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Today my husband & I noticed the sound of running water coming from under our house in the kitchen. There is a cold water line running in this area (no hot) that branches off to the icemaker and the outdoor spout. There are no leaks in the house. Husband went underneath and sees that there is another branch off the old pipes that goes straight down into the ground under the house. We think this is what's leaking. It is a short pipe that T's off and goes straight into the dirt.
Any ideas what this pipe could be? It's on the far side of the house from where the water main comes in. Maybe an old main? Husband is thinking of cutting and capping the mystery line, but not sure if this is a good idea without knowing what it is. There is no visible pooling water under the house, but we can hear it and our water main is loosing about 1/2 gallon an hour. So, not an emergency, but still trying to figure it out & fix it before it gets worse.
Could be to an old well, or an old lead to an outbuilding, or just about anything. Verify that all of your other plumbing connections aren't affected, then go ahead and cap it. If you have concerns, stick in a ball valve and use the valve to cut off the water. THen you can REALLY confuse folks who buy the house next...
Get a plumber! Don't go cutting lines you do not know where they go or what they are for. If that pipe is leaking, you will see the water, if not right away...soon. You can also listen and feel the pipe to hear and feel if water is running through it.
Could be to an old well, or an old lead to an outbuilding, or just about anything. Verify that all of your other plumbing connections aren't affected, then go ahead and cap it. If you have concerns, stick in a ball valve and use the valve to cut off the water. THen you can REALLY confuse folks who buy the house next...
LMAO or the poor plumber that has to trace out the line. Thanks man. Seriously though, this is a good approach. If it does effect something you need, you can isolate it and fix it and then turn the valve back on. Sounds to me , since it goes to an outside bib, that it could be abandoned irrigation for something. But, if you cut in the valve so you can isolate it you will find out, with a little head scratching and thunkin'. I call these type of situations archeological expeditions. If your lines are copper be prepared to put some time in sweating in the valve ,however. copper lines that have been in service and wetted up for a spell can be a bear. You have to get the line dry enough to take a sweat, and thats easier said than done. Water in the lines can make you tear your hair out when working on in service copper. There is the old wadded bread trick, but you need to work pretty fast depending on how much water keeps tryng to run to your sweat point.
Okay, so hubby decided to jump the gun and just cut the thing off... well, right now he's drilling a new hole in the house to put in a new outdoor faucet in a different spot since he's just going to cut the line off before the "mystery pipe". He also just noticed that water is starting to seep up through our gravel drive a few feet away from the house where the weird pipe is.
It's a 50 year old house, I guess the neighborhood used to be on wells, we are thinking it's some remnant of that.... must've broken somewhere under our drive wherever it was capped.
Okay, so hubby decided to jump the gun and just cut the thing off... well, right now he's drilling a new hole in the house to put in a new outdoor faucet in a different spot since he's just going to cut the line off before the "mystery pipe". He also just noticed that water is starting to seep up through our gravel drive a few feet away from the house where the weird pipe is.
It's a 50 year old house, I guess the neighborhood used to be on wells, we are thinking it's some remnant of that.... must've broken somewhere under our drive wherever it was capped.
Guess we'll wait and see how this goes.
OK, if it is from an old well, this is also a LEGAL issue. You need to contact your county health department in the AM. The well has codes to abandonment. They need to know. Our aquifers need protecting.
Could be to an old well, or an old lead to an outbuilding, or just about anything. Verify that all of your other plumbing connections aren't affected, then go ahead and cap it. If you have concerns, stick in a ball valve and use the valve to cut off the water. THen you can REALLY confuse folks who buy the house next...
I disagree. If it is an old well, it needs to be abandon to code. Water is life, protect our groundwater.
I disagree. If it is an old well, it needs to be abandon to code. Water is life, protect our groundwater.
It seems unlikely that it goes to a well. I suppose it could be capped off underground out in the yard somewhere, but to me anyway, it makes no sense. Why would someone leave a direct feed from the house running to an old well feed after hooking up to municipal water? Anything is possible I guess. She never said if they bought the place with public hookups already installed or if they did it after.. The county here is threatening to make us hook up to their water. FAT CHANCE! I'm perfectly happy with my well and I irrigate and have a bit of stock to water. Yea, they see dollar signs with crazily spinning meters out here where I am. I'll pay the power bill and pump all the water I want, thanks. Making all of us out on this end of the valley hookup to county water could very well end up in a shooting war.. At any rate , to the OP, do you know if there is an old well on your place? I seriously doubt there is going to be any hazards from your domestic plumbing posing any environmental hazards to the local groundwater if that line did lead out to an old pumphouse, but my curiosity is piqued as to what you traced it out to. I'm still leaning toward old irrigation of some sort. Oh, and what type of pipes do you have? Copper, old galvy (yuck) how old is your plumbing?
It seems unlikely that it goes to a well. I suppose it could be capped off underground out in the yard somewhere, but to me anyway, it makes no sense. Why would someone leave a direct feed from the house running to an old well feed after hooking up to municipal water? Anything is possible I guess. She never said if they bought the place with public hookups already installed or if they did it after.. The county here is threatening to make us hook up to their water. FAT CHANCE! I'm perfectly happy with my well and I irrigate and have a bit of stock to water. Yea, they see dollar signs with crazily spinning meters out here where I am. I'll pay the power bill and pump all the water I want, thanks. Making all of us out on this end of the valley hookup to county water could very well end up in a shooting war.. At any rate , to the OP, do you know if there is an old well on your place? I seriously doubt there is going to be any hazards from your domestic plumbing posing any environmental hazards to the local groundwater if that line did lead out to an old pumphouse, but my curiosity is piqued as to what you traced it out to. I'm still leaning toward old irrigation of some sort. Oh, and what type of pipes do you have? Copper, old galvy (yuck) how old is your plumbing?
If there is an old well, it has not been abandon to code or this would not happen. Really, you need to check codes.
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Shark Bite
. At any rate , to the OP, do you know if there is an old well on your place? I seriously doubt there is going to be any hazards from your domestic plumbing posing any environmental hazards to the local groundwater if that line did lead out to an old pumphouse, but my curiosity is piqued as to what you traced it out to. I'm still leaning toward old irrigation of some sort. Oh, and what type of pipes do you have? Copper, old galvy (yuck) how old is your plumbing?
