- 19 hours ago
When the washing machine backs up into the shower and the toilet makes the bath gurgle, the real problem is usually not the fixture at all — it is the main drain line, and the capped pipe in your yard may be the fastest way to find it. This practical home maintenance video explains what a sewer cleanout is, where to look for one, and why knowing its location can save you from a messy backup inside the house.
Drawing on a farm memory from Lancaster County, the narration shows how easy it is to dig in the wrong place when you do not know where the water is supposed to go. It then walks through common cleanout locations outside the foundation or in the basement, what to do if it is open, and how to use that clue to tell whether the blockage is in your line or farther down the street. There is also clear guidance on safety, chemical drain cleaners, basic troubleshooting, and why repeated clogs can point to roots, a broken pipe, or a sagging section.
This is useful homeowner advice, plumbing troubleshooting, and rural self-reliance content for anyone dealing with a main sewer backup, slow drains, or an old house with hidden access points. It also helps renters, first-time homeowners, and anyone searching for sewer cleanout location tips, drain line repair basics, and how to stop sewage from coming back into the house.
SEO: home plumbing advice, sewer cleanout, main drain backup, drain line troubleshooting, clogged sewer line, plumbing repair guide, house drain maintenance, septic system basics, and homeowner plumbing tips for finding the capped pipe before an emergency starts.
Drawing on a farm memory from Lancaster County, the narration shows how easy it is to dig in the wrong place when you do not know where the water is supposed to go. It then walks through common cleanout locations outside the foundation or in the basement, what to do if it is open, and how to use that clue to tell whether the blockage is in your line or farther down the street. There is also clear guidance on safety, chemical drain cleaners, basic troubleshooting, and why repeated clogs can point to roots, a broken pipe, or a sagging section.
This is useful homeowner advice, plumbing troubleshooting, and rural self-reliance content for anyone dealing with a main sewer backup, slow drains, or an old house with hidden access points. It also helps renters, first-time homeowners, and anyone searching for sewer cleanout location tips, drain line repair basics, and how to stop sewage from coming back into the house.
SEO: home plumbing advice, sewer cleanout, main drain backup, drain line troubleshooting, clogged sewer line, plumbing repair guide, house drain maintenance, septic system basics, and homeowner plumbing tips for finding the capped pipe before an emergency starts.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00The washing machine empties and water comes up in the shower.
00:03That is the moment.
00:05Not the slow sink.
00:07Not the tub that takes a while.
00:09This one.
00:09You flush the toilet and the bath gurgles.
00:12You run the kitchen tap and the floor drain bubbles.
00:16Everything in the house is suddenly connected to everything else
00:19and whatever you do in one room shows up in another.
00:23That is not a blocked drain.
00:25Every fixture in your house cannot block at the same instant.
00:30That is the one pipe they all empty into,
00:32the single line running out under your yard, and it has stopped.
00:37And there is a thing out there, within 30 feet of where you are sitting,
00:41put in on purpose for exactly this,
00:44that most people have never found and could not name if you showed it to them.
00:49It is a capped pipe.
00:51And on the day the whole house backs up,
00:53knowing where it is can be the difference between a mess in the yard
00:57and sewage across your floor.
01:00I am Elias Yoder.
01:02I farm in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
01:04We are not on any town system out here,
01:07and our water goes where it has always gone,
01:10into a tank and a field of our own.
01:13But a line that carries waste away from a house
01:15is a line that carries waste away from a house,
01:19and the trouble it gets into is the same trouble whoever laid it.
01:23I gathered the whole of it into a book at EliasYoder.com.
01:27The book is the long version.
01:29If you want it, it is there.
01:31I will not mention it again.
01:34My grandfather taught me this at the barn,
01:37in a wet spring,
01:38when I was about sixteen,
01:40and quite certain I knew what I was doing.
01:42The drain in the alley had backed up,
01:45and there was water standing where no water ought to be,
01:48and I had got a shovel and started digging at the wet place,
01:51because that was where the trouble plainly was.
