Shallowly buried PVC pipe in front yard

Well, the usual questions - e. g. is it near a water line, near your property line, that kinda thing. Any idea what it was hauling?

It's on my property line, but crosses at the 45 degree angle. No idea what it might carry....I'm thinking of calling Miss Utility but don't think they'll tell me unless I'm planning to dig....I suppose I could say I was planning to put in some shrubs or something.

depending on where you live, you prolly need to contact someone like digsafe before unearthing anything on your property...

If you've already followed in to the house, see where and to what it attaches.
Then find where it comes out. (At the gutter of the four-lane?)

I'm betting it's a drain, probably somebody got tired of the rain coming down through the downspout and then pooling right by the edge of asphalt sidewalk.
Or maybe they figured out that's what would happen if they put in the asphalt sidewalk .

There may not even be a downspout, it could be there was a spot near the house where water pooled after a rain and they put in a couple layers of gravel for the water to soak through (like a French Drain) and put in the 1 1/2 or 2" PVC line just to give any extra water a place to go. Rather than under the house and into your foundation.

Let us know what you find out.

Joe(maybe I'm all wet)Nation

Sounds likely, but it's kind of shallow even for that. Also, the diameter is a little small, but the owner at the time probably didn't know what he was doing. Conventional perforated pvc for the purpose usually runs to around 4"

One possibility is a lawn drainage system. Some yards have water problems and they put some drains in and route the water to the street. I didn't think they used PVC but that is one possibility. Does the pipe look like it leads to a street drain?

did you look to see if it feeds a lawn sprinkler system?

Could also be a conduit for another utility.

Its too shallow for a water pipe, a lottle small for a drain pipe, too big for a sprinkler, perhaps its a conduit for a cable.

Rap

It could be a water system pipe done incorrectly if I understand it - which maybe I don't.
It sounds not perforated, and perforated landscape drains that I have been familiar with have been larger, black, and wrapped in gravel/saran.
I've seen irrigation mains at 1 1/2" plenty of times (hundreds or thousands) so that is what I guess it is, but they are set lower and meet via fittings at a point of connection with the water main to the house, where you will see gate valves and this and that.
I confess ignorance to white perforated drains without gravel surrounds.


I dug out my old specs re landscape water lines -

"All pressure mainline shall be buried a minimum of 18". Non-pressure lateral lines shall be embedded a minimum of 12"."

I did not snap to how big the pipe is. I lean to the drain notion, perhaps from a gutter, originally.

Yeah, me too, edgar, I think this was a homemade job, hence the improper materials, and the thought that the water would have a chance of getting to the street.

Joe(I know what we'll do, Earl..... .)Nation

At 1.5 to 2" it could be a sump pump outlet, buried to go to the street. Some cities require that sump pumps go to storm drains so it isn't draining into the sewer system. Rather than having the drain hose run across the lawn, it could have been buried.

So I've called Miss Utility under the pretext of planting some shrubbery. But it will take them a couple days to get around to marking. If that fails to identify it, then I may attempt further discovery. It is not perforated and doesn't come out of the ground anywhere I can see especially near a downspout. It also goes under the asphalt sidewalk and doesn't reappear on the other side as I can tell, nor does it seem to open out on the street (no outlet).

It may be an amateur job, but it would have been done by so-called professionals. My home is a luxury townhouse built by a well-respected builder (NV Homes). Home is only five years old and I'm the first owner.

Anyway, by tomorrow evening, Miss Utility should have done her work and I'll let you all know. Thanks for all the suggestions.

Let us know when you have an answer to ....
{insert chilling Saturday morning matinee organ music here}

The Case of the PVC Pipe

"A drainage pipe, you say? Sounds like maybe it"

<puts on sunglasses>

"wasn't on the level."

That should be
The Case of the Buried PVC Pipe

dun dun duuuunnn,

~
Okay. Nice new home, so maybe not an amateur job.
Now I'm betting it's a drain for the sump pump if you've got one (good one, Parados)
OR
it's a drain for your water heater (attached to the emergency pop-off valve).

Every homeowner should go around their entire property and look at what's hooked up to the house and where it comes through into the basement or crawl space. They should know where the city water comes in and where the drain(s) go out. (Sometimes in a big house you'll have a drain /waste pipe coming from each bathroom and the kitchen (and the laundry all snaking across the lawn to get to city sewer).

In Texas, many years ago there was a drought, not as bad as this recent one, but bad. No one was allowed to water their lawn.
Not on alternate days,
not at night,
not from your well,
not no how,
but Woody, my friend, had this nice green lawn
(full of weeds and Bermuda grass battling it out in the caliche dust.) .
Someone complained.
The cops came.
"HellifIknow" was his answer.
They gave him a ticket.
He called the Water Department.
They asked if the green grass was over a cesspool?
"Don't have one."
They asked if it was near where the city water pipe came in.
"HellifIknow" was his answer.

They came out.
It was.
Near the city water pipe which was leaking about ten to twenty gallons a day.

Joe(then he knew and his water bill dropped by 75%)Nation

So, none of the public utilities laid claim to the pipe, so I had to do some more exploratory digging. The pipe is marked "200 PSI PR Water at 73 degrees F PVC 1120" and other markings. It does not appear perforated but was difficult to see.

Now I do have a sump pump and it does come out of the house in the front yard and then pours into a "catcher" that takes the water underground via a 2" PVC and angles off. It would intersect my mystery pipe at about a perpindicular angle very near a tree in my front.

So I'm about 80% certain that the mystery pipe is the tail end of the sump pump drainage. It either drains into a sewer or storm drain pipe underground or has been routed at an angle thru my front yard to "self-water" the plants there as well as distribute the water broadly so it doesn't readily drain back.

Last question ... I've noticed that the sump pump water fills its 'catcher' pipe quickly to overflowing and then drains very slowly. I guess I'd expect this if the pipe was designed to allow the water to slowly seep into the ground, but it is not peforated nor "black, and wrapped in gravel/saran" as Ossobucco indicated is typical. Therefore I'm thinking it perhaps more likely to drain into a storm drain or sewer and the slow drain is because it is clogged? Is this something I should try to fix ... maybe run a snake down the pipe to try to break up the clog? The "catcher" pipe is not covered so leaves and debris could easily get down in there.

bookmark

When the city was trying to verify my assertion that my drains are directly connected to the storm drains out front, they put some food dye in my yard drains and watched for it in the storm drain. You could try that.