Come play 'what is this 2" pvc pipe in my yard?'

Hopefully I am about to ask the world's most stupid question and I will get an answer right away.

I don't know if this pipe is pool related, house related, or some kind of septic thing. I just closed on the house a couple of months ago. Standard 3 br 2 bath slab foundation (rare to find a basement in Texas). I was starting to dig out a back bed along the house when I ran across what I thought was one of 12 million rocks strewn all over the place by a previous owner. I went to pick it up and realized it was a 2" pvc line cap. I dug out about a foot down but still have no idea what it is or where it is going. There is sand around it, which leads me to believe it was put there by someone who had a good idea what they were doing. The pipe is about 5 inches from the slab of the house. It is on the outside of the master bedroom, probably 10 feet from the nearest indoor plumbing fixture (which is located on the same outside wall, just 10' down the wall). On the outside of the house the next closest plumbing things are about 12" away. That would be a water faucet (run in the wall and exiting through the brick of the house). Also about 12" away is the pool equipment (20 year old pool). Just slightly further down at roughly 16" is the septic tank pump out and lid. The pipe has a cap on it that reads for a pressurized plumbing set up, but I haven't got enough of the pipe exposed to see if it shows for pressure. The cap doesn't seem to be a threaded cap like I have seen on clean outs. Looks like it was intended to stay on there.

There are no pipes coming off of the pool equipment above ground and then heading underground besides the normal "from pool & to pool" lines which head in a different direction. There is an old polaris setup on the far side of the pump, but it was cut apart years ago and just part of the piping wasn't removed. I feel sure that it isn't part of that.

So, here are some pictures. Please remember I haven't been in the house long and I am working on the "ugly". Also, when I laid sod a couple of weeks ago, I didn't unstack (I thought it was cool enough) and my 2nd pallet got burned in the center. I put it down anyway. It is coming back, but those burned pieces are ugly right now... so yep, there is that. I put a red shovel right at the pipe so you can see where it is a bit easier in the distance shots .






So you can see the distance to the pool.


From the pool equipment area back towards the mystery pipe.


I know you are thinking "don't worry about it, just cover it back up and go on with your planting", but I am planning an outdoor kitchen and if I suddenly find out that I have septic tie ins run out there, it would make my life easier. Plus, I just don't like things that I don't understand.

Thanks for any ideas that you might have! Like I said, it is probably something that I should have recognized at first glance.
 
Not a clue ... might want to keep digging and see what direction it is running. If it connects to a Y, then that would point to a cleanout ... but it is pretty small pipe for that.
 
I am going to go out in a bit and get another trowel so I can keep at it. Somehow my trowel was broken by "not me" the other day and I hadn't replaced it. The pipe is so close to the house that it is hard to dig at it. How deep down would the Y usually be? All my plumbing knowledge comes from a 100 year old house with a basement. It isn't a lot of use right now.
 
If it were me, I would first remove the cap. turn all the water on in the nearest bathroom and listen for running water at the top of the pipe.
If you hear nothing, I would have some one flush while you again listen at the top of the pipe.
I have not seen a clean out that small but, you never know what some people will do.
Is there a french drain system around the perimeter of your home? Just a thought.
Or is it possible that there was once a fountain/water feature in this location and this is the water source abandoned?
Might want to check all you valves at the pool equipment since it is located close by.

Good luck!
 
I'm guessing that's a cleanout of some type associated with your house plumbing. Though some folks who will remain nameless have theoretically hooked up their backwash drain to the sewer line...
 

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I dug it out far enough to see that it is running back to the pool, right at the skimmer. I don't know if initially the pool equipment was located in this spot and then moved (doesn't really look like it- power doesn't seem to have been run to that area, but maybe it was all moved when pool equip was moved a bit further down house???). Or perhaps if there was some thought about putting in a spa close to the house but tying it to the pool? I really never did figure out what it was for except it really does seem to head to the pool and matches the size pipe used for the pool.
 
glitter&guns said:
I dug it out far enough to see that it is running back to the pool, right at the skimmer. I don't know if initially the pool equipment was located in this spot and then moved (doesn't really look like it- power doesn't seem to have been run to that area, but maybe it was all moved when pool equip was moved a bit further down house???). Or perhaps if there was some thought about putting in a spa close to the house but tying it to the pool? I really never did figure out what it was for except it really does seem to head to the pool and matches the size pipe used for the pool.

