I noticed what appears to be a sewer cleanout just outside of the property line of a property I recently purchased.

The top of it is taped over with multiple layers of those heavy duty duct tape.





The other properties the CO size is either 3" or 4" matching the size of the drain leaving the house. This one is much larger in diameter just over 7". Is it my sewer CO? I am tempted to open it to see but wanted to check here first, why would someone tape over a CO? A plug is too expensive?

is the pipe green ?
6 inch SDR comes in green

It looks white under the tape.

I just wanted to make sure I won't be unleashing the gateway to hell by removing those tape.



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You should have "new" tape, if that happens. There could be any number of reasons why it was taped over, and one of them could be "what is the pipe used for"?

Looks like the CO cover was broken.



I hope the broken portion didn't fall into the pipe.

If the OD of the hub is about 7". then this is a 6" fitting? I just need to get a 6" PVC CO cover?

Sum, you could use a Fernco QuikCap that will seal to the coupling.

steve, thanks! I thought these will fit over pipes but not the hub of a fitting?

They have them that are sized for "standard" pipe, but these ones are for clay/ductile iron/...non-sch40 pipe sizes. The circled one will fit 6.44"-7.25", so that should fit the coupling OD.



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sum, just get a 6 inch SDR 35 cap. remove the rubber ring and slide the cap over the green pipe.



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Packy I don't follow, is this an SDR pipe? Is the slightly green tint on the inside wall the clue? But the fitting is white. The fitting is solvent welded on. I don't think I can remove it unless you are suggesting to cut the fitting off?

sdr means 'standard dimension ratio'.
the pipe should be schedule 35 which is not glued but pushed together so its own internal gasket does the sealing.
so the cap I pictured with the rubber removed will not give a water tight seal but can be easily removed for cleaning purposes.

Can we clarify first what this pipe actually is?

Understand it appears to be a cleanout, but Sum mentioned its “outside” the property line. That’s not what I’m used to seeing around here - normally these are right outside the house. Also, don’t most SFR have 4” main sewers? This seems way too big.

Sum, can you put your ear to the hole and confirm no water sounds in the pipe with everything off in the house. Then have someone flush a toilet while you listen and try to confirm this is your house’s sewer?

If it is yours, I feel like I would dig it out a bit, cut off the current fitting, and glue on a threaded adapter and just use a regular plug. Seems safer WRT tenants in there...

Palm329, down here there are no hard rules on CO locations.

Sometimes we see one where the pipe exits the house, more times we see them half way between the house and the property line, where the CO is a two way CO. Other times we see one just inside the property line.

This one is just outside the property line. May be a few inches outside. It is possible it was meant to be at or inside the property line but misplaced it slightly.

I have to go take a look again to see what kind of pipe it is. Whether it's SCH40 or SDR or whatever. Its not on my property technically but I am responsible to mow the lawn and awale all the way to the edge of pavement.

UPDATE: I ran some quick tests and this is indeed my CO as I run water down my drains it comes through the CO.



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I removed the broken CO plug and now I have a threaded opening.



The pipe is indeed green/teal in color so does it mean this is a SDR35 pipe?

In measuring the OD of the female threaded fitting, I get slightly less than 7" diameter, about 1/16" less than 7". I looked up Charlotte's SCH 40 PVC fittings and pipe dimensions and their 6" fittings have an OD of 7.2" so this is not SCH 40 PVC. Is this a SDR35 cleanout adapter? I tried pulling the fitting out but it won't...I don't see any gasket either.



I could either go with an appropriate sized SDR35 CO plug, or go with steve's suggestion of the QuikCap to fit over the fitting.

So in the mean time, I have placed a 12"X12" step stone over the whole thing.

Sum, a 6" NPT plug(same as Sch40) has an OD of 6.625". That coupling should have a standard 6" FNPT.

so steve a SCH40 CO fitting and a SDR-35 CO fitting have the same dimensions and will fit the same size threaded plug? I can just order a 6" SCH40 CO cover?

Yes. The adapter you have is a SDR35 x 6" FNPT. There's no SDR sized threaded c/o plug.

I think you need to be careful with that pipe. There could be one of those South Florida boa constrictors in there.

No Boa constrictor there LOL but last week saw a 4' long black razor in the yard.

Happy to report that my sewer cleanout is now properly capped. No more duct tape.