Sanitary Sewer Cleanouts

[martin888888]

My experience is mainly in residential design and management so wanted to see what response I would get on the use of cleanout in industrial / commercial projects. Large industrial project with minimum 8" sanitary mains and laterals. System currently has a mixture of sanitary cleanouts and manholes in the system. I know the building code says for pipes 8" (maybe 6"?) and larger that you need a clean out every 100'. However I rarely see this standard abided by. We have runs of 8" line 250' with a cleanout on one end and manhole on the other. Other lines 200'+ with cleanouts on both ends. It is very possible to snake those distances but doesnt meet code and I have seen this built time after time.

 

[cvg]

well, there is a reason for it and I would recommend you try and follow similar standards. however, in my experience, good luck installing any manholes or cleanouts because the plant managers simply do not want to spend the money. they would rather spend money on sewer maintenance than on anything that does not produce revenue.

 

[jgailla]

Manholes should be spaced at no more than 300 feet for 8" and larger sanitary mains. One can widen the spacing to (I think) 400 feet when the line gets to 30", but I've never done one that big. I think this is in Ten States.
If necessary, I use a cleanout every 100 feet for 6" and smaller sanitary service lines. I don't recall where this came from, but I think plumber's equipment for unclogging drains is tough to operate at greater than 100 feet in small lines.
Usually the system is designed so that each 6" lateral discharges into a manhole on the 8" trunk with a cleanout 5 feet off the building. I rarely have a run of more than 100 feet to have to add an additional cleanout.
Residential systems are much different. Manholes are put every 300 feet along the main and the house services are connected with a tee wye into the main itself. The cleanout is still near the house and another cleanout isn't necessary unless the lots are large.
I wouldn't run an 8" line with a cleanout on one side unless it was coming out of the building at 8". If it was coming out at 8", I'd probably put the cleanout adjacent to the building and place a manhole no more than 100 feet away.