Clifton is a census-designated place of about 544 people on the Pacolet River, between Spartanburg and Cowpens. Dexter Edgar Converse and A. H. Twichell started the Clifton Manufacturing Company here in 1880, and the name is usually traced to the mill site on a cliff above the river. Clifton No. 1 began running in 1881, with its workers living in the village beside it, and two more mills followed.
The June 1903 flood destroyed the mills and the part of the village closest to the river, and the company rebuilt on higher ground. The mills changed hands over the following decades and wound down by the 1990s. What remains is a village of frame houses on sloping lots, most of them well over a century old.
Clifton is unincorporated, so Spartanburg County Building Codes issues plumbing and gas permits. Spartanburg Water supplies the water, and the Spartanburg Sanitary Sewer District runs a treatment plant at Clifton. Clifton is part of the Gas Guys service area, and we answer the phone around the clock.
Clifton at a glance
- Natural gas
- Piedmont Natural Gas. Piedmont Natural Gas serves the Highway 29 corridor east of Spartanburg; on back streets and rural roads, check your bill or ask Piedmont before planning a gas appliance.
- Water
- Spartanburg Water
- Sewer
- Spartanburg Sanitary Sewer District in the village; septic on outlying roads
- Permits
- Spartanburg County Building Codes
- Housing
- Mill village houses from the late 1800s and early 1900s, many rebuilt on higher ground after the 1903 flood, plus scattered newer homes.
Plumbing and gas in Clifton: what to know
Houses on slopes
Many Clifton houses sit on hillsides running down toward the river, with a tall crawlspace at one end and almost none at the other. Supply lines and drains hang in that space, and on the open, downhill side they take the wind and cold. Those are the runs that freeze first in a hard cold snap and should be insulated before winter.
Sewer laterals that run downhill or up
When the house is above the street, gravity helps the sewer lateral. When the house sits below the main, the drain has little fall to work with, and a sagging section collects grease and paper. Repeated backups in a low-lying house are worth a camera inspection, because the fix depends on what the line is doing underground.
Patchwork supply piping
A Clifton mill house has usually been replumbed in pieces by several owners. It is common to find galvanized steel, copper, CPVC and PEX in the same crawlspace, joined with whatever fittings were on hand. Every change of material is a likely leak point, and a wet spot on the ground below one is the place to start looking.
Old gas connectors
Where Piedmont service reaches, gas water heaters and furnaces are common in older Clifton homes. Old flexible appliance connectors, especially uncoated brass ones, should be replaced on sight. Any added appliance means the piping has to be checked for size against the total load.