When your home's drain to the main sewer line gets clogged, your sewer cleanout likely needs unclogging. It's a capped pipe that plumbers use to remove clogs. Most—but not all—homes have a sewer cleanout. Some cleanouts are outside the front door, but others can be near a septic tank or indoors.The cleanout is sometimes called the main house trap when it's located inside the house.
When a main drain clog happens, raw sewage can back up into your entire house, causing a disaster. Until the clog is removed, no drains in your plumbing fixtures can be safely used. It is an unpleasant and potentially costly problem.Here's what you need to know about cleanouts, how to find them, and how they're unclogged.
What Is a Sewer Cleanout?
A sewer cleanout is an access point for a plumber to address a problem in a home's main plumbing line to the sewer system. Clearing a main sewer line stoppage is best approachedfrom this fitting. This line connects the home plumbing system with the main sewage line that extends from the home's foundation, under the ground, and out to the municipal sewage system or a private septic tank.
A plumber can thread a camera from the cleanout access point and determine where a clog is occurring and what's causing the blockage. Adrain snakeormotorized augercan dislodge any clogs in the main sewer line to restore the home's drain system to proper function.
Sewer lines from the home to the mainsewerline will be whitePVC plastic pipe in newer homes or black cast iron pipe in olderhomes. If an older home has a cleanout, it will likely have a brass or cast iron drain cleanout.
What Does a Sewer Cleanout Look Like?
A drain cleanout pipe is 3, 4, or 6 inches in diameter and typically white or black. It has become common practice for the sewage line, drain cleanout, plug, and cap to be made of ABS plastic, though about 76 million homes in America still have cast iron sewage lines with brass or cast iron drain cleanouts. Those homes may also have brass or copper drainage lines, though they are becoming much rarer.
Outdoors, they are usually sealed with a threaded plug with a square nut and may be labeled S, C.O., or cleanout. However, this plug is sometimes covered with a plastic cap or a metal lid. With this in mind, search for any objects that could cover or house a 3-, 4-, or 6-inch pipe.
Indoors, the drain cleanout will be on a T- or Y-shaped pipe fitting, with a threaded plug with a square nut. It may also have a plastic cap covering this nut.
How Do I Find My Main Cleanout?
The main cleanout for your home may be outdoors in the yard, in a bathroom or utility area, or in the basem*nt. Finding the cleanout depends on the house style and your geographic climate. Only plumbing professionals should use the drain cleanout, but knowing the location of this access point can save time during an emergency clog or backup, potentially saving thousands in cleaning and restoration.
Plumbing companies may also charge less if the plumber doesn't need to worry about locating the drain cleanout. Here are some tips for finding your cleanout.
Prime Locations for the Sewer Cleanout
Outdoors
In warm climates with homes on slab foundations, the main cleanout fitting is often outside, usually near the home's exterior walls. Look behind bushes or a metal or plastic box recessed into the ground.
The easiest way to locate the sewer cleanout is to walk backward from the main sewer line (nearest maintenance hole or a curb with a large S stamped into the concrete) or your home's septic system. Follow the line from there; it's usually located next to the house in line with the septic tank or municipal sewer system. Look for a plastic pipe sticking up from the lawn or garden.
The main cleanout fitting is usually a large-diameter pipe with one or two threaded plugs in the top. It may extend above the ground near an outside wall or inside a ground box covered by a metal cover.
If you still cannot locate the drain cleanout, it may be accidentally covered or purposely hidden by being buried in a garden or obscured by foliage. Move lawn decorations obscuring the yard outside bathrooms, expanding the search area as you go. Overgrown grass can also be a problem, so you may want to mow the lawn to help make the search easier.
If the sewer cleanout is completely buried in the yard, estimate where the drainage line is coming in and use a long screwdriver to penetrate about 1 inch into the ground, probing for the top of the pipe. However, this method is essentially trial and error, even with a good educated guess, so you may consider hiring a professional to locate the drain cleanout.
Bathrooms or Utility Areas
In other homes with slab foundations, the main drain may be located in a bathroom, usually on the floor near the toilet, or in a garage or utility area, usually near a floor drain. In these locations, the threaded plug may be flush-mounted into the floor or threaded into a short length of large-diameter pipe extending up from the floor. It can usually be opened with a large pipe wrench.
To locate the cleanout, follow the drainage pipes inside the house. It can typically be found on the main sewage line, just before it meets the home's foundation. The drain cleanout will be on a T- or Y-shaped pipe fitting, with a threaded plug with a square nut. It may also have a plastic cap covering this nut.