01:54He came and stood over me for a while,
01:56and let me get a good way down.
01:59Then he asked me a question I could not answer.
02:02He asked where that water was supposed to go.
02:05I did not know.
02:06I had worked in that barn my whole life,
02:09and I had never once thought about where the water went
02:12after it left the alley.
02:13He walked me out past the corner of the barn to the hedge line,
02:17pushed the grass back with his boot,
02:19and lifted off a flat stone I must have walked over ten thousand times.
02:25Underneath it was a brick-lined hole
02:27with a pipe running through the bottom of it.
02:29He said that was there so a man could look,
02:32and when we looked, it was dry,
02:35clean, empty, running right through,
02:38which told us in about four seconds
02:40that whatever had stopped was between the barn and that hole,
02:44and not beyond it,
02:45and I had been digging in the one place
02:47where there was nothing whatever to find.
02:50Where it comes up is never where it stopped.
02:53Now let me tell you exactly what that thing is in a modern house,
02:57because you have one,
02:59or you very likely do,
03:00and it has a name.
03:02It is called a clean-out.
03:04It is a short piece of pipe,
03:06three or four inches across,
03:08that comes off your main drain line
03:10and goes up to the surface with a screw cap on the end of it.
03:13That is all it is.
03:15A door into the pipe.
03:16It is there so that when the main line blocks,
03:20somebody can get at it without digging up your yard
03:22or taking a toilet off the floor.
03:25Where it is depends on the house.
03:27Most commonly, it is outside,
03:30near the foundation,
03:31on the side of the house where the bathroom is,
03:34because the line runs out underneath on the shortest way.
03:37It may stick up a few inches out of the grass
03:40with a square or hexagonal cap on top.
03:43It may be flush with the ground
03:45in a small round box with a lid,
03:47the sort that gets lost in a flower bed.
03:50Or it may be in the cellar,
03:52coming off the main stack near the floor,
03:54a fitting with a plug in the side of it.
03:57In an older house, there may be two.
03:59In a very old house, there may be none at all,
04:01and that is worth knowing now rather than then.
04:05Now, what it does for you,
04:07and there are two separate things,
04:08and both of them matter.
04:10The first is the one that saves your floor.
04:12When that main line blocks,
04:14and you keep using water,
04:16the line fills up,
04:17and then it comes up out of the lowest opening
04:20in your house,
04:21which is a shower pan,
04:23or a basement floor drain,
04:25or a ground floor toilet.
04:26If you go out and open that clean-out cap,
04:30you have given it a lower and easier way out.
04:33It comes up out of the pipe in your yard
04:36instead of out of your drain in the house.
04:39That is not pleasant,
04:41and it is not a repair.
04:43But a mess in the grass
04:45is a hose and an afternoon.
04:48Sewage across a floor and into carpet
04:51and under a wall
04:52is a different order of trouble entirely,
04:55and people pay thousands for that.
04:58The second thing it does
04:59is tell you where the problem is,
05:02and it does it instantly.
05:04Open the cap and look.
05:06If it is full,
05:07or if it runs out at you,
05:09the blockage is downstream.
05:12Somewhere between that clean-out
05:13and the street,
05:14or between there and your septic tank,
05:17which, if you are on a town system,
05:19is very often not your pipe
05:22and not your bill,
05:24and that one fact
05:25is worth the whole of this video.
05:28If it is dry and empty
05:30and the house is still backing up,
05:32then the blockage is between the house
05:35and that clean-out,
05:36which is your pipe
05:38and a shorter stretch of it,
05:40and now whoever you call
05:41knows exactly where to start.
05:44Either way,
05:46you have turned
05:46I do not know what is wrong
05:49into one of two answers,
05:51standing in your own yard
05:53in a minute
05:54for nothing.
05:56And when you do call somebody,
05:58the first thing they will ask you
06:00is whether you have a clean-out
06:02and where it is.
06:03A man who can walk out
06:05and point at it
06:06gets his job done.
