Name this pipe??!?


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Old 06-23-21, 08:55 AM
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Name this pipe??!?

I recently bought a 100 year old house and found this mystery pipe sticking (around 8 inches tall) out of the ground in the backyard. Can anyone help identify what and why please?? Thanks!

 
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Old 06-23-21, 09:22 AM
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Are you in a city? Do you have municipal water or gas service?
 
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Old 06-23-21, 09:28 AM
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Yes city! Normal water and gas service....
 
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Old 06-23-21, 09:54 AM
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Name this Pipe??!?
Looks like Herman to me.

My guess is an old gas line for a gas post light. No idea if it would still be connected or not.
 
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Old 06-23-21, 10:26 AM
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I had our gas lines flagged out when I moved in and there were no utilities in backyard (that is where this pipe is...). All current gas lines are running in front yard.. So doesn't belong to gas company and I don't see any suspicious gas branches in basement. What is the safest way to see if this is still active without blowing myself up?
 
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Old 06-23-21, 10:37 AM
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Usually utility marking companies only mark utilities up to their first connection to your house. For example, they will mark the gas line from the main at the street to the meter at your house but nothing after that. So, if you have a a gas lamp or barbecue in the yard the gas lines to them will NOT be marked. The same goes for electric, phone and cable. They will mark that utility to it's first connection with your home but no further.
 
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Old 06-23-21, 11:10 AM
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If the house was on well water at one time, before it got city water, maybe that was a vent pipe down into a well pit.
 
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Old 06-23-21, 02:20 PM
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Any safe ideas on how to open to check?
 
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Old 06-23-21, 02:33 PM
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Inlet pipe for fuel oil????????????????????
 
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Old 06-23-21, 04:00 PM
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You'd need two pipe wrenches to open it. One on the pipe and one on the cap.

If you attempt to remove the cap..... be sure you know inside where your gas service shutoff and water service shutoff is located.
 
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Old 06-24-21, 06:55 AM
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The cap looks like one that I found on an old gas pipe I found sticking up from the floor in the attic of my house built in 1912. Even though the house was wired for electric (knob & tube) when it was built there were gas fixtures over the fireplace and in the master bedroom. The gas feeding them had already been disconnected in the basement.

I also found a 1.5 inch gas line that ran from the meter and out through the rear basement wall that I later determined went to a detached garage that no longer exists. A plumber was able to cut, cap and test it to use for new stove and dryer feeds at that end of the house.

Look in the basement for a pipe running through the wall nearest to where the pipe is located and follow it back to the meter to see if it is valved off or disconnected.
 
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Old 06-24-21, 08:03 AM
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So....I asked a neighbour and he seemed to think it was an inlet for a propane tank. There is a similar pipe (with a different connector) in a garage on the property. Does that sound reasonable? Regardless, I am going to crack it this weekend.... so if there are no more posts - was probably gas and blew up... lol.
 
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Old 06-24-21, 08:24 AM
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Although it is possible.... I wouldn't link that pipe to a propane tank.
It may have been something added but is definitely not part of a buried tank installation.
Definitely not a fill pipe.
 
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Old 06-24-21, 10:19 AM
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what about an upright propane tank sitting on the ground behind the garage?
 
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Old 06-24-21, 10:29 AM
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You're asking if maybe an above ground tank connected there to feed the house ?
That's a possibility. You should see that line coming into the basement.
 
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Old 06-25-21, 08:18 AM
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Outside tank to feed the nearby garage. Regardless trying it this weekend... lol
 
 

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