Mystery Pipe sticking straight up from basement floor.

hbg1990

i was asking my wastewater buddy if he had a submersible camera, but apparently its bad practice to borrow the companies. When I drop the bolt attached to the string it drops fairly straight as far as i can see. it gets caught on something about five feet down, but then drops fast and hard. until the bottom at about 18 ft. it doest feel like the bolt is "swinging" around in a vacant pocket.

Fred

It's not going to swing, when dropped down that pipe and water in a cistern is very still. Eighteen feet seems pretty deep fopr a cistern. Maybe a dug well? Did the bolt seem to hit a solid bottom, like concrete? A bolt may not be heavy enough to tell. If you have one of those old weights like they used to use in double hung windows, that would be ideal.

hbg1990

yes, that would be sweet, i tried an old lead line from a long liner but it didnt fit. i used a 8 inch bolt, it dropped like a rock, and hit something wicked solid. i could have been concrete. but its hard bottom, there doesnt seem to be any give.

JUGHNE

A rainwater cistern would have to have a way for the rain to enter. The few I have seen have a connection to the rain gutter downspouts. Some had a diverter wye to rinse the roof off and then you would switch it over to send the water to the cistern.
There would be 1 or 2 underground pipes to the cistern outside where the rain gutter downspouts would have been.

It would be a bit unnerving to have this under your house.
All I have seen were outside next to the house. However you could pipe it to come into the house.
But the depth of yours doesn't seem to fit that scenario.

nicholas bonham-carter

Some religious orders require any left over sacramental wine to be put down a special drain to the ground, and not into a regular sewer.—NBC

Leon82

Apparently a stand pipe more than a couple feet would cause a buckle in the concrete floor from what I have read now that I was curious.

JUGHNE

Nicholas, for a church remodel years ago, I actually installed an outside "French Drain" just for that reason.
Another church I work at has explicit directions for disposing of the left over wine....some one has to drink it after the services.
I understand they have to ask for a volunteer of the lay persons who assisted in the service....Morgan David …...ugg.

nicholas bonham-carter

Waste not want not!!—NBC

Fred

They are probably asking for lay volunteers because, as I understand it, many of the clergy became alcoholics as a result of regular consumption of the blood (wine). Seems they portioned out far more than was needed for communion.

JUGHNE

The lay persons actually distribute communion.

What about aged altar boys? (it was really bad wine)

Fred

JUGHNE said:

The lay persons actually distribute communion.

What about aged altar boys? (it was really bad wine)

If you're an alcoholic, I don't think there is such a thing as "really bad wine"

JUGHNE

Jackmartin

You have answered your own question. You say you are on a field for waste. The municipality did not supply sewer at the time the house was built ,do you really think they would supply city water. The city put in water supply for you because you would not be able to get water from a well ( which is what that pipe is for) without a brackish taste in some seasons or weather conditions. We had a hand pump at the farm exactly like yours it supplied the kitchen sink and only the kitchen sink if you wanted water elsewhere it was like my old man said, fill a bucket. Think of how low the pipe is ,18 feet, with your hieght of water table that close to the ocean they did not have to drill far for water, lousy water, but still water. The problem with capping it is will it cause hydraulic pressure under your floor and heave it? I would suggest just leave it alone and just in case have someone from your municipality come by and test it for noxious fumes. No fumes just forget about it and invest the time in your kids, all the best Jack

ChrisJ

Jackmartin said:

You have answered your own question. You say you are on a field for waste. The municipality did not supply sewer at the time the house was built ,do you really think they would supply city water. The city put in water supply for you because you would not be able to get water from a well ( which is what that pipe is for) without a brackish taste in some seasons or weather conditions. We had a hand pump at the farm exactly like yours it supplied the kitchen sink and only the kitchen sink if you wanted water elsewhere it was like my old man said, fill a bucket. Think of how low the pipe is ,18 feet, with your hieght of water table that close to the ocean they did not have to drill far for water, lousy water, but still water. The problem with capping it is will it cause hydraulic pressure under your floor and heave it? I would suggest just leave it alone and just in case have someone from your municipality come by and test it for noxious fumes. No fumes just forget about it and invest the time in your kids, all the best Jack

Hi Jack,
Our house has had "city water" since 1881, but there were no sewers in the area until 1910. So it's not unheard of to supply water, but not sewer.

We also have a stone cistern under the kitchen which has been dry for a very long time. I believe a gutter was piped into it at one time, likely pre-1881.

Zman

I grew up (more or less ) on Cape Cod. I have been in many of those old basements. Unless you are looking at something on the Kennedy Compound or other "old money" areas like Osterville, the construction at that time was very "value oriented".

One thing I can say for sure, no one in the 1950's or 60's dug 18' below a house basement to put in a cistern. To dig a hole like that would have required pretty specialized equipment at that time. I also don't think they would have intentionally pushed waste water of any sort deep into the ground (they were cheap but not stupid).

Many of those older homes originally had a shallow well in the basement that was basically a pipe driven into the ground. I think
you are looking at one of those.

KC_Jones

ChrisJ said:

Jackmartin said:

You have answered your own question. You say you are on a field for waste. The municipality did not supply sewer at the time the house was built ,do you really think they would supply city water. The city put in water supply for you because you would not be able to get water from a well ( which is what that pipe is for) without a brackish taste in some seasons or weather conditions. We had a hand pump at the farm exactly like yours it supplied the kitchen sink and only the kitchen sink if you wanted water elsewhere it was like my old man said, fill a bucket. Think of how low the pipe is ,18 feet, with your hieght of water table that close to the ocean they did not have to drill far for water, lousy water, but still water. The problem with capping it is will it cause hydraulic pressure under your floor and heave it? I would suggest just leave it alone and just in case have someone from your municipality come by and test it for noxious fumes. No fumes just forget about it and invest the time in your kids, all the best Jack

Hi Jack,
Our house has had "city water" since 1881, but there were no sewers in the area until 1910. So it's not unheard of to supply water, but not sewer.

We also have a stone cistern under the kitchen which has been dry for a very long time. I believe a gutter was piped into it at one time, likely pre-1881.

This still goes on, come to where I live and I can show you houses with this set up, and it was just done within the past few years. Water supply and no sewer available.

Alan Muller

Sounds like a driven well to me. 2.5 feet above floor level is a reasonable height for a pitcher pump. 18 feet is too deep for a typical cistern. Have you used a plumb bob to see if the overhead hole is directly over the mystery pipe? That hole might be related to driving the well, or pulling the well. Might have been done when the house was under construction,especially if the hole is in the subfloor but not the finish floor. If it were mine I'd probably cap it off.

Do you know the previous history of the lot? Might the well date from a previous occupation?

WELLMAN

i am a licensed well driller. it sounds like a point type well that was used for dewatering or irrigation. I remember they were popular during the drought in 65/66. They work well in sandy soil.