A sewer dye test means flushing a bright, nontoxic tracer dye into a drain or toilet and watching where it shows up. Dye in the yard, a storm drain, or the wrong manhole means water is escaping or the line is connected wrong. It proves a leak or bad connection exists, but not exactly where.
Tracer dye, usually fluorescent green or red, stays visible in tiny amounts. A technician puts it into a fixture and runs water behind it. Then the technician checks places it should never reach: soggy yard spots, the street gutter, a storm drain inlet. Cities use the same method to find downspouts and yard drains tied into the sanitary sewer.
A dye test usually comes up when a yard stays wet over the sewer line or a sewage smell sits near the foundation.
A dye test answers yes or no. It does not show which joint failed or how bad the damage is. Dye can also take a while to surface through dense North Texas clay. A camera inspection finds the exact defect and its distance from the cleanout, which is what a repair quote needs. Camera inspection starts at $250+. Final cost depends on access and line length.
Nuflow DFW is a licensed trenchless sewer contractor serving 25 Dallas-Fort Worth cities, RMP# 46694. Our camera inspection finds where the line leaks and records it. You keep the footage. Call (469) 701-0597.