In over my head

[Jacob]

I was going to have a rough in inspection tomorrow on my remodel. I rearranged several bathroom and changed the drain line from cast iron to PVC where ever I could. For this reason I need to do a water test. I was planning on using the clean outs located outside the house to plug the drain with a test ball.
To my surprise the clean out is a one way going to the street. I don’t see any way to get a test ball into the pipe in a way that will seal the drain and the clean out access. If there is a trick that I’m not seeing let me know.
I am thinking about replacing the clean out with a two way clean out for several reasons. 1) I need to be able to plug the drain with a test ball for inspection. 2) The clean out doesn’t have a cap. It is just a cast iron fitting with a clay pipe sitting on top up to the soil line. See photo. 3) the cast iron is 60 years old.
As I have started to dig out the pipe I have discovered the just after the cast iron clean out the cast iron is connected to clay pipe with mortar. I don’t like have clay pipe running to the city sewer, but I don’t know of any current problem and I don’t have any trees in the front yard, so I shouldn’t have any problem in the near future. I suspect the clay pipe isn’t deep. The house sits on a hill and they don’t go very deep with the sewer in Texas.
I need advise should I worry about the clay pipe? How do I connect PVC to clay? Can I cut clay pipe and how? Should I use the two way clean out fitting or make a U with two combination and have two clean out, one in each direction? Should I even replace the clean out? If I don’t replace the clean out how do I add a removable cap to the cast iron the is under ground?

 

[Jeff H Young]

no reason you cant remove clay cleanout and run pvc use a 4 inch combi with sort piece of pipe going to the clay join with 4 inch clay to pvc coupling or a 4 inch clay band and a 4 inch clay to plastic bushing tough at the orange big box store but a plumbing supply will have it. put test weenie down combi and fill w water . dont know your question. btw clay pipe properly laid without tree roots can go 75 years no problem. you could have it checked with camera for a few hundred, or less in a lower wage area

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Jacob]

no reason you cant remove clay cleanout and run pvc use a 4 inch combi with sort piece of pipe going to the clay join with 4 inch clay to pvc coupling or a 4 inch clay band and a 4 inch clay to plastic bushing tough at the orange big box store but a plumbing supply will have it. put test weenie down combi and fill w water . dont know your question. btw clay pipe properly laid without tree roots can go 75 years no problem. you could have it checked with camera for a few hundred, or less in a lower wage area

The old clean out is cast iron. You say to use 4” but the drain is only 3”. Would you recommend the two way clean out fitting or using two combination for a clean out in each direction?

 

[Jeff H Young]

ok put 3 inch combi with enough pipe for test weenie befor going to clay. 2 way I dont think will work for test . Lacking snap cutter use a grinder with diamond wheel or score with masonry bit perhaps and chip with chisel. Old school way is score it with just a hammer and chisel it works I might have tried it but was just screwing around many years ago.just keep going around it till it breaks. grinder even a dremel tool probebly work rental yard rents soil pipe cutter I never rented but seen them befor I hope you are running new pipe from cleanout to inside house otherwise why bother?