Video · Crew Culture, Humor and Motivation
Why HVAC Techs Are Always Tired: Camera, Excavator, Sewer Trench
Why are HVAC techs always tired? Days like this sewer line repair: a camera inspection, a mini excavator trench across a front yard, and shovel work down to the pipe. It's plumbing, and it's heavy.
Job footageSwiftPro
- Topic
- Crew Culture, Humor and Motivation
- Length
- 0:17
- Posted
- September 18, 2026
- Shot by
- The SwiftPro crew, Northern Virginia
What you’re seeing in this video
A tech with hair tied in a bun, a black cap and a black hoodie kneels near the house, running a drain camera into the line.
A mini excavator then cuts a trench across the front yard while two techs in red gloves work the edges with a shovel and a digging bar.
The last shot is down in the trench, where a tech stands beside the exposed sewer pipe and its cleanout. The camera run is what tells a crew where to dig and how deep, so the trench lands on the problem instead of wandering across the lawn.
Why it matters in your house
- Slow drains all over the house, gurgling toilets, sewage smell outside or one patch of lawn that stays soggy are classic signs of a broken sewer line.
- Ask for the camera inspection first. Seeing the break, its depth and its distance from the cleanout decides whether digging or a trenchless repair makes sense.
- If your home has an outside cleanout, keep it reachable and capped. It saves time and digging the day a line backs up.
How do plumbers find a broken sewer line?
They run a camera through the cleanout and follow the pipe until they see the crack, roots, sag or collapse. A locator above ground picks up the camera head's signal, so they can mark the exact spot and depth in the yard. Then they decide whether to dig or line the pipe.
Thinking about the trades? See careers at SwiftPro, or book a visit at (703) 997-9757.
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