I have a little flexible copper pipe with a tiny little valve attached to the cold water input into my water softener (which then goes into the water heater, as my house softens hot water only, which from what I gather is normal?) Anyways, the tiny little pipe has started draining water (into the basement drain hole) constantly. I am trying to figure out A. What this little valve is even for and B. Why it all of a sudden just started draining. It looks like I could turn the little valve on it to turn it off, but I don't understand how it could have started without opening it in the first place? I have pictures below. The first one is up close of the valve/copper pipe coming off it, and the 2nd is a little further out showing it drain all the way to the floor. [URL="http://imgur.com/a/UEft2"]Imgur: The most awesome images on the Internet[/URL] [ATTACH]76077[/ATTACH] [ATTACH]76078[/ATTACH]

I just had a plumber out to replace my homeowner shutoff valve. He mentioned that he didn't see a double check valve for the irrigation, that I should have an irrigation company come out and locate it (maybe it's covered by dirt and grass) and if there isn't one, put one in. Anyway, I was poking around looking for it and I noticed these sticking out of a plant bed near the front of the house: [url]https://flic.kr/p/RmVWCF[/url]. I've seen them before but never thought a thing about them. Any idea what these are? I'm hesitant to open it and find out it's some kind of sewer vent or something.