Sanitary Smoke Testing

Sanitary smoke tests are an inexpensive, efficient, and important procedure to make sure your sewage drainage system is working correctly.

We feed a non-toxic vapor (“smoke”) into a portion of the sewer system underneath your building using high-powered blowers. Once the smoke has been blown in, we look at your plumbing lines, open sewer clean-outs, storm drains, manholes and everywhere else it might be to make sure it’s not coming out anywhere it shouldn’t be.

Dangerous gasses escape the sewage system more easily than the smoke, so if we find vapor leaking out anywhere it shouldn’t we can advise you on the necessary repairs. Sometimes the problem is a dried out drain trap, which is fixed by simply introducing water and making sure it stays wet. Sometimes more involved repairs are necessary.

Settling ground, natural erosion or human error can lead to the development of leaks over time, so it’s important to perform this test periodically so repairs can be made before they cause an emergency. We alert the appropriate city officials and neighboring businesses and residents before performing the test so no one is alarmed if they see vapor escaping the sewer.