I have seen a mystery pipe in two different houses now, both built in the early 1900s, and am wondering if anyone can identify its purpose.
The pipe is 3″ threaded steel with the top threaded end of the pipe in the attic crawl space (although an extension might have penetrated the roof in the past) and the bottom end terminating in a tee with 3″ x 3″ x 3/4″ hubs. The 3/4″ threaded hub points down and is connected to a pipe which ends in the basement ceiling. It looks like it might be a drain of some sort. The side 3″ threaded hub has nothing attached to it. In both cases, the tee ends in a soffit above one wall of the kitchen.
Any ideas on what this might have been used for?
Thanks!
– Jim
Replies
Anti hammer air pocket device. That cushion of air is to prevent the sudden stoppage of flow from causing a "whump" when a faucet is closed.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Well, I'm not sure about that. I've seen the air dampers - usually a larger pipe (say, 1") about 12 to 18 inches long on a tee with the run size pipe (say, 1/2") on bottom and side.This pipe, however, is about 15 FEET long, and the side port on the tee is 3 inches, not 3/4" like the bottom port. The missing horizontal pipe in the kitchen would have to have been 3" diameter.Thank you for your help. - Jim
Old vent then maybe..hell, I just guess at that there plumbing stuff..good luck. Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
This pipe, however, is about 15 FEET long, and the side port on the tee is 3 inches, not 3/4" like the bottom port.
I am with you. It's a BIG anti-hammer air pocket device.
Orig plumber had a small..?
I thought his 3" was a typo..sounds like a rain collecter after all. Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
In an older house we had a ciestern type of holding tank in the attic to collect rain water and used for washing. This could be a possiblity.
The hundred year old houses here had attic cisterns for water, but even the largest of these houses, only had 1-1/2" lead pipes to disperse it. BTW, These were not for rainwater. The rainwater ones are usually in the cellar. The attic ones are supply tanks. The early well pumps were one lung Faibanks -Morse . Very loud engines that you diodn't want running all day, so they would fire it up every AM to fill the attic cistern, shut it off, and let gravity supply the water all day.
I never saw a 3" lead to disperse it, but that is my assumption. usually, when the tanks are removed, some vestige remains. I have salvaged a lot of great 2" x 18" pine boards from them though. The tank itself would be lined with zinc or lead
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Had a mystery pipe in a 3 flat I lived in years ago.
I figured it was the drain line for the ice boxes
that were built into the pantries. The ice was loaded
outside from the poarch.
Correct-a-mundo! Same thing in my Chicago two flat. Both kitchens on the same ice box drain line, which was vented thru to the roof and terminated in the basement.
Really handy if you need a new wire chase from the basement up to the kitchen.
Both residences are single family homes with one kitchen each, and the open 3" hub on the tee is about seven feet above the kitchen floor. Is there a way that an icebox could use a drain that high? (No outside ice filling, by the way; these are interior walls.)The owner is an amateur radio operator, and is looking at the pipe with interest for antenna feeds!
Edited 9/28/2005 2:34 pm ET by JimEngr
-- Some sort of flue (though 3" is a bit small for that). The 3/4" line would be for draining condensation.
-- An old pipe for a hot-water system, heated with the kitches stove. Presumably there would have been a tank in the attic. 3" piping would have improved the "gravity flow" of the hot water into the tank. However, one would expect two pipes in such a setup.
-- Connection for a water tank in the attic, as someone suggested. However, 3" is awfully large for this.
It would be worthwhile to examine the attic floor (and nearby framing) for signs of a former tank of some sort, and examine the roof sheathing for signs of a former roof penetration.
Also note anything (old coal furnace, etc) that the bottom pipe may have been near to, and any signs of a former connection to it.
i recently bought a house built in 1925 and found the same pipe u describe here in my kitchen wall.it goes all the way through the roof and from the outside looks identical to the sewer stack. im very curious and wonder if u found an explanation.?
Ice box drain
As previously discussed, drain and vent for Ice Box. You may still find the opening from the outside where ice was loaded.