Locating underground lines is a necessary part of sewer line inspection and repair. Whether you’re suffering from a busted pipe or are looking to upgrade your sewer lines altogether, your original sewer lining needs to be found before any work can begin. Only a trusted professional with years of experience should undertake this job; not only could you end up destroying your yard in a fruitless attempt, but you could accidentally strike a power or gas line and end up seriously injuring yourself. Line locating is usually done with the help of the following pieces of technological equipment. Let’s take a look.
- Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR): GPR is commonly relied on for line locating. By using different frequencies to obtain data from different depths, ground penetrating radar can determine both the size of the line and how deep it lies. It is often used in cases where other locating equipment has failed, but does not work the best in clay soils.
- Electromagnetic Conductivity (EM): EM instruments measure the conductivity of the ground, helping to discover conductive and buried metal utilities. This piece of equipment is especially useful if your sewer lines are older — they’re most likely made of iron. They can also find steel-reinforced concrete pipes.
- Frequency Locators: Frequency locators have the ability to detect energy from buried electric or phone lines, as well as fiber optic cables. Although your sewer repair or inspection specialist won’t rely on this piece of technology to find your sewer lines, frequency locators might be used to avoid your electrical lines.
If you’re facing sewer repair, it might be time to upgrade your pipes. Cured-in-place-pipe (CIPP) sections are guaranteed to survive at least 50 years, ensuring that you won’t need to deal with the devastating damage or a broken or burst pipe for several decades. Line locating will still need to be performed to prevent the possibility of damaging your other utilities, but CIPP solutions are installed without the need to dig up your yard.
Call the American Sewer Specialists at (724)879-8130 to learn more about CIPP solutions today.