There was a time when the pipe cleaning game was trial and error. Stick a drain cleaner down the pipe, and if it doesn’t work, simply resort to digging it up.

Fortunately, today there are a variety of pipe assessment tools that make it a more nuanced endeavor. Here’s a quick-reference guide to all the basic pipe assessment tools available, including smoke testing, CCTV, acoustic inspection, and sonar and laser profiling.

Smoke testing

One of the earliest assessment...