Looking for break in buried 4" drain pipe... can i drill hole in top of pipe?

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Tireshark

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4" thinwall drain pipe from a septic tank. I was installing inspection ports on it by using saddle tee's, and i think i have found a problem between two of the ports. Water drains partway, but it acts real funny and i can only get a hose through it in one direction (it's less than a 50 ft section).

Ideally i could use a camera in it to find out what's going on, but i dont have one and dont really want to rent one.

It's buried about 1.5 feet deep, and i dont want to dig the whole thing up trying to find where the break is... what would work best would be if i could drill a small hole (say 1/2" or something) in the top of the pipe and then look to see if i could see the hose in it... then narrow it down until i find the problem area.

Is this a dumb idea, or could i do it and use some type of sealant (foam/silicone/tape/combination) to fill in the hole? It's just a drain line, so no water would be coming out the top, but i would want it sealed to keep roots from entering. This is basically the same idea as using a saddle tee, except i dont want to drill 5 or 6 holes and have to buy 5 or 6 saddle tees... i just want to drill a small hole, inspect the pipe, and then reseal it.
 

Kreemoweet

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Just measure how much hose you can feed in, and dig a hole that far away. Sounds like a vertical dislocation of the drain pipe.
 
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