UTGIS Manhole Camera: See Electrical Problems Before They Become Major Hazards

PORT ST LUCIE, Fla., Dec. 3, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Fires and explosions to underground electrical infrastructure can occur anytime throughout the year, but there is a dramatic increase in these events during winter months as cities fight icy roads with salts and other conductive anti-freeze materials.

These failing buried cables and other underground utility equipment produce organic compound gases which can manifest as visible smoke seeping from the vault lid, or in more dramatic cases, a violent dislodging of the manhole cover in the form of an explosion.

Underground asset failures also produce sound- most of it outside the frequency range of human hearing. Utilizing a special camera outfitted with an array of microphones allows UTGIS to see the sounds emanating from these hidden faults.

"The manhole camera uses over 50 microphones to capture these sounds," said UTGIS owner Mark Voigtsberger. "Sound hits each microphone at a slightly different time, and from this we can pixilate that sound onto a still or video image."

Voigtsberger added that underground vaults act as a "sound shaper" directing the noise upwards and out through vent holes making them detectable with the manhole camera.

"The camera is mounted to a vehicle which allows us to survey a large number of manholes in a wide geographic area each work shift," continued Voigtsberger. "When UTGIS identifies a noisy manhole, we mark that location for further investigation by qualified utility personnel."

Repairs to minor manhole events can cost tens of thousands of dollars whereas a major manhole event repair can run 6 figures- not including financial losses related to customer business operations, traffic issues and interrupted data transmission.

Said Voigtsberger, "The manhole camera represents the first major innovation in utility vault inspections in over 20 years. This new technology will help utilities and municipalities proactively seek out these issues and fix them in a cost-effective manner."

UTGIS is a Florida based SBA certified Veteran Owned Small Business (VOSB) providing a variety of utility and municipal testing services.

Contact UTGIS using our newswire email proxy server at
405786@email4pr.com
or
www.utgis.com
(425) 381-2984

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SOURCE UTGIS