A manhole gives access to the public main and to the taps where laterals join it, and for a contractor without a crawler it is the way to look at a lateral from the downstream end, to inspect a short run of main, or to check a tap. It is also the most dangerous place a sewer camera goes: a confined space with toxic gas, a drop, and traffic above. This guide covers what a push camera can do from a manhole, how to do it without entering, and when the job needs different equipment.
Quick answer: do not enter the manhole. Work from the surface with a traffic plan, a gas monitor, a second person and the lid handled with the proper tool. Lower the camera head on its rod to the channel, use a pole or a guide to direct it into the pipe you want, and push; into a lateral tap you are pushing uphill and reach is limited; along a main you are pushing a small head down a large pipe and the picture is of the floor. Record distances from the manhole rim and the direction. For anything beyond a short look, a lateral launch or mainline crawler is the right tool and the push camera is the wrong one.
The hazards
A manhole is a confined space. Hydrogen sulphide, methane and oxygen deficiency are present in sewers and have killed workers who leaned in for a moment. The lid is heavy and the drop is unprotected. The manhole is in a road. None of this is reduced by the job being a camera inspection. Sewer gas safety covers the atmosphere and PPE the kit.
Do not enter
Everything a push camera can do from a manhole can be done from the surface. Entry requires confined space training, a permit in most jurisdictions, atmospheric testing, ventilation, a harness and retrieval system and an attendant, and is not a camera inspector’s task. If the job seems to need someone in the hole, it needs a crew equipped for it.
Traffic and the lid
Cones, signs and where required a flagger or a lane closure, arranged before the lid comes off. The lid is lifted with a manhole hook or lifter, never by hand, and set where it cannot roll. A gas monitor is lowered on a line before anything else and read before and during the work. Two people minimum: one at the hole, one watching traffic and the reel.
Reaching the pipe
The channel at the bottom of a manhole may be 6 to 15 ft down, and the pipes enter its walls. Lower the camera head on the rod, watching the picture, until it rests in the channel. Direct it into the pipe opening with a telescoping pole fitted with a hook or a guide tube, or by rotating the rod to swing the head. The rod hangs vertically for the drop and then turns into the pipe; a flexible rod manages this, a very stiff one fights it. Rotating to steer applies.
Into a lateral tap
The lateral enters the main or the manhole wall through a tap, often a small opening a foot or two above the channel. Getting the head into it from above is fiddly and getting the rod to push up it is harder: the push is uphill from the start, through the tap fitting, against the fall. Expect a few tens of feet of reach at best. The tap itself, protruding or broken or well made, is the finding this entry is best at. Pushing uphill covers the limits and common findings describe a bad tap.
Along a main
A push camera in an 8 or 12 in main is a small head on the floor of a large pipe, lit for 4 in, looking at the invert and not much else. It will show flow, debris and gross defects at the bottom for as far as the rod will push with the current carrying it or fighting it. It will not show the crown, the joints at the sides or anything a crawler’s lights and pan would. For a short look to confirm a blockage or find a tap it is useful; for a condition survey it is the wrong tool. Push camera basics for mains and manhole inspection cameras cover what the job really needs.
Counter and direction
Zero the counter at the rim or at the pipe opening and say which; the drop is included if zeroed at the rim. Record which pipe was entered, upstream or downstream and which lateral, with the manhole’s identifier. Distances from a manhole are what utilities work from. Distance readings applies.
Retrieval
Pulling a rod back out of a pipe and up a manhole shaft is where heads snag on the pipe lip and the rod saws on the rim. Go slowly, rotate at any catch, protect the rim with a sleeve or a hand. Wipe the rod as it comes; it has been in the public sewer. Signs of a damaged push cable and cable repair are what a rim does to rod over time.
When a crawler is the tool
Any condition survey of a main. Any lateral inspection from the main for more than a few feet, which is what lateral launch crawlers exist for. Any job where the utility wants coded defects and a positioned report. Mainline vs lateral launch crawlers and push camera vs crawler cover the equipment.
Permission
Manholes belong to the utility. Opening one without permission is at best a complaint and at worst an offence. Ask, and ask whether the utility will do the inspection itself; many will on request with footage of a problem.
Common questions
Can I inspect a sewer lateral from the manhole?
You can look at the tap and push a short way up the lateral against the fall. A full lateral inspection from the main needs a lateral launch crawler or an entry at the house end.
Is it safe to lean into a manhole with a camera?
No. Sewer gas has killed people who leaned in briefly. Work from the surface with a gas monitor and a second person, and never enter.
Can a push camera inspect a sewer main?
Only for a short look at the floor of the pipe. A condition survey of a main is a crawler job.
Related guides
See storm drain push camera inspection, when the camera will not push, and the push cable guide.