How To Find The Clean Out Drain

Download Article

Download Article

Sewer cleanouts are capped pipes that give plumbers an easy way to access sewers when removing clogs. Many home sewer systems come equipped with ane or more than cleanouts. They are relatively easy to locate, although the exact positioning varies depending on how your home was built. Nearly of the time, the cleanout will be right outside your front door, only it could also be near a septic tank or even indoors. Some homes may non even have one! If you need help, call a plumber to ostend the location of the cleanout.

1. ane

   Read your home's plot plans for an piece of cake way to find the sewer cleanout. If you own your abode, you may accept received a copy of the plot plans. If you lot don't have one, contact your local government. The planning or county assessor section typically keeps a database of plans and can get you a copy after you request one. Also, check your authorities'due south website to run across if these plans are available to the public online. If your home has a cleanout, the plans volition display its location whether information technology's indoors or outdoors.^[ane]

   • Subdivision plans could also aid. A subdivision plan shows a parcel of country dissever upwards into different developments. It is accessible through a government planning office, contractors, and property owners.

2. 2

   Call a plumber for an easy fashion to find a cleanout. Due to the way building codes change over the years, some homes don't have sewer cleanouts. It's a common problem with very old homes, but new homes sometimes don't have one either. Call a plumber to confirm the problem. If they aren't able to find a cleanout, talk to them about getting one installed.^[ii]

   • A certified plumber can send a pocket-size camera down the main sewer line to find out where information technology branches off into a cleanout.
   • Installing a cleanout is oft an inexpensive way to make plumbing maintenance much easier. It can cost equally little as $650 USD or every bit much as $iii,500, depending on if the cleanout is installed exterior the abode or if the installer needs to do a lot of excavating within your dwelling.

   Advertisement

3. 3

   Consult contractors and developers if yous have hired any recently. If they oasis't seen the plot programme, they may accept come across the sewer cleanout. Sometimes workers cover up the sewer cleanout during the structure process. If you are unable to find ane, it could be because of recent work done near your home.^[3]

   • The best people to call are ones that worked outside your home or otherwise came near the sewer line. Call the visitor you most recently dealt with.

4. iv

   Contact a surveyor or engineer if you lot all the same need assistance. Talk to any official that has been around your home recently. If you don't know who to phone call, check with your local government'southward surveryor's role. Alternatively, talk to whatsoever engineering firms that have been involved in planning or constructing your home.^[iv]

   • Surveyors continue maps of the landscape in your community for legal and safety reasons. They oft accept admission to plot plans.
   • Engineers use plot plans when organizing construction projects. If you dealt with a contractor while improving your domicile, they may exist able to refer you to an engineer they consulted during the project.

5. 5

   Contact any championship and real manor companies if you used any. These companies often access plot plans in their line of piece of work. In add-on, they may take sent someone to inspect your home. Enquire them for a re-create of the plot plans or at least information on the cleanout location. With any luck, they volition be able to help you at no extra cost.

   • You won't get much aid this way unless the company has specifically dealt with your home. Try to contact a company you take dealt with recently.

   Advertising

1. 1

   Walk to the septic tank if your home has 1. If your home lacks a connection to a municipal sewer line, you will have a septic tank to deal with instead. The cleanout is always virtually the plumbing leading from your home to the tank. Head toward the tank in your yard, but cheque the area around your habitation. The cleanout will ordinarily be adjacent to your home.^[5]

   • To find the septic tank, look for the vent pipes sticking out of the basis. You could also refer to your dwelling house's plot plans or contact a plumber for help.

2. 2

   Head to the main sewer line in the street if your home connects to one. Pace out of the front door of your home and walk toward the street. Look for the nearest manhole. Then, check the adjourn for whatever mark indicating the position of the sewer line. In many locations, the concrete volition have a large "Southward" for sewer stamped on it. Once y'all accept found that, the cleanout won't be far behind.^[6]

   • Outdoor, front yard cleanouts are very mutual with homes on slab foundations in relatively warm climates. The cleanout is often in the forepart yard.
   • You may besides run into a "W" for h2o and a "G" for gas. Every bit long every bit you lot are able to find the sewer cleanout, you tin ignore these. However, remember their location if you need to dig for the cleanout.

