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  1. #1
    Fred Dreary's Avatar
    Fred Dreary Guest

    Default Need help identifying a pipe I found in my backyard

    Hello, my wife and I are in the process of buying a house and inspection has uncovered a pipe in the backyard. At first we thought oil tank but perhaps not here in warm Florida? No one was able to locate any record of it with the county. Can anyone tell me what this is and what would be the proper protocol before we buy this house? The house was built in 1962. Thanks!


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  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
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    Santa Rosa, CA
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    Default Re: Need help identifying a pipe I found in my backyard

    Quote Originally Posted by Fred Dreary View Post
    Hello, my wife and I are in the process of buying a house and inspection has uncovered a pipe in the backyard. At first we thought oil tank but perhaps not here in warm Florida? No one was able to locate any record of it with the county. Can anyone tell me what this is and what would be the proper protocol before we buy this house? The house was built in 1962. Thanks!
    Hi Fred,

    Is there natural gas to the home or to any of the neighboring homes?

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  3. #3
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
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    Fletcher, NC
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    Default Re: Need help identifying a pipe I found in my backyard

    I have seen underground fuel oil takes on Florida, from South Florida up to North Florida, maybe a half dozen or so (maybe even a dozen), however, I recall they were all for abandoned pool heaters - and the cost to remove one of those tanks and the contaminated soil around them always seems to fall close to ... $18,000 .... not sure why, but that seems to be the number.

    However, with such a close up and little perspective as to size, that looks like a reducing bushing with a cap - so possibly gas as Gunnar mentioned, or possibly a water line, may from a well?

    Jerry Peck
    Construction/Litigation/Code Consultant - Retired
    www.AskCodeMan.com

  4. #4
    Fred Dreary's Avatar
    Fred Dreary Guest

    Default Re: Need help identifying a pipe I found in my backyard

    Quote Originally Posted by Gunnar Alquist View Post
    Hi Fred,

    Is there natural gas to the home or to any of the neighboring homes?
    Hi Gunnar,

    Thanks for your reply. There is no gas to my home, but it seems like a few homes in the neighborhood do have gas lines. I confirmed with Sarasota County that the pipe is not theirs (not water or sewage related). They seemed to think it could be a gas pipe, and had me call PECO. I didn't have any luck getting more information from PECO however. If it is an old gas line that is no longer in use, does that pose and health or safety hazards?

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by Jerry Peck View Post
    I have seen underground fuel oil takes on Florida, from South Florida up to North Florida, maybe a half dozen or so (maybe even a dozen), however, I recall they were all for abandoned pool heaters - and the cost to remove one of those tanks and the contaminated soil around them always seems to fall close to ... $18,000 .... not sure why, but that seems to be the number.

    However, with such a close up and little perspective as to size, that looks like a reducing bushing with a cap - so possibly gas as Gunnar mentioned, or possibly a water line, may from a well?
    Hi Jerry,

    Thank you for your reply. Sorry the picture isn't any better. I'd say the cap on there is about 2 inches wide and the whole pipe sticks up maybe 8 inches out of the ground (I don't live on the property yet). There does not seem to have ever been a pool on the property, so that makes me feel better that it likely not from an abandoned pool heater. Sure wouldn't want to inherit an 18K problem! As I mentioned in my reply to Gunnar, the county confirmed since my last post that the pipe is not water or sewage. So perhaps it is gas. Just wondering now if there are any steps or precautions that I need to take in relation to it? Thank you both for your input!


  5. #5
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
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    Fletcher, NC
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    Default Re: Need help identifying a pipe I found in my backyard

    Fred,

    Do you have any gas appliances? Water heater, furnace, stove, etc.

    If so, there may have been natural gas to the house at one time, but ... it is unusual to switch from gas to electric (it is not uncommon for people to switch from electric to gas and have underground gas tanks installed - but underground gas tanks typically don't use that type or size of piping, usually a smaller copper line to the house).

    Is there another same size pipe in the ground nearby? Or maybe into the wall? With natural gas, there would be a meter, and typically that would have the supply pipe to the meter coming up from underground, to the meter, then into the house, or could go back down underground and around to another location where it goes into the house.

    The issue, if natural gas, would be this: is that the gas company supply pipe to the house? If so, there would be a locked valve (with a seal showing that it was sealed off by the gas company) still on that pipe, and the pipe capped (but I would think that the gas company would have removed the reducing bushing).

    A pipe about 2" in size could be a 1-1/2" conduit which, at one time, took power out to something ... but electrical doesn't use reducing bushings which look like that - which could leave water ... was the house on a well at one time and was that the water supply from the pump to the house?

    If there is no response from the gas company, and I am leaning towards it not being gas (first, it doesn't look like the gas pipe which comes up out of the ground to the meter, and second, the shut off valve would still be there) - you could take a couple of pipe wrenches and crack open (slightly loosen) the cap - if there is gas there, you would immediately be able to tell - if not, and if no water tried to squirt out, then you could loosen the cap a bit more to make sure there is no pressure in the pipe, in which case you could remove the cap and look inside the pipe ... but you may not even know what the pipe was for if there was no gas, no pressure, no water ... nothing in the pipe as evidence of what it could be for.

    If not sure of what you are doing, call a plumber check the pipe - they can tell you if plumbing or gas related ... if not, that would leave electrical (or a flag pole / clothes line pole? ).

    Jerry Peck
    Construction/Litigation/Code Consultant - Retired
    www.AskCodeMan.com

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