Sewer Line Camera Inspection in Phoenix

The inside of the pipe, foot by foot, with the distance counted from where the camera went in. We push a self-leveling camera head from a cleanout or a pulled toilet down the building drain and out the lateral toward the city main. The footage shows what is actually wrong: root masses at joints, grease buildup, cracks, a sag that holds water, offset joints, scale in cast iron, or a section that has broken or collapsed. A transmitter in the camera head lets us find it from above and paint the spot with its depth. You get the video to keep. Our sewer camera inspection page explains the equipment, and the guide to getting a copy of your sewer video covers what to keep.

Because the city repairs only its own piece, and you have to show where that piece is. Phoenix Water Services says property owners clean and maintain the sewer line all the way to the main in the street or alley, and that the city will only repair broken service lines within the public right-of-way. For single-family and duplex properties, City Code 28-5(B) puts the right-of-way section on the city, and Section 28-5.1 spells out the steps. The owner determines the approximate location of the break. If it is in the right-of-way, the owner contacts the Department, which inspects to verify it, and if the damage is real the city repairs or replaces that section. The owner repairs whatever is on private property, and any dispute about location, damage or repair method goes to the Water Services Director.

A located camera run is how you meet that first step. A video that shows a break "somewhere out front" is not the same as a painted mark at the property line with a footage count. That difference can move a repair from your bill to the city's. See Phoenix sewer line ownership and utility easement versus right-of-way.

Homes and duplexes: 28-5(B) and 28-5.1 apply, so a located break in the street or alley is a call to Water Services, not a dig. If the break is in your yard, the camera tells us whether it is a short spot repair or a run that should be replaced.

Businesses, apartments and HOAs: the street section is yours. City Code 28-5(C) says that when the building connection serves anything other than a single-family home or duplex and the break is off the property in a street or alley, the owner or the owner's contractor repairs or replaces it and must get a permit from the City before working in the right-of-way. For a business, the camera mark tells you where the yard work ends and the permitted street work begins, not who pays. Commercial lines also carry more: grease from kitchens, several tenants on one lateral, and longer runs. Our commercial sewer camera inspection and sewer line locating pages go deeper.

Census figures put the median Phoenix home at 1986, but roughly 92,000 homes were built before 1960. Lines that old are where roots and failed joints concentrate, though the camera, not the build year, settles what is in the ground.

The footage decides the next step, and Phoenix's code decides the paperwork. Cleaning the line needs no permit. Replacing a defective buried section is new work, so it needs a plumbing permit, and the new pipe has to pass an underground inspection before it is backfilled. If the repair reaches into the street, or touches the connection to the public sewer, that is a separate Planning and Development permit, and City Code 28-27 bars anyone from opening into or disturbing a public sewer without a Water Services permit. Before any trench, Arizona law requires a utility locate; operators mark within two working days and the marks last fifteen working days. Our sewer repair page covers open-cut and trenchless options.

A broken lateral is easier to negotiate before closing than to discover after. Ask the seller for permit history on the sewer, then have the line filmed to the main. Bring the video to the negotiation. For commercial buildings, see pre-purchase commercial sewer inspection.

If sewage is coming up a floor drain right now, clear the line first; a camera cannot see through standing sewage, and you need the drains working. We often film right after clearing so the cause is caught while the pipe is clean. If sewage is overflowing from a manhole in the street, that is the city's main: call 602-262-6691 on weekday mornings, or 602-261-8000 after 2:30 p.m., on weekends and holidays. And if one fixture is slow while everything else drains, it is a branch clog, not a sewer line problem.

Call with the address, whether there is a cleanout, and what is happening. We offer 24/7 emergency service, free estimates and upfront pricing before work starts. If the camera finds a city-side break, we tell you, and we mark it so Water Services can find it. More on our work across the city is on the Phoenix service area page.