Leaking main drain clean out plug - DIY Chatroom

bucksone · 01-09-2009, 11:41 PM

Our main drain backed up into the basement, so we called Roto Rooter. The guy came out, lugged that big machine down the basement stairs, and attacked the problem. When he removed the clean out plug, he said it probably should be replaced. He said it would only cost an additional $12. After finishing clearing the main drain, he went out to his truck and returned with a new clean out plug. Alas, it was the wrong size, he said. He said ours was 3.5 inch? and all he had was 4 inch? He put the old one back on, said we should be fine, but that we might want to go to Lowes sometime and buy a new one. After he left, I flushed a toilet and discovered leaking from the clean out plug.

The pipe is pvc and the plug is the type with the rubber in the middle and the wing nut on the outside.

My question is should I have them come back out to fix this or should I just take care of it myself? I tried searching for clean out plugs on Lowes and Home Depots' websites and couldn't find anything. I kind of wonder if the fact that it was 7:45 pm and he said he got off at 8:00 had any bearing on this. He also left a mess on the floor and I later noticed in their Yellow Pages ad that they listed "maid-like clean up services." If they do come back out, should I just have to pay for the part itself and not for a service call?

Thanks for any feedback.

DUDE! · 01-10-2009, 09:42 AM

You have a couple options, you can get an adapter for the pipe and have a standard cleanout plug, or go and get a new pipeplug/test plug similar to what you have. As for the mess left on the floor, that is unacceptable, we're not talking saw dust here. That should of been cleaned up, I assumed their maid service is for over-flows or ruptured pipes, not from him/her working on the pipe.