A ductwork CCTV camera survey shows you the true internal condition of your ventilation system, including the runs you cannot see and could not otherwise reach. Using specialist inspection cameras, including a 25 metre fisheye camera for long runs and vertical risers, our ventilation hygiene team records the inside of your ductwork and turns what we find into a written and video report you can act on. You get the facts about your system before you commit to cleaning or remedial work, so every decision that follows is based on evidence rather than assumption.
What a camera survey involves
Most of the ductwork in a building is hidden above ceilings, inside risers and behind builders’ work voids, and its internal condition stays invisible until something forces the question. A CCTV survey answers it directly. We send inspection cameras through the system, recording the duct walls as we go, and map where dust, dirt and debris have accumulated against the cleanliness benchmark set by BESA TR19, the recognised standard for ventilation hygiene. Clean Ducts is a BESCA Vent Hygiene Associate member, and the same team that surveys your system carries out the cleaning it identifies.
Carrying out a complete visual inspection of a labyrinth of internal ducts is no mean feat. It takes an array of high-spec tools and the expertise to know where to put them. Where the system has no usable openings, the job often involves installing new ductwork access points, which then serve every future inspection and clean, and occasionally it calls for a little human contortion.
When you need a camera survey
A survey earns its keep whenever you need to know the condition of a system rather than guess at it:
- You have taken over the management of a building and hold no records of when the ductwork was last inspected or cleaned
- You want an accurate scope before commissioning air ventilation and ductwork cleaning, so you pay for the work the system actually needs
- Your fire risk assessment needs evidence about the ductwork. The shafts and risers that help a building breathe naturally accumulate dust and dirt as they draw air in and out, and that build-up can constitute a fire risk if left unchecked
- Occupants are reporting poor air quality, odours or weak airflow and you need to find the cause
- You need documented proof of condition for an insurer, a landlord, a compliance file or a handover
What the report contains
We believe it is the quality of our reports that sets our surveys apart. You receive a full written and video report that does two jobs: it identifies where cleaning is required, and it puts in place a detailed plan of how to carry it out. The recorded footage shows you the inside of your own system, the written findings tell you where contamination sits and how severe it is, and the plan sets out the access, the method and the priorities for putting it right. The camera also picks up what it passes on the way, so defects such as damaged joints, obstructions or contamination around fire dampers are flagged for attention rather than left hidden.
The point of all of it is simple. You can make the right decisions about the maintenance and management of your property because we give you the right data about that property.
Recent work: high-rise risers in Kensington and Chelsea
Clean Ducts was asked by Calford Seaden, an award-winning property and construction consultancy that manages complex residential properties, to survey the ventilation systems of high-rise buildings in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Some of the buildings are over fifty years old and 18 storeys high, so they came with a few challenges. Working through the vertical shafts with a 25 metre fisheye camera, and installing new access points where the ductwork had none, our team produced full written and video reports identifying where cleaning was required, together with a detailed plan for carrying it out. Calford Seaden requested multiple surveys on the strength of the first, and we are proud to be one of the firm’s ongoing supply partners.
Frequently asked questions
What is a ductwork CCTV survey?
It is an internal camera inspection of your ventilation ductwork. Specialist cameras travel through the supply and extract runs, recording the condition of the duct walls, and the footage is assessed against BESA TR19, the industry standard for ventilation cleanliness. The result is a written and video report that shows where dust, dirt and debris have built up, what needs cleaning and how to go about it. It replaces assumption with evidence, which matters when the ductwork in question is sealed inside risers and ceiling voids.
How much does a ductwork camera survey cost?
There is no standard price, because no two systems present the same job. The main factors are the length and layout of the ductwork, meaning the number of runs, branches, floors and risers the camera has to cover, whether usable access points already exist or need to be installed, how easy the building itself is to work in, and whether the survey has to run outside your operating hours. Tell us about the building and the system and we will give you a fixed written quotation for the full survey, including the report, before anything is booked.
Can you survey ductwork that has no access points?
Yes. Older systems in particular are often built with little or no provision for inspection, and part of the job is putting that right. We install new ductwork access points where the survey needs them, which means the camera can reach the whole system rather than just the convenient parts. Those access points remain in place afterwards, so every future inspection and clean starts from a better position than the first one did.
Do I need a camera survey before ductwork cleaning?
It is the sensible order of work. A survey establishes where the contamination actually is and how heavy it is, which means the ductwork cleaning that follows is scoped, priced and planned against the real condition of the system rather than an estimate. It also gives you a recorded starting point, so once the clean is complete you can compare the two and see exactly what the work achieved.
Will a camera survey pick up problems with fire dampers?
The camera records whatever it passes, so contamination, debris or obstructions around a damper are flagged in the report as findings that need attention. Inspecting and drop testing the dampers themselves is a separate discipline with its own standard, BS 9999:2017, and our fire damper testing and maintenance service covers that in full. A survey that flags a suspect damper is often the prompt for getting the testing programme in order.
Request a survey
If you need to know the condition of your ventilation ductwork, tell us about the building and we will set out what a full camera survey of your system involves.