06:08A man who cannot
06:09is paying for somebody
06:11to hunt for it
06:12or paying to have a toilet
06:14pulled off the floor
06:15to get in,
06:16which costs a good deal more.
06:18So here is the job,
06:20and it is not an emergency job.
06:23It is a Saturday job
06:25you do
06:25while nothing is wrong.
06:27Go and find yours.
06:30Start outside
06:31at the wall
06:32nearest your main bathroom
06:34and work along the foundation.
06:36You are looking for a capped pipe
06:39standing a few inches proud
06:41or a round or rectangular lid
06:44set flush in the grass,
06:46perhaps four to six inches across.
06:49They hide.
06:50Grass grows over them,
06:52mulch gets heaped on them,
06:54somebody sets a planter on top.
06:57Walk it slowly
06:58and kick the grass about.
07:00If you find nothing at the wall,
07:03work outward in the line
07:04between the house and the street
07:06or between the house
07:07and where you know the tank is.
07:09The line runs more or less straight
07:12and the clean-out sits on it.
07:14A long screwdriver
07:16or a thin rod
07:18pushed into the ground
07:19every foot or so
07:20will find a buried lid
07:22when your eye will not.
07:24If there is nothing outside,
07:27go to the cellar
07:28and look at the main stack,
07:30the big pipe
07:31that everything in the house
07:32drains into.
07:34Follow it down to where it turns
07:36to go out through the wall
07:37or the floor
07:38and look for a fitting
07:40with a plug in the side of it,
07:42often a square lug
07:44you could put a wrench on.
07:45And when you find it,
07:47mark it.
07:48A stake,
07:49a stone,
07:50a note on a card in a drawer,
07:52and tell whoever else lives there.
07:55Finding it in daylight
07:57in September
07:58is a different thing
07:59from finding it in the dark
08:01in February
08:02with water rising.
08:04Now,
08:05before I tell you
08:06what to do
08:07once you have found it,
08:08let me say one thing.
08:11Every home has leaks.
08:13Food,
08:14heat,
08:15water,
08:16electricity,
08:17laundry,
08:18repairs,
08:19and waste.
08:20Inside our Amish
08:22home savings system
08:23and community,
08:24Esther and I
08:25help you find those leaks
08:27and start fixing them
08:28one by one.
08:29The link is in the description.
08:33Now,
08:34opening it,
08:35and this is where
08:36I want you to be careful
08:37because there is a way
08:38to do this
08:39that gets you hurt.
08:40If that line is blocked
08:42and full,
08:43there is pressure
08:44behind that cap.
08:46Not a great deal,
08:47but enough.
08:48So do not stand over it
08:50and look down at it
08:51while you unscrew it.
08:53Stand to one side,
08:55well back,
08:56and loosen it slowly,
08:58a turn at a time,
08:59and let whatever is in there
09:01come out away from you.
09:03Wear gloves.
09:04Wear something over your eyes.
09:07This is sewage
09:08and it carries things
09:09you do not want
09:11on your hands
09:11or in a cut
09:12and you wash properly afterwards
09:15whatever you think you touched.
09:17Keep children and animals
09:18away from it
09:19and off that ground
09:20until it has been hosed down.
09:22And if you have poured
09:24drain cleaner down
09:25anything in that house
09:27in the last day or two,
09:28say so out loud
09:30and remember it
09:31because that caustic liquid
09:33is still sitting in there
09:34with nowhere to go.
09:36It will come out
09:37of that clean out
09:38at you.
09:39For the same reason,
09:41do not pour
09:42chemical drain cleaner
09:43into a main line
09:44that is fully blocked.
09:46It does not move
09:47the blockage.
09:48It only waits
09:49and the person
09:50who opens the pipe
09:51gets the whole of it
09:53and put the cap back on
09:55when you are done
09:56not loosely,
09:57properly
09:58and check the rubber
09:59or the threads
10:00while you have it
10:01in your hand.
10:02An open or missing
10:04clean out cap
10:05lets sewer gas
10:06up into your yard,
10:07lets rain and silt
10:09down into the line
10:10and gives a rat
10:11a door into the system.
