ROT - Ground radar & Carports

AFAIK they rely on conductivity of the pipe in question - plastic gas and water pipes are buried with a wire strapped to the to enable these location devices to work. As such a sewer unless made of metal is unlikely to be traceable.

However there are companies using ground penetrating radar for pipe location who don't seem to charge a huge sum of money for locating pipes, and in the case of the crowd we use they accept responsibilty for damage to any pipes or cables that they fail to locate.

Being at the opposite end of the universe my contacts are of no use to you but it's probably worth a quick google to see if you can find anyone local.

I do this sort of thing for a living.

Ground probing radar is expensive and not DIY. If we need to accurately trace a drain run we use a radio sonde strapped to a CCTV camera and RD4000 electrotracing detector, with the appropriate sized sonde you can go up to 16m deep. You can hire all the equipment from places like HSS.

=A350 an hour is cheap, we charge by the shift at =A3575 for CCTV plus =A3400 for me.

Your drain is likely to be a straight run between manholes but occaisionally you get bends just outside.

Sean

I do this sort of thing for a living.

Ground probing radar is expensive and not DIY. If we need to accurately trace a drain run we use a radio sonde strapped to a CCTV camera and RD4000 electrotracing detector, with the appropriate sized sonde you can go up to 16m deep. You can hire all the equipment from places like HSS.

=A350 an hour is cheap, we charge by the shift at =A3575 for CCTV plus =A3400 for me.

Your drain is likely to be a straight run between manholes but occaisionally you get bends just outside.

Sean

Get two welding rods, bend into an 'L' shape.

Hold the rods level loosely by the shorter bit about a foot apart pointing everso slightly downwards to make sure they just point forwards.

Start walking - when they cross you'll have found the pipe directly beneath you.

Don't ask me how it works - it just does! We recently successfully traced a water pipe over half a mile across fields to find a leak using this method.

Personally I have used the innards of a goat to good effect.

This works for me too. Dad found the mains pipe at my parents house like this. and i found the drain cover in the back yard here (that someone had helpfully covered with a patio!)

You can use a cut up metal coathanger if you dont have any welding rods around

What you do in the privacy of your own home is no business of ours. Thank you.

Steve

Certainly helped me clear out my pipes!

Was that with a side order of sacrificial virgins? ;-)

They only need to be virgins on delivery, virginity isn't vital for the actual finding of the water pipes..

We found that two coathanger wires bent in the long L shape, with the handle ends placed in empty bic biros worked well in allowing the wires to move freely whilst the diviner holds the pens.