However, the drain cleanout isn't always installed on the main line. Some homes may have alternate access points to the sewage system, so look around for a black or white pipe with a threaded plug and a square nut. The drain cleanout might be close to a cluster of drainage pipes, like a full bathroom with drains for the sink, toilet, and shower. Inspect each bathroom in the home, looking for a capped black or white ABS plastic drain line.
If the drain cleanout isn't in the bathrooms, checking the utility room or the garage is a good idea. In some cases, current or previous owners may have completed renovations that hid the main drain cleanout. If you suspect this is the case, contact a plumber to help locate the drain cleanout without causing excess damage to the home.
Tip
If the cleanout cap is difficult to unscrew, it may have to be chopped out by a hammer and chisel and replaced with a fit-all plug. This universal plug has a lead ring hammered on to make a seal.
Basem*nts
In houses in colder climates, where basem*nts are more common, the main cleanout is usually found on the basem*nt floor, usually near the foundation wall. A threaded plug will fit into a short length of large-diameter pipe that extends up from the floor.
To find the cleanout, follow a direct line from the vertical soil stack to the foundation wall, following the shortest path. The main cleanout will likely be located along this line. If not this fitting, there may be a Y-fitting at the bottom of the main drain soil stack, where it disappears under the concrete slab.
In larger homes, there may be two or even three cleanout fittings, one for each main drain pipe running from separate soil stacks to the street.
Tip
When opening a cleanout, have a bucket handy if backed-up sewage starts flowing out of the cleanout. It can help you avoid a mess in your home or yard.
Mark and Test the Cleanout
After locating the drain cleanout outdoors, use a metal stake with a brightly colored flag to mark the location so you have a quick reference point in an emergency.
The drain cleanout plug should also be tested to ensure it can be removed if necessary. Use a pipe wrench or a set of large channel locks to unscrew the nut from the pipe slowly. The nut should thread out easily, but if you see water or feel pressure in the line, tighten the nut again and call a plumber to clear the clog in the line.
When you find a drain cleanout indoors, also test the plug to help ensure that the plug doesn't become seized from disuse. Put on disposable gloves and use a pipe wrench or a large pair of channel locks to grip the square nut on the drain cleanout plug. Gradually turn the nut with the wrench, loosening it off thoroughly. Clean away any accumulated grime from the threads, then replace the plug.
In rare cases, the cleanout may be covered by an expandable plug loosened by turning a screw in the plug's center. Even more rarely, the cleanout fitting may be covered by a rubber bonnet and secured with pipe clamps.
Warning
When you start to open the plug and see water or feel the pressure under it, it's time to call a professional. This means the stoppage in the line has filled up the piping that travels outside the house. Once you pull the plug, your drainage pit, yard, or house may fill with backed-up raw sewage in that localized area.
How to Maintain Your Drain Lines
Most plumbers can do main drain line cleaning, but there are also companies specializing in this work. An annual inspection and cleaning by a sewer specialist is a good idea, especially if you have a landscape with large trees. Tree roots can easily penetrate sewer lines. Routine sewer drain line cleaning may prevent a disastrous blockage.
Cleaning the main drain blockage can be done by a homeowner, but it may require special tools, such as a motorized drain auger available for rental at tool centers and major home improvement stores.Generally, it is not recommended for non-professionals to attempt cleaning the line.
Warning
Even experienced DIYers can cause significant damage to the home sewage system. This can lead to sewage backing up into the septic system, the yard, or the home. Save time, effort, and potentially thousands of dollars in clean-up and home restoration fees by employing only licensed professionals to clear clogs and repair the main drainage line and drain cleanout.
FAQ
How do you unclog a cleanout?
Professionals unclog cleanouts using cameras to identify clogs and determine the right tool for the job, ranging from a drain auger to a powerful water jet.
How do you know if your sewer cleanout is clogged?
Signs a sewer cleanout is clogged include toilet drainage backing up into sinks, tubs, and showers; discolored, smelly water; or persistent, unexplainable wet areas on your lawn.
Why does my house not have a cleanout?
Older homes may not have a cleanout; they became standard in building codes during the 1940s. If your home does not have a cleanout, the best way to unclog a line going to the sewer is with a plumbing snake. If your plumbing uses a network of old cast iron pipes, consider updating it to PVC to save yourself from a headache down the line.
