You’ve got a soggy spot in the yard. Or maybe a whiff of sewage near the house that won’t go away. A friend says, “Just get a camera inspection — they’ll find the leak.” So you call us.

At Golden Valley Plumbing, we do sewer camera all over Sacramento. They’re incredibly useful. But here’s the truth we tell customers: cameras don’t always show everything. And knowing when they work — and when they don’t — is what separates good inspections from guesswork.

What the camera actually sees

Our sewer cameras are high-res, waterproof, and mounted on flexible cables. We snake them through cleanouts or roof vents, giving us a live feed of your pipe’s interior. We can see:

• Roots growing through joints
• Big cracks and collapsed sections
• Offsets, bellies, or low spots
• Grease buildup and blockages

If the pipe has a big enough gap or hole, yes — we’ll see it. And we can show you exactly where and how bad it is.

When a leak hides from the lens

Here’s where it gets tricky. Not every leak shows up on camera. Why?

• Leaks at the bottom of the pipe: If water has already drained, we might not see dripping. The pipe can look “fine” even though it leaks under pressure.
• Hairline cracks: Some small fractures don’t show unless the pipe shifts or gets stressed. We’ve seen pipes that passed visual inspection but failed under pressure.
• Hidden connections: The camera can’t see behind fittings, into walls, or inside branch lines. If a leak is upstream or off the main line, we may need other tools.

So what do we do when the camera doesn’t catch it?

We don’t guess. We use other tests: pressure testing, smoke tests, or even dye tracing. Sometimes we’ll rerun the camera from a different direction, or pair it with sonar-style locators to mark the exact path and depth.

And sometimes? We find a totally different issue — like a leaking cleanout cap or bad slope that makes the pipe overflow during storms.

Bottom line

A camera inspection is one of the best tools we have — but it’s not magic. It works best when paired with the right experience and follow-up testing. If you’re in Sacramento and want to find out what’s really happening underground, Golden Valley Plumbing has the tools and the know-how to get you answers.