pipe inside a storm line?

[pow44126]

Hello,

I know the pic is not the greatest but the pipe is several feet down and I haven't been able to take a better one. I'm wondering if anyone can tell me what the pipe visible in the cleanout might be? The pipe appears to have some patina on it. It is not the current water intake because I have found that elsewhere.

This cleanout pipe near the sidewalk appears to be for the gutters. A plumber that was hired to help with another problem told me about the pipe visible inside the cleanout and implied that it was the city's fault. I should have asked additional details but I did not have time.

1930's house. I'm told that it was an old farmhouse and probably one of the first houses in the neighborhood. I've lived here 15 years with no plumbing updates. Everything is terra cotta pipe. My gutters are sealed off with concrete because of the city's rules. The city main sewer and storm lines are combined and long ago they required everyone to disconnect the gutters from the storm lines to prevent flooding. I'm told this is not a sewer line cleanout. The actual pipe is approx. 6ft down but I did not uncover enough of it to confirm diameter.

Any ideas or educated guesses would be appreciated.

 

[Mr_David]

Do you Seriously think anyone here is going to have any Idea what it is.
You say that place was built in 1930. There is no telling what others may have added or modified in that time frame.

It's only 6ft deep. All depends how much you really want to know what it is.

 

[pow44126]

Do you Seriously think anyone here is going to have any Idea what it is.
You say that place was built in 1930. There is no telling what others may have added or modified in that time frame.

It's only 6ft deep. All depends how much you really want to know what it is.

You don't have any suggestions that help. Thanks for taking the time to let me know. Do you know for sure that none of the other 14,359 members on here don't have a suggestion? I'm posting this on a plumbing forum. Maybe someone with 20 or 30 years of plumbing experience with older homes has encountered something similar before. Doesn't hurt to ask does it?

The pipe in question is almost within reach now because I've already had to dig for other reasons. I'm willing to do the additional digging and cut the cleanout so that I can actually touch the pipe if it would help. But how will that help? Will knowing the pipe is copper confirm it was an old water intake? Maybe its lead or iron. Does that also mean it has to be an old water intake? Can't tell the exact diameter of the pipe in question but it cant be more than a few inches. What else could it be other than an old intake? If it was an intake, I can't understand how it would have gotten into the basement without compromising the storm pipe. Maybe it ran up and out the gutter pipe and connected somehow. Wonder if this would theoretically help protect against freezing during the winter, that might explain it.

My biggest concern is that this is somehow causing me a problem that I am not yet aware of or could cause me a big problem in the future. Being able to figure out what this is now could help me down the road. Cutting into the actual pipe seems like a terrible idea.

 

[Chris]

Does this pipe run across the clay pipe? I don't see it.

A common problem I deal with is fiber optics like Verizon or whoever does communications bore their pipes and run into sewer all the time. I have fixed several of these. Just something to think about.