A safe way to approach a sewer line blockage, especially when the cause
cannot be clearly seen or identified, is to apply water jet technology.
Imagine this scenario: unbeknownst to anyone, a live gas line is crossing
through a mainline or lateral and, over time, has collected enough debris to
completely cover itself and block the pipe. The contractor tasked to remove
the blockage, correctly, is using a CCTV camera to determine the reason for
this blockage, but he cannot see the gas line hidden behind all the debris.
Then he is deploying his unclogging tool, which is a simple mechanical
rotating device without camera, and is made of steel. Eventually, this tool
will reach the gas line – with metal on metal scraping and/or cutting,
sparks flying, ….you get the picture. This has already happened several
times with homes blown up and people killed!
On the other hand: If in this scenario the contractor would have first used
a water jetting device, ideally combined with a camera to have eyes on the
job, and to blast off all the paper towels, roots, debris, etc. thus clearly
exposing the gas line – disaster can be avoided.
More information available at www.sewerrobotics.com