch black again. there was water in the line. I don’t buy it. I think the camera lost connection with TV screen and could not transmit. There is no way you cant see in the sewage line even if it is full of water ? at some point he told me the camera cannot move anymore, the screen is black and he tells me that’s where the blockage is. Hmmm. If the camera has light how come the screen is pitch black ..we should see something right ?

I brought my own camera 100 ft line for less than what plumber charged for one run. Much better picture also.on amazon 350.00

when I rented a camera from HD I saw everything. There wasn't much water, just the bottom 1/3rd at most. Many roots

Robert CA DID you have to say "EAT THROUGH the STOPPAGE"?

Grenades Isn't that what those are called?

I bought one at a yard sale for a buck, and just before that I had found two.

In the last month I've gone from having one small grenade to having two small and two large. A smart person would of seen the omen...the writing on the walls. A smart person would of gone on vacation.

One week later my main line sewer blocked up.

For roots, a plumber will need a 5/8" to 3/4" diameter inner core cable to cut through most roots. They will also need various sizes of blades to open up the line and ream out the roots. Most plumbers only have a 1/2" cable x 75 feet long and a couple of blades. So unless your clean-out access is near to the blockage, their machine won't make it far enough.

Most of my clients have tried using all known plumbing companies, even some with 10 to 50 trucks. Only one or two of their trucks carry the "Large" snaking machines.

SO what I've done for most clients is add a dual directional clean-out (access location) between the house and City Sewer Tie in Location. This way the next time they have a blockage, any standard 75' cable will be able to reach the blockage.

Since most of our SFH's are post 78 they all most all have PVC sewer. In 35 years we've dug our share maybe 12 to 15 and in only one case did we have to EAT the cost due to OUR pipe being broken. All others have been at the tap-- where our line ties into city sewer. IN fact today we got a check for 1800.00 from the water company to reimburses us our cost to expose their line. ONLY requirement is that a water company person must be there to document problem. The most we've paid (but got reimbursed for) was 1800.00 for digging the tap. Water company even sent their guys over to put in new pipe.