3. 3

   Walk back toward your home to search for the cleanout. Y'all won't be able to see the main sewer line, then you will have to approximate its location. Starting at the "S," make a beeline direct for your habitation. Exist on the lookout for the cleanout'due south cap sticking out of the ground. It volition most likely be somewhere between the curb and the foundation of your home.^[7]

   • The cleanout may also be labeled with an "S" or an culling similar "C.O." or "clean out." It is typically very easy to recognize.

4. 4

   Expect for a white or black cap over a piping. Discover a white cap sitting atop a four in (10 cm)-wide pipe. Await the piping to be subconscious, leaving just the cap visible. The cap will besides have a square-shaped button or hole on tiptop that makes information technology very recognizable. If you have plot plans available, use them to figure out where the principal sewer line splits off into the vertical cleanout pipe.^[viii]

   • The cap stands out a lot. Your home won't take any other external pipes similar it.

5. 5

   Check the sides of your house near the bathroom. The cleanout could also be positioned shut to the biggest source of drainage pipes in your home. Discover out which side of your home the bathroom is on, and so go check outside for the cleanout cap. Information technology volition likely be virtually your abode's foundation, although yous should too walk toward the adjourn if you don't meet the cleanout correct away.^[nine]

   • Side cleanouts can happen if the front yard isn't close plenty to the city'south sewer line. Information technology's also common in larger homes that have multiple bathrooms.
   • If yous have multiple bathrooms on the first floor, be sure to check near both of them. The cleanout could exist on either side. Your home may fifty-fifty have multiple cleanouts!

6. six

   Search under whatsoever plants virtually where the cleanout should exist. Sometimes homeowners hide the cleanout pipe, which can make finding it a lilliputian tricky. Feel around under whatsoever grass or bushes for the hard plastic cap on tiptop of the cleanout. You may also finish up finding a metal box you need to pull open up to access the cleanout.^[x]

   • Recall that the most common locations for the cleanout are forth the master sewer or septic line and near bathrooms. It is typically virtually your home's foundation. As long equally yous search those areas, yous can find the hidden pipe.
   • In some rare cases, the sewer cleanout may be buried. You will accept to dig a fiddling flake in the nigh likely areas to notice it. Dig down near ane in (2.v cm), taking intendance not to hit whatsoever utility lines.

   Advertisement

1. i

   Follow the drainage pipe in your home to find the cleanout. Check your basement or crawlspace, if y'all have one, to see where the utility pipes exit your home. Follow the line to see if it has a capped cleanout pipe virtually it. The line will often be correct outside your dwelling, but information technology could also be on the inside. The cleanout is unremarkably right side by side to the foundation of your domicile, so look for a plugged pipage coming out of the floor.^{[11] [12]}

   • Note that following the main sewer line in your dwelling house can be tricky. Try following the drainage pipes from whatsoever nearby utilities. If the pipes cross into the walls, estimate their location or search outside for the main sewer line.
   • In colder regions, such equally in Canada, cleanouts are often built inside homes to foreclose them from freezing during the winter.^[thirteen]

2. 2

   Check for a pipage with a cap over information technology. Sewer cleanouts typically have a white or black cap. The cap is often threaded with a raised foursquare in the centre. Cleanouts within your dwelling tend to be attached to other pipes, so cheque for whatsoever capped off dead ends. The dead end may be the cleanout you're looking for.^[fourteen]

   • When you look in the basement, for example, the cleanout could exist on a Y or T-shaped pipe plumbing equipment.
   • Cleanouts in bathrooms and nigh floor drains are often like to ones located outdoors.

3. 3

   Search near toilets in your dwelling if y'all tin't find the cleanout. Cheque every bathroom in your dwelling house. If the cleanout is in i of them, it will exist close to the toilet. Look for a small only noticeable pipe sticking out of the floor. It is recognizable by its black or white cap and the fact that information technology doesn't appear to connect to annihilation.^[xv]

   • If your domicile is fix this way, there is a take chances it includes multiple cleanouts. Check other bathrooms and footing drains also.
   • Homes with slab foundations, including those in warmer climates, tin have bathroom cleanouts. It happens sometimes in older homes, especially if at that place isn't a good spot to hibernate the cleanout outdoors.

