A year ago we had a major remodel on our 1976 rambler home which included moving the washer and dryer. When they installed the 2" sewer line, they included a clean out. The sewer line is in the crawl space. At some point, the end of the cap on the clean out which was glued on, broke off clean about a 1/16" in from the end of the clean out. This spilled all the waste from the laundry into the crawl space and created quite an odor in the house. The contractor came out and took off the clean out and installed an elbow. My question is, is it necessary to have a clean out on that line? And if not, why would they install it originally?

If they were going to put a cleanout on it, I wonder why they didn't do a test tee and plug. Was it an over the pipe cap?

my code says a cleanout SHALL be installed at the base of every waste stack.
sometimes when an end cleanout is installed in a "Y" which is located in a crawlspace, it is nice to extend that cleanout thru the outside wall so the cap/plug can be accessed from outside.

But why a glue cap is what I am wondering.

The plug is a male threaded plug with a square head. We have no idea what happened to the end of the plug.

So a female adapter and plug. How did it break off? Just curious.

You almost never HAVE to have a cleanout, but prudence suggests you can never have too many of them if they are installed at the correct places.

Here are photos of the clean out and where the plug belongs.

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That looks like a female spigot adapter and if so it should have an internal thread that the plug screws in to.

we just call it an 'end cleanout'.. someone with a small flat screwdriver and a ballpeen hamer can knock out whats left of the plug and screw in a new plug.

That's right, but the end of the cap broke off just inside the end of the adaptor. The rest of the plug, the part that is threaded, is still there. How can it break off like that?

Can they get it out even though it's glued in there? That blue around the end is excess glue.

I don't think the blue is excess glue, it's Pipe Dope to keep the threads from leaking.



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So do we, but the way I described it is its "official" name.

glue would be black

don't forget milky white ABS glue

I'm thinking the plug was glued in there. How would a plug that was set in pipe dope just break off inside?

It would have been really nice if the plumber installed the clean out above the floor near the washer. Have you pulled the washer to see if there is one there?

A clean out is required whenever there is a change of 135 degrees explaining or at the end of a horizontal drain.



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No, there is no clean out by the washer. The washer and dryer are enclosed with short walls and a granite top over the front loaders. Pipe dope? I didn't know it came in blue but that would make sense to make it functional. Still, the way it broke off, is puzzling. I just pulled the vapor barrier off of the whole affected area and there is no sign of the piece that broke off. The pitch is very little as it only drops about 3-3 1/2 feet at about 20' away.

An incompatible dope WILL deteriorate it and cause it to snap off. regardless, just remove the remainder of the plug, and there are many ways to do that, then install a new one.

Nothing is relevant except the dope.