AUTOFILL - once again this is exactly how mine is setup.

I have a line coming off the skimmer and near the house I have 2" PVC plumbed into my autofill bucket.

Of course I am guessing, but this makes total sense to me...unless others have better ideas :)
 
toofast said:
glitter&guns said:
I dug it out far enough to see that it is running back to the pool, right at the skimmer. I don't know if initially the pool equipment was located in this spot and then moved (doesn't really look like it- power doesn't seem to have been run to that area, but maybe it was all moved when pool equip was moved a bit further down house???). Or perhaps if there was some thought about putting in a spa close to the house but tying it to the pool? I really never did figure out what it was for except it really does seem to head to the pool and matches the size pipe used for the pool.

AUTOFILL - once again this is exactly how mine is setup.

I have a line coming off the skimmer and near the house I have 2" PVC plumbed into my autofill bucket.

Of course I am guessing, but this makes total sense to me...unless others have better ideas :)

I am such a noob, so forgive me for being stupid. Does your auto fill line then run to the pool equipment area or does it live off by itself? Also, is there a waterline located right where it comes out of the ground? I don't have any water over there. Also, does it just run into the pool/skimmer where you can see it, or does it run into the line headed to the pump? I can't see where this line goes into the pool or skimmer anywhere.
 
Hey, would it be possible for auto fill to be coming up THROUGH the skimmer? My skimmer has 2 holes in it, but only one has suction. My main drain was cemented over years ago and several pool guys told me the main drain would have pumped up through the skimmer basket and headed out from there, but both thought it was odd that it wasn't plugged at the skimmer basket. BUT if there was an auto fill and it could have gone in through the bottom of the skimmer, that would explain it... also, this might be crazy talk, so don't make fun of me.
 
No idea, but thought I would comment that our 40 yr old pool has had the main drain capped and abandoned but we still have two holes in our skimmers - only one of them has suction, though. So it might not be all that uncommon. I have no idea what all the plumbing we have around our pool does, it is a rat's nest of plumbing running every which way, so I couldn't say if we'd ever had an auto-fill or not. We don't now, that's for sure.

I'll look at our equipment pad, I feel like some of our abandoned plumbing looks capped like that but can't remember. Maybe it's an overflow for the main drain/skimmer tie in and since your main drain was disconnected they capped that off.
 
I am attaching a few pics so you can see my layout...once again, you original PB could have THOUGHT about an autofill, then decided against it, etc.

Hope this helps!

[attachment=2:b1uey5tm]autofill.jpg[/attachment:b1uey5tm]
[attachment=1:b1uey5tm]autofill 1.jpg[/attachment:b1uey5tm]
[attachment=0:b1uey5tm]autofill 2.jpg[/attachment:b1uey5tm]
 

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Thanks Too Fast! You may have hit the nail on the head. It is an odd spot for a refill, but I could believe that is it. I figure that when I have a bit of muscle over, I will have him figure out how to get the cap off and we will see if we can figure anything else out. Buying a house is so interesting! lol!
 
JamesW said:
It might go to a well point under the pool to control ground water in the event that you need to drain the pool.

Can you contact the pool builder to ask them?

I did contact the pool builder when I bought the house, but without the name of the person that bought the pool and the year it was built, they couldn't tell me anything (Blue Haven... maybe not their best branch, either). I was hoping that they could bring their paperwork on the instillation and bid a remodel.

That is a thought about the well point. I wonder if pool ground water wells would be common here? I think of this part of Texas as aching for water. The pool was empty when we were in the process of buying the house and there was no problem with water coming in, but the main drain is sealed, so maybe it wouldn't be a problem any longer?
 

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