Need an inspection camera

[ronan]

A lecturer in college used a thermal imaging camera to find a leak under a concrete floor, coming from a broken pipe, they chucked a bucket of hot water down the pipe and could see where the leak was. I think you can hire those cameras now.

 

[Perry Owens]

Checked under the baths and shower trays and all dry, so I think the leak must be in the drainage pipework under the floors. I will try the usb camera/cable feeder idea.

Perry

 

[DanielW]

A good point but from the shape of the staining it looks like the water has run along the ceiling boards until it has found a joint, so it might not be anywhere near the source of the leak. I could end up taking down the ceilings in 3 rooms!

Its a very good point actually in terms of time and expense,the fact that there's a stain in a certain area of the ceiling says that its somewhere in that vicinity simply because if it was anywhere else you would most like see it in a longitude stain ie running along the ceiling.

Have you considered how the joist are running and if you got a camera will it be obstructed by the joist in the area you suspect to look for the leak.

 

[the snooper]

you should also look at the pattern of the stain it can give an indication of its travel, if it is staining the ceiling and not simply dripping through a crack or similar then you can assume the leak is above the stain, why should it not stain at point of leak but travel and stain there

 

[DanielW]

Checked under the baths and shower trays and all dry, so I think the leak must be in the drainage pipework under the floors. I will try the usb camera/cable feeder idea.

Perry

Not the central heating pipes then?

 

[T0rnado69]

i bought a snakecam from dartsystems a while back.
was cheap.... about £28
it was for doing a job for my sister, and it was for safety, as to not hit any pipes or cables
so she bought it

plug it into a laptop etc....
not bad for the price... back then.

 

[500e]

Snoop
Not if it's foil backed

 

[Cyberprog]

Snoop
Not if it's foil backed

And people wonder why they have ***** wifi in their houses!

 

[brightspark]

And people wonder why they have ***** wifi in their houses!

and a few solid brick walls in betweenjust for good measures

 

[DAPPH]

A cheap way for the initial check perhaps.

Fill the bath with a few inches of cold water and add a couple of bottles of green food dye .. put your wellies on and stand in the bath then let the water trickle out the plug hole .. that will prove if its the bath waste leaking . A few days later if no green stain shows up do the same with red dye for the shower tray it the shower is in deed a tray type. Again if nothing shows give the sealant round the bath a heavy spray with a bottle of green dye in a pint of water and again check . Repeat a few days later in red dye for the shower tray .

In one of our homes when the bath was filled to a certain level the seal round the top came away from the bath lip as the floor joists bowed under the weight , any of our kiddies splashing in the bath usually sent some out through the seal .. if you have to reseal the bath or shower tray fill it with cold water and let it settle for at least an hour before you put the new sealant on.

Another common source of wet showing down stairs that i've come across is condensation running off the toilet water tank or off the pedestal running down and going through the floor boards
OR
I also discovered blocked outside gutters that allowed rain to come down through the brick work or the cavity wall & ended up running across the joists .

If you have a shower in the same room this is often exacerbates the problem due to the extra humidity it produces .
So after sorting out the cause , you'll need to heat the room and fit a good timer controlled extractor that takes out more then the suggested rate of air flow per hour.

 

[DAPPH]

my usb Inspection Camera has led lights and i just tape it to my cable feeders =

ps only paid £5.49 and it works well I don't use it everyday so I can't justify spending a load on something expensive

Mod: edited for language

Does it work on Windows 10 .... ? Mine won't

i bought a snakecam from dartsystems a while back.
was cheap.... about £28
it was for doing a job for my sister, and it was for safety, as to not hit any pipes or cables
so she bought it

plug it into a laptop etc....
not bad for the price... back then.

It seems the price has fallen tremendously I put " snake camera in to my search engine and it came up with this one for under a tenner

lightinthebox.com/5m-mini-usb-hd-720p-endoscope-borescope-snake-10mm-lens-4-led-ip67-waterproof-inspection-camera-borescope_p1908540.html

 

[Wedg1e]

The professional pipeline cameras tend to use a fibreglass propelling rod; for improvised systems at work we've also used drain rods and even electricans fishing wire.
The biggest issue I find with the Aldi-type systems is the inability to steer the camera tip; usually if you're in a tight spot you want to look around rather than just straight ahead. That said, a professional steerable videoprobe or equivalent is the neck end of twenty grand...

 

[DAPPH]

Why not tape one to a radio controlled battery car?? or Even one of the cheaper kiddies cable steered ones ?

 

[MrFluffy]

My long usb camera on a lead was ok in the angle respect the first time I used it because chinese qc saw that it was glued in slightly off centre and you could twist and manipulate it to point in the right direction for a better view... Until... A few uses later, it moved, and now you can just see the edge of the body.
I have to cut it apart and glue it in again straight now, destroying its waterproof housing. But it wasn't expensive...

Why wouldn't I use a cheap rc car, that would seem like a great idea until the day you have to dig the drain up to get the car out...

 

[Wendelspanswick]

Ebuyer emailed me details of this inspection camera on their Daily Deals:
http://www.ebuyer.com/daily-deals?u..._email&utm_campaign=B2C_(Saturday)_Openers_FS

 

[ajlelectronics]

Caveat Emptor when buying from that shower! They have their own version of Distance Selling Regulations, which they think overrides the law.

 

[T0rnado69]

i don't buy anything from ebuyer anymore, not after they refused to honour the advertised warranty on a hdd.
when it failed 6months before the advertised warranty ran out. they turned round and said it only had 18month warranty and not 3 year.
i took it to trading standards with a print screen of there website showing it had 3 year warranty.
they changed there site a few days later to try proof otherwise.