Scott Boehler never ceases to be surprised at what he finds while inspecting storm sewers — everything from car tires and tree branches to even a tree stump and a section of a chain-link fence.

“Storm drains seem to catch everything,” says Boehler, owner of B2O Environmental in Arlington, Texas, which inspects storm and sanitary sewers for contractors and municipalities. “It’s amazing what you find down there.”

So when contractors asked him to consider inspecting storm sewers along with the sanitary sewers he already was televising for them, he needed a rugged and durable crawler camera that could tackle whatever mainline sewers dished out. That turned out to be a storm sewer inspection system from Germany-based Riezler. (Insight Vision is an American distributor for Riezler products.)

At a cost of approximately $75,000, the package system represented a significant investment. But Boehler, whose late father Dick started the company in 1991, says he expects it to pay for itself relatively quickly. Furthermore, the inspection system opened up a new market for the company as well as boosted productivity through its versatility, durability and portability, Boehler says.

“The ability to enter a new market for inspecting storm sewers has helped our company grow big-time,” he says. “We’ve added a lot of business by adding storm sewer inspections to our other services — up to $5,000 a month in additional revenue so far.”

Productivity-enhancing technology

The system is packed with features: an FWL-150, eight-wheeled crawler camera; an RSK-78 waterproof, wide-angle camera head with self-leveling and pan-and-tilt capability; a KTA motorized reel; a touchscreen control system; 18 dimmable LED lights; remote camera-elevation control; 1,000 feet of 3/8-inch Kevlar-reinforced cable; a KTA 300 motorized reel from Humbaur; and a daylight-readable, touchscreen control panel.

The crawler camera weighs about 41 pounds and measures approximately 4 1/2 inches tall, 5 inches wide and 21 inches long.

The remote camera elevation control is a big efficiency booster because Boehler doesn’t have to remove the camera from a sewer line to adjust the camera head height for different-sized pipes. The feature is also particularly useful when he inspects storm sewer laterals, which typically are about 18 inches in diameter.

“I can lower the camera head and in seconds go from inspecting a mainline to inspecting a smaller lateral,” Boehler says. “Without that capability, I’d have to inspect each lateral from its curb inlet. That can be very time consuming. It’s the difference between doing one drop into a manhole instead of, say, dropping into 10 curb inlets.”

Moreover, the crawler’s zero-turn radius enables it to “turn on a dime,” Boehler says, which makes turns into laterals easy.

Inspecting larger sewer lines requires changing out the eight smaller wheels to four larger tires. The larger tires come in two different sizes and can be swapped out in minutes, Boehler says.

Power and versatility

The unit offers plenty of power that helps it tackle difficult conditions. Boehler recalls one job in Frisco, Texas, where the camera had to tackle thick silt so deep it was up to the middle of the tires.

“I had to keep backing it up before going forward,” he says. “It took about 15 minutes, but it made it through to finish the job.”

The unit’s portability also improves the company’s business by being able to go places that camera trucks usually can’t access, such as manholes in remote rural locations. Boehler typically carries the system in a Nissan Titan pickup truck, but the system is small enough that an ATV can easily carry it for jobs “out in the bush,” he says.

Boehler recalls one instance where a contractor with a van had to quit after two days on a job that involved inspecting 12,000 feet of sewer line because the vehicle was having trouble traversing the terrain.

“I put the system in a rented ATV and inspected about 4,000 feet on the first day, which was three times more than the other guy did in two days,” Boehler says. “I get jobs just because of the system’s portability.”

Easy to operate

Boehler says about 70% of his business comes from inspecting new sewer lines for contractors, primarily in the greater metro area of Dallas and Fort Worth. The rest is generated by televising existing lines for municipalities. Either way, the system helps him and his six employees do more work in less time.

“I can inspect 4,000 feet of sewer lines a day as long as they’re already clean,” he says.

In addition, the system is very easy to operate, which makes for a short learning curve.

“Even I can operate it,” Boehler says. “Usually a sales rep has to come out and show me how to operate a new camera, and sometimes even after that, you still can’t figure out how to use it and I’ve been televising lines for more than 30 years. But you don’t need a degree to figure out how to work this system. It’s easy to figure out.”

It’s also compatible with WinCan software, he notes.

Money well-spent

While the system is expensive, Boehler says he believes that contractors have to spend money to make money. And in this case, the money was well spent, he says.

“It’s a big investment,” Boehler says. “But I’m going to jobs where I’ll charge $3 a foot for cleaning and televising 40,000 feet of sewer line. So while it’s a sizable investment, the return on investment is pretty good.

“I keep it working every day. I love this machine.”