4. 4

   Inspect the garage or utility areas if your abode has them. Whatever areas that have a flooring drain could also accept a sewer cleanout. Check the floor outset for a capped pipe. Search almost the drain, then move onto storage areas, such equally closets or other places where a builder might hide something not meant to be seen.^[16]

   • Since the sewer cleanout has to exist near plumbing, you likely won't observe it in spots that are far abroad from drains. For example, you don't accept to spend much fourth dimension looking through a closet in a distant hallway unless there is a drain nearby.
   • Utility cleanouts happen when there isn't room in the basement or bathroom. These cleanouts are often secondary and meant to help plumbers admission a specific part of the sewer system.

5. v

   Check the attic in case y'all can't find the drain elsewhere. In some rare cases, the sewer cleanout could be in the attic. If you have an cranium, look virtually any visible sewer vent pipes running to the roof. The cleanout may exist situated on a "Y" or "T-shaped" pipe fitting. The free finish of the fitting is ofttimes a sewer cleanout.^[17]

   • If you have plumbing in the attic, remember to inspect it for the sewer cleanout.
   • Attic cleanouts are rare merely can be spotted in old homes. Your dwelling likely won't take a cleanout at that place unless it also has a bath or other plumbing there.

6. 6

   Open upwardly the wall to access the cleanout if it is in in that location. Occasionally sewer cleanouts cease upwardly getting covered up during remodeling. If you suspect your sewer cleanout is in the wall, you would need to get backside the wall to reach information technology. Either cutting open the wall or knock a hole through information technology with a hammer.^[xviii]

   • You're better off letting a plumber confirm the location of the cleanout and discover a way to access it. Trying to get to it on your ain could cause serious impairment to your dwelling house if yous are not conscientious.
   • The cleanout usually will not be in the wall. It happens sometimes in older homes that have had remodeling work done, similar to how landscaping work tin can pb to an outdoor cleanout becoming hidden.

   Advertizement

Add together New Question

• Question

  Where will the cleanout exist in relation to all of my pipes? Tin can I follow the pipes to find it?

  

  David Balkan
  Professional person Plumber & CEO of Balkan Sewer & Water Master

  David Balkan is a Professional Plumber, CEO of Balkan Sewer and Water Main Service, and President of Balkan Sewer and Bleed Cleaning. As a easily-on owner of these companies for over 40 years, David is knowledgeable almost water service lines, sewers, and bleed line issues. David is a Committee Chairman of the Master Plumbers Council and has sat on the Executive Committee of the Sub Surface Plumbers Association of New York for over 30 years. His noesis and solution-oriented approach contributed to Balkan Sewer and H2o Primary Service being the largest and almost trusted service in New York Urban center and the recipient of the 2017 Angie's List Super Service Honour.

  

  Professional Plumber & CEO of Balkan Sewer & Water Main

  Good Answer

  You accept to wait at a bleed organisation about equally if information technology'due south a tree with branches coming off of the trunk. At the lesser of each body of the bleed system is usually supposed to be a cleanout. If you lot have multiple fixtures tying into 1 line that goes down, say from the second floor to the first floor to a basement, in that location should be a cleanout for that.

Inquire a Question

200 characters left

Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered.

Submit

Advert

• Some homes have multiple sewer cleanout pipes. They are often used to access certain parts of the pipes, so 1 on the right side of your abode is better for clearing clogs in that area, for instance.

• Once you lot find the cleanout, consider contacting a plumber to take them articulate out clogs. They can have care of tough problems without any chance of harm to your dwelling'due south plumbing.

• The cap on a sewer cleanout can exist opened by turning it counterclockwise with a pipe wrench. Gently heat the cap and tap information technology with a hammer to loosen it if it won't budge.^[19]

• If you wish to clear out a stubborn clog on your own, effort using a sewer drain snake. Spray clean h2o into the pipe subsequently to affluent away the remnants of the clog.^[20]

Advertising

• Opening a sewer cleanout on your own is a messy process. Step dorsum after opening the cap to let out any trapped water and gas.

Advertizement

Well-nigh This Article

Cheers to all authors for creating a page that has been read 49,985 times.

Did this commodity aid you?

Source: https://www.wikihow.com/Find-a-Sewer-Cleanout

Posted by: austinthresper1974.blogspot.com

Share this post