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No, you should not see water in a sewer cleanout. If you do, it could indicate that you have a block or leak in your main sewer line—which can cause sewage to back up inside your home and potentially flood your yard. Your best bet is to call a local sewer cleaner if you notice any water or sewage around your cleanout.

It might be possible to dissolve hair caught in a drain, but it’s usually not a good way to go about clearing the clog. Some sources mention that baking soda and vinegar can do the trick, but this won’t actually dissolve the hair. The hydrochloric acid in drain cleaners can dissolve the hair over time, but it will much more quickly destroy your plumbing pipes and leave you with bigger issues. The best way to remove hair is to do it manually with a drain snake or to have a plumber use an auger to pull clogs out.

You could be smelling sewer gas in your kitchen because of a dry P-trap, clogged vent pipe, or leaking plumbing seals. If you smell a rotten egg odor, check your sink’s P-trap and plumbing connections first. A clogged or damaged vent pipe can trap sewer gas and push it back into your kitchen through the plumbing pipes. Loose or deteriorated seals around drainpipes can also allow sewer gas to leak out. If you can’t find the source, call a local plumber for expert help.

If your drain doesn’t have metal crosshairs or crossbars, you should use a tub drain extractor. These tools create a grip on the drain so you can turn it using a 1/2-inch ratchet drive, drain key, or wrench. Your drain may not have crosshairs if it's old and broken.