I am replacing a buried horizontal clay pipe sewer main with 4" ABS. It would be nice to have a single clean-out tee that was kind of like the combi-wye, but had one curved sweep for each direction. Is there such a thing? I don't have room to install two combi-wye back-to-back. The two-way sani tee or the sani tee with the threaded cleanout plug would be OK if it were only buried a foot down, but it is 3'-4' down so I'd want to use a riser. The riser would make the cleanout easy to access but not easy to use.

The other question is about coupling the old iron to the 4" ABS. The different in size is not large, but the rubber couplers I see are sized either for iron or ABS. The same coupler just isn't going to fit both very well. I could either epoxy a hub or sleeve onto the iron to match sizes, or find a better coupler. What is commonly done here?

Look into a two-way cleanout fitting.

I would rather see the back to back combo's sweeping in each direction but you say theres no room. A fitting called a "Two way cleanout" is made and would take up less room. The only small problem is your 3 or 4 feet in the ground and that may may getting your calble to go the right direction with the pipe full of water can take alittle time on occasion. But i would rather have ANy cleanout than no cleanout at all.......aslong as its not buried in the ground where you cant find it. use a Mission style totally stainless stell shielded flxibale coupling. it will stretch or compress to allow for small difference in outside diameter pipe sizes. The name for the two combos put together was called a double sweep cleanout tee...i think....they use to make them in cast iron but i'm not sure about a single fitting in pvc that has two opposing risers to clean the drain in both directions.

first off dont use the abs use schedule 40 pvc, get a 3in or 4 in wye, a 45 and a riser piece making it come flush with the ground

u should have a toilet close to your main drain coming out of the house, a toilet is considered a cleanout so u should only have to worry about going the 1 direction away from the house

In CA, ABS is the norm, not PVC for DWV.

Use a transition Mission or Fernco brand shielded coupling that is made for connecting pipes of different diameters.





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So if I look into that two-way cleanout tee, is it all empty, or are there some guides for the cable?

Empty.

No real guides for the cable. Its workable although. Takes alittle more times somtimes. Way better than removing a toilet...plus you cant clean through a toilet when the problem is way out in the yard. Only reason I would take a toilet up to unclogg a sewer in the yard is if some guy took the advice of not installing one in the yard and the roof is too steep to work on and I want to locate the sewer in in the yard with the sound of the cable to dig it up so i could charge them an arm and leg for making me do all that when they should have put on in the yard where it can be found without thousands of dollars worth of equipment.

it doesn't take much more space to install a two way cleanout. see link and scroll to bottom.. nice pics of a good system..
[www.smartplumbers.org]

The two way cleanout you refer to LOOKS good, but can be a very frustrating fitting when the riser is full of water and you are trying to direct the snake into the proper side and verify that it is going in the proper direction.

YOU may consider the toilet a cleanout spot, but few other plumbers, at least those who have tried it, would agree, except as a last resort. And what is wrong with ABS? That is the ONLY material being used in this area and has been for at least the past 35 years.

It is "empty" and the only guide for the cable is luck, experience, or some device the plumber creates. Even an illegal sanitary tee would be better, because the "sweep" on the downsream side would at least give the snake some incentive to go the correct way, and the snake can be forced to go upstream with just a little more effort.



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CHeck out the "P" traps just above it. For being "Smart Plumbers and Drain Cleaners", their advice is questionable as shown.
1. Drain lines are SLOPED, not SLOPPED.
2. They show the drain line from the wall to the sink and say its length is limited. They do the same thing with the disposer picture, but do not say HOW you can move the sink's drain back to what they consider a "correct length".
3. Because of the photo angles, we have to take their word that the arms are actually level or backpitched, and from the rest of the site, I am not about to do that.

I would install a 2-way cleanout as shown in the diagram on the right hand side below...



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WOW....whats there reasoning with a whole house trap? Aren't the ones under each fixture enough? Seems redundant and unnescessary. No house here has a whole house trap.....plus sewer gas usually here is heavier than air since we have very high humidity...like in the 90% range...unless the vent for the house trap extends above the roof you would get a stink all the time at ground level in a heavily populated area where the houses are very close together. Not that I haven't heard about whole gouse traps but NO house here has them...maybe thats why. I dont know....maybe you guys could fill me in on that benefit of the whole house trap. I guess codes do not consider that double trapping every fixture in the house if they require it. Please do not respond with...because thats "The code". Thats not a valid answer for me....I want the technical reason for the whole house trap please.

I've heard over the years the bldg. house trap controlled rats from entering.

Well, I would install one like the left hand one, but they indicate there is no room for that for some reason. The right hand one which you recommend would take even more room and would add a house trap which they do not need and should definitely not want.

Water does not even slow them down. The idea was that a house trap prevented sewer gas from entering the building's system and then exiting the roof vent where it can become obnoxious to the neighborhood.

Seems like the roof vents is where you would want the stink to go. if everybody had a vent in the yard and the houses were 10 ft apart....it would get stinky seems like.....put the stink out the roof where wind and move it...down near the ground theres no breeze here most of the time.....too many trees and bushes and houses. I dunno.

The vent in the drawing, and I have never seen a house trap with that vent, is on the house side, not the sewer side where the odors would be the greatest, so there would be minimal odor from it.

Either way,I think the vents on the roof would be good enough. I dont want a sewer vent near the ground. Not in this humidity we have here. maybe thats why you will not find one here unless you have a sewage ejector in the front yard.......the city is installing forced sewer mains and require the ejector basin be vented.