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  • Mystery pipe - what could it be?!

    Ok, I know the answer to this is to ask a professional but I'm curious as to whether anyone here can suggest anything, as I'm stumped!

    Further to my investigations of my new house, I was having a little explore round another blocked off fireplace just now (I've only made a little hole in the wall, honest guv!) when I started wondering what a bit of nearby pipework could be. This room is in a corner of the house, so outside walls on the two sides concerned. The pipe comes up out of the floor at one side of the chimney breast, runs all the way in front of it at ground level, round the corner and into the wall at the other side. It doesn't reappear outdoors or upstairs (that I can see). From it's appearence, I'd have said it's a central heating pipe but the radiator is on the opposite wall My second thought was that it might have been for an old gas fire but why would it run right along the chimney breast in that case? And why disappear into the wall in the apparaantly opposite direction to the gas supply

    Basically, I've got a pipe that pops up, runs around around the room for a bit and that's it!

    Any thoughts?
    I was feeling part of the scenery
    I walked right out of the machinery
    My heart going boom boom boom
    "Hey" he said "Grab your things
    I've come to take you home."

  • #2
    Seahorse
    A couple of points to ponder. The radiator is on a different wall now, but may not always have been so. Secondly the gas supply may not have always been in the position it is now.
    It is more likely to be a central heating than a gas pipe.
    A gas fire would have its flue going up the chimney, thus would usually have been placed in the fireplace. So wherever it made its appearance above ground, it would stop around the fireplace somewhere, so you would see an up pipe, which then stopped, and a blocked end in the pipe (hopefully, if not dont spark up!!)
    It's difficult to give a definitive response without seeing it, but suggest CH.
    Usual legal criteria apply on reading this however!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Homesick in Sudan
    Bob Leponge
    Life's disappointments are so much harder to take if you don't know any swear words.

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    • #3
      I rented a flat once that had a Victorian fireplace with a flap above it which when closed down would force the flames to pass through the back of the fireplace (it made quite a roar!); this served to heat up the water in pipes that then circulated to the hot water tank. Would it be anything like that?
      Mark

      Vegetable Kingdom blog

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      • #4
        C'mon Seahorse, we need a picture!
        To see a world in a grain of sand
        And a heaven in a wild flower

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        • #5
          What sort of pipe is it?
          Dimensions?
          Copper? lead? pvc?
          What age is the house?

          We had a house a few years ago where a fireplace had been blocked up, along with the alcoves either side along the whole wall. We had 'lost' 3' of room along one end. We never got round to uncovering what was behind........................
          (too spooked really)
          Tx

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          • #6
            No help at all but we lived in a house in Derby where one central heating pipe went throught the concrete doorstep OUTSIDE the house - you could see where they had chiselled in and then re-concreted. Anything is possible.
            Nell

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            • #7
              Some interesting suggestions!

              Pretty sure it's copper. About 1.5cm diameter. The house is either late Victorian or Edwardian.

              I've chipped away a bit of mortar on the outside wall (I know, I know, if I keep doing stuff like this, my house will fall down!) and found what I assume is the end of it. It's open and empty, which is good news, cos (subject to professional confirmation) I can get rid of it and it won't be a bar to re-opening the fireplace

              I wonder if it might have been anything to do with some kind of back boiler? I believe you have to be careful of these when re-opening fires, just in case they're still there, waiting to explode!
              I was feeling part of the scenery
              I walked right out of the machinery
              My heart going boom boom boom
              "Hey" he said "Grab your things
              I've come to take you home."

              Comment


              • #8
                Hi Seahorse
                Your new house sounds like its providing lots of mysteries for you to solve!

                When we moved into this house we searched the kitchen for the gas supply for a cooker but couldn't find a pipe in any of the usual places. Even a gas engineer servicing the heating had a look but no joy. We concluded there was no gas in the kitchen at all but this seemed a bit strange. A couple of years later we took out the box that was covering the hot and cold water pipes and there, sticking out from the ceiling was a third capped off pipe which we think is the missing gas supply. So pipes can appear in the most unusual places. One day you'll work out where this latest discovery goes and what it does!
                Best wishes,
                Julie

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by Seahorse View Post
                  Basically, I've got a pipe that pops up, runs around around the room for a bit and that's it!

                  Any thoughts?
                  I'd suggest getting the experts in to try and capture it - having anything running round a room at random would cause me concern!
                  A simple dude trying to grow veg. http://haywayne.blogspot.com/

                  BLOG UPDATED! http://haywayne.blogspot.com/2012/01...ar-demand.html 30/01/2012

                  Practise makes us a little better, it doesn't make us perfect.


                  What would Vedder do?

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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by Seahorse
                    ...Pretty sure it's copper. About 1.5cm diameter...and found what I assume is the end of it. It's open and empty, which is good news, cos (subject to professional confirmation) I can get rid of it and it won't be a bar to re-opening the fireplace

                    I wonder if it might have been anything to do with some kind of back boiler? I believe you have to be careful of these when re-opening fires, just in case they're still there, waiting to explode!
                    Copper & 1.5cm - water or gas? Although the bit you've found is 'open' be careful as it might be sealed further along its length and just cut off at the bit you've seen? Does sound redundant though, might be easier to tell when you've opened the chimney area up.
                    To see a world in a grain of sand
                    And a heaven in a wild flower

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                    • #11
                      It's a misery wrapped in an enema!
                      Whoever plants a garden believes in the future.

                      www.vegheaven.blogspot.com Updated March 9th - Spring

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                      • #12
                        Can you blow down it ?

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                        • #13
                          Just be done with it and rip walls off and things out till you find it. This is keeping me awake at nights.
                          Almost
                          Bob Leponge
                          Life's disappointments are so much harder to take if you don't know any swear words.

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                          • #14
                            Bob! And please don't encourage me Although it wasn't quite to my taste, the house did look quite decent until I started ripping things off and making holes everywhere 'just to see'

                            Ah well, as long as nothing actually collapses or explodes, I reckon it's ok!
                            I was feeling part of the scenery
                            I walked right out of the machinery
                            My heart going boom boom boom
                            "Hey" he said "Grab your things
                            I've come to take you home."

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Get a roll of garden wire (the quite stiff stuff, not the too easy to twist stuff) and start feeding it down the pipe from outside til it stops? At least you might work out where it's blocked off?
                              I dunno, we had mystery pipes like that all over our old house, turned out the central heating had been upgraded & the house owner did it himself with that 'microbore' tiny piping & couldn't be arsed to remove the old pipe! Some of it was lead .
                              Couldn't be arsed to upgrade the gas pipe coming into the house either, just bodged it, so we had no end of bother with it!
                              Hope it ends up being nowt, and your house doesn't fall down round your ears

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