10:13A great many of them
10:15are sitting open
10:16in this country
10:16right now
10:17because somebody
10:18took the cap off once
10:20and never came back
10:21to it.
10:22Now, what can you do
10:24yourself once it is open?
10:26If the blockage is soft
10:28and close,
10:28a hand auger
10:30run in from that clean out
10:31will very often shift it
10:33and that is a cheap tool
10:34to own.
10:36Feed it in gently,
10:37turn it as you go,
10:38and if it stops dead
10:40against something solid,
10:41stop.
10:42You are either on a root mass
10:44or on a broken pipe
10:45and forcing it
10:47does no good.
10:48If it is roots
10:49and in an old house
10:51with clay pipe
10:52and a tree in the yard
10:53it very often is,
10:54that is a cutting head
10:56on a powered machine
10:57and it is work
10:58for somebody who does it.
11:00A rented machine
11:01run blind
11:02by a man
11:03who has never used one
11:04can crack an old line
11:06and turn a day's job
11:08into a dug up yard.
11:09And if it comes back
11:11in three months,
11:12the answer is a camera
11:13down that pipe
11:14rather than another rotting.
11:16A line that blocks repeatedly
11:18is telling you
11:19it is broken
11:20or sagging
11:21or full of roots
11:22and clearing it again
11:23is paying for the same hour
11:25over and over.
11:27One more thing worth doing
11:29while the cap is off
11:30and everything is running normally
11:32and it takes a minute.
11:33Have somebody flush a toilet
11:35and run a tap
11:36while you look down that pipe.
11:38You want to see water
11:40moving through
11:40briskly
11:41and the pipe
11:42empty behind it.
11:43If you see it running slow
11:45or standing
11:46or crawling,
11:47that line is already
11:49part way too blocked
11:50and you have found it
11:52months before
11:52it would have found you.
11:54That one look
11:55is the whole
11:56of main drain maintenance
11:58for an ordinary house
11:59and once a year
12:00is plenty.
12:01Now the causes,
12:03briefly,
12:04because knowing them
12:05is half
12:05of never doing this again.
12:08Roots.
12:08They find the joints
12:10of old clay pipe
12:11and they grow toward water
12:13and once they are in,
12:15they catch everything
12:16that passes.
12:17Wipes.
12:18Whatever the packet says,
12:20they do not break up.
12:22They are the single
12:23commonest cause
12:24of mainline blockages now
12:26and they were not a problem
12:27a generation ago.
12:29Grease.
12:30Poured hot,
12:31it goes down as a liquid
12:33and sets solid
12:34in the first cold stretch
12:35of pipe
12:36and then it catches
12:38everything else.
12:39Into a tin
12:40or a foil parcel
12:41and into the bin.
12:43What people flush
12:44that they should not
12:45beyond the wipes.
12:47Cotton wool,
12:48cotton buds,
12:49dental floss,
12:50hair,
12:51cat litter of any description,
12:53paper towel,
12:54which does not break up
12:55the way lavatory paper does,
12:57and the small plastic things
12:59that come off packaging
13:00and get knocked in
13:01without anybody noticing.
13:03And a pipe that has sagged.
13:05If a stretch of that line
13:06has settled into a dip,
13:08water stands in it
13:09and solids drop out of the flow
13:11and build up at the low point.
13:14That is the one
13:15a camera finds
13:16and nothing else does.
13:18Now,
13:19if you are on a septic system
13:20rather than a town sewer,
13:22there is one more thing to check
13:24before you go blaming the pipe.
13:26A tank that is full
13:27behaves exactly like a blockage.
13:30Everything backs up,
13:31the whole house at once,
13:33and the line is perfectly clear.
13:35So know when yours was last pumped.
13:38If it has been more than a few years,
13:40that is where I would look first,
13:42and it is a far cheaper answer
13:44than digging up a line
13:45that was never the problem.
13:47And one on trees,
13:48because it is the only part of this
13:50you can decide years in advance.
