Need help, found a pipe in the backyard!?

**Fujing** · 08-25-2013, 01:38 PM

Hi everyone, I am new here and need a help~!

The house is 70-80 years old. While I was checking the backyard this afternoon, I found a pipe coming out from the ground beside the deck. Firstly, I was thinking if there was an underground oil tank. As I look closer, I discovered that the pipe diameter was quite big. I also checked around the house and could not find any "vent" pipe or other pipes coming out from the ground. Plus, no smell from the pipe and there is only soil in the bottom of the pipe. So I was thinking if it is the drainage pipe used from before. There are some pictures of the thing, everyone please comment, thanks so much~!

1.jpg 2.jpg 3.jpg 4.jpg 5.jpg

**wayne soper** · 08-25-2013, 02:13 PM

Looks like a well head to me. Drop a stone down and listen for how deep. Maybe use a fishing line with a weight. Certainly should be capped either way. Not an oil tank.

**Fujing** · 08-25-2013, 02:19 PM

Originally Posted by wayne soper

Looks like a well head to me. Drop a stone down and listen for how deep. Maybe use a fishing line with a weight. Certainly should be capped either way. Not an oil tank.

Thanks! It is about 4-5 ft deep. Should it just be taken out? There is cement around the pipe.

**Jack Feldmann** · 08-25-2013, 06:16 PM

Old basketball goal?

**H.G. Watson, Sr.** · 08-25-2013, 07:03 PM

Perhaps you have discovered a cleanout access for the (present) old sanitary system. Cesspool or distribution box (between cesspool or tank and the leach field) ? diameter looks right -- for a modest 70/80 year-old modest single family home excepting kitchen sink and laundry discharge as would have not been customarily dumped into sanitary system....

**Fujing** · 08-25-2013, 07:15 PM

Thanks everyone~!

**Raymond Wand** · 08-26-2013, 03:53 AM

Cistern fill pipe, subsequently filled and abandoned.

**Mark Reinmiller** · 08-26-2013, 06:20 PM

Originally Posted by Fujing

Hi everyone, I am new here and need a help~!

The house is 70-80 years old. While I was checking the backyard this afternoon, I found a pipe coming out from the ground beside the deck. Firstly, I was thinking if there was an underground oil tank. As I look closer, I discovered that the pipe diameter was quite big. I also checked around the house and could not find any "vent" pipe or other pipes coming out from the ground. Plus, no smell from the pipe and there is only soil in the bottom of the pipe. So I was thinking if it is the drainage pipe used from before. There are some pictures of the thing, everyone please comment, thanks so much~!

1.jpg 2.jpg 3.jpg 4.jpg 5.jpg

Things are done quite different in difference areas. It looks like a welded steel pipe, which would not be typical in my area for most things. In one of the photos it looks like a bolts and possibly a washer on the ground next to the pipe. It that attached to any kind of flange, etc?

**Billy Stephens** · 08-27-2013, 07:15 AM

Originally Posted by Jack Feldmann

Old basketball goal?

Yep...

**Bob Knauff** · 08-27-2013, 01:19 PM

Originally Posted by Fujing

Hi everyone, I am new here and need a help~!

The house is 70-80 years old. While I was checking the backyard this afternoon, I found a pipe coming out from the ground beside the deck. Firstly, I was thinking if there was an underground oil tank. As I look closer, I discovered that the pipe diameter was quite big. I also checked around the house and could not find any "vent" pipe or other pipes coming out from the ground. Plus, no smell from the pipe and there is only soil in the bottom of the pipe. So I was thinking if it is the drainage pipe used from before. There are some pictures of the thing, everyone please comment, thanks so much~!

1.jpg 2.jpg 3.jpg 4.jpg 5.jpg

Well casings were about that size and made of steel and many times the well is located right next to the foundation or even within a basement space. As the well was drilled the steel casing would be lowered around the drill bit and shaft pieces to keep the hole from collapsing and provide a path for back flushing of the dirt and debris being drilled out. After potable water was reached the the casing was left in place and the pump itself was inserted or lowered into the hole to supply water, depending on the type of pump.

Abandoned well casings are filled with concrete and permanently sealed when the house is connected to city water...usually. The city I was in required the well be sealed and certified by a licensed well company after connection to city water, no exceptions. Of course being the gov't. there was certification paperwork and permits and $$$ involved.

I asked a well driller friend what would happen if a well was not sealed but kept in service anyway to water the lawn or wash the car. He said there is a huge liability involved. If for ANY reason the water table in the area became contaminated, they could come back to your well not being sealed and even if you were not the culprit you could be held liable. Too many people dumping motor oil, anti-freeze and other nice stuff down the well holes, he said. That's why they are required to be professionally sealed.

It may be wise to check with the local authority to see if the property ever had a well and if so, was it abandoned correctly. Perhaps it is an old well casing and someone just partially filled it with concrete or something to seal it. Lots of liability issues in the making.