Backed up over a cleanout the other day, and an hour and a half later, and $39.00 or so.... The Owner wasn't so P.O.'d after all...

Why in the world does the plumber leave the cleanout this high ? Only thing I can think of is that he doesn't want to be blamed for someone else running it over and saying "they didn't see it"... you know, like I did.. The Owner of the house wanted it put back the exact same height that it was previously, as he said

"the plumber must have had a reason for making it so high, so put it back the same height as it was before"


I would have flushed it to the ground.... but that's me...

I actually knew it was there.... I just was on the phone talking to the wife while backing up next to the house....


Note to self: Stop talking to wife.....









BTW.... If you don't bury rocks directly next to vertical pipe... when some jackass backs up over it, and bends it backwards, it's less likely that it will crack down below with the rocks missing. The big crack was down about 2.5 feet because there was a big rock right next to the pipe, and when I pushed it backwards, it cracked right on the rock....


Excuses, excuses.......

 

I put clean outs, trailer dumps, and other drains flush with the sod and capped with a threaded plastic plug. You can run over it with anything you wish and do no damage. I have one to take the drainage from a large North facing roof on the barn away to a lower better spot for it. I thread a stand pipe into it for the summer, and replace it with a plug for the winter so I can drive over it with the tractor snow thrower in the winter and clear the mounds of snow away dumped by the same roof.

A vent has to be above ground, so it's cheesy pipe and easily dug up and replaced. Gets done about once a year. If it gets knocked off early, it's left off till lawn mowing season is done.

 

In some states, code requires it. But yes, it does make for a tempting target. In order to keep the AK department of environmental quality happy, I put a threaded coupling on the line I use for my RV dump. I have to screw the extension on when I'm not using it.

 

Unfortunately, the pictures don't show it, as I had the ISO setting to 400, but that is a threaded bung with a screw in cap. It's just a clean out, and not actually a vent.



I've always put them flush with the ground, and offered it. Owner said no. I put it back as it was.. so the next guy can run it down, and snap it off like I did... My truck weighs 14K loaded, so I didn't even feel it. The window was open and I heard it "POP"....

 

Its pretty much so it's easy to locate as most people have very short memories...

 

Just be thankful it was the vertical pipe that broke and not the "T" on the horizontal pipe....

Replacing that "T" is a real pain...

 

I guess it takes too much thinking to throw a piece of scrap brass or copper sheet metal in over it a few inches below the sod.

I have a rather elaborate stepped drain field. All the major components that might need service have markers over them so I can find them with the metal detector. Beautiful lawn over it with no junk showing.

Also have a map on file just in case.

 

Some of us can't use a metal detector, it keep pointing to our heads.

 

AMEN, Brother !

 

And I would expect NOTHING LESS from you Mr. J.





Actually I figured you had little Satellite transmitters on each access cap, so that you can use your electrico-gizimo-thingamabob-transmitter-o-finder gadget that I assumed you had in your garage hanging on the wall....