13:52If you are planting,
13:54do not plant a willow,
13:55a poplar,
13:56a maple,
13:57or anything else thirsty
13:58anywhere near the run of that line.
14:01Those roots will travel
14:02a long way for water,
14:04and a joint in an old clay pipe
14:06is exactly what they are looking for.
14:09Plant well off it,
14:10and if you have one of those
14:11standing over your line already,
14:13that is worth knowing about
14:15rather than being surprised by.
14:17Now the plane limits,
14:19and there are three.
14:21This is a diagnosis
14:22and an emergency measure.
14:24It is not a repair.
14:26What I have given you
14:27tells you where the trouble is
14:29and keeps the mess out of your house
14:31while you deal with it.
14:33Opening that cap does not always work.
14:36If the line is blocked
14:37between the house and the clean-out,
14:39opening it relieves nothing at all,
14:42and the house carries on backing up.
14:44That is still useful information,
14:46and it is not a fix.
14:49And once water is coming up
14:51anywhere in the house,
14:52stop using water.
14:54All of it.
14:55No flushing.
14:56No washing machine.
14:58No dishes.
14:59Nobody in the shower.
15:00Every gallon you send down
15:03is a gallon that is coming back up
15:05and telling the whole household
15:07at the first sign
15:08is worth more than anything else
15:11in this video.
15:12And a word for anybody renting,
15:14because this is not your repair to make
15:17and it is still worth doing.
15:19Find the clean-out anyway
15:21and know where it is.
15:23When the whole house backs up,
15:25you want to be able to tell
15:26whoever you call
15:27exactly where to go,
15:29and you want to know
15:31whether to stop using water,
15:32and both of those are yours to do
15:35regardless of who owns the pipe.
15:38There is no scheme in any of this,
15:40and nobody arranged anything.
15:43The money simply runs the other way.
15:45The men who clear these lines
15:47do unpleasant and skilled work,
15:50and they earn what they charge,
15:52and I would call one
15:53without hesitating
15:54for anything past a hand auger.
15:57It is only that nobody makes a living
15:59telling you to go and find
16:01a capped pipe in your own grass
16:03on a Saturday afternoon
16:05while nothing is wrong,
16:07so nobody says it,
16:08and a thing nobody has a reason to say
16:11gets forgotten inside of one generation.
16:14What got lost was not a product.
16:17It was an old man
16:19pushing the grass back with his boot
16:21and lifting a flat stone off a hole
16:24that had been there the whole time.
16:26So here is what I would have you do this week,
16:29and it costs nothing at all.
16:31Go outside and find your clean-out.
16:34Start at the wall nearest your main bathroom
16:37and walk the foundation.
16:39Then walk the line toward the street or the tank.
16:43Push a rod into the grass if you must.
16:46When you find it,
16:48clear the grass and the mulch off it,
16:50make sure the cap will actually turn,
16:52and put something beside it
16:54so you can find it in the dark.
16:56If the cap is seized solid with rust or paint,
17:00deal with that now,
17:02with penetrating oil and a wrench,
17:05on an afternoon when nothing is wrong.
17:07A clean-out you cannot open
17:09is a clean-out you have not got.
17:12So tell me in the comments
17:14whether you found yours
17:16and where it turned out to be,
17:17because they are in the oddest places
17:20and I would like to see the list.
17:22And if you have told me your county before,
17:25tell me this instead.
17:27Are you on a town sewer or a septic tank?
17:30Because half of what I have just said
17:32depends on which
17:34and a surprising number of people are not sure.
17:37Next time, I want to go back to water coming in
17:40rather than going out
17:42because a well with no power in it
17:44is not a dead well.
17:46There is a way to draw water
17:48out of a cased well
17:49with a length of pipe,
17:51a cap, and a rope
17:52and it costs very little
17:54and it works the day the pump stops.
17:57Where it comes up
17:59is never where it stopped.
18:00The people who built this country
18:02with their hands knew that
18:04and we are only just starting to remember it.