Old copper pipe from bathroom to outside, any ideas?

cosh25

I am in the middle of digging out and levelling my back yard. I have found a old copper pipe coming from the bathroom to outside. Any ideas what it is for as it has just been placed under the concrete and will need moving. TIA (pics below)

FreeBear

Either cold water feed to the bathroom, or it goes off to a stand pipe out in the garden. You need to find both ends and see if they are sealed. Do not go cutting the pipe just in case (it might even be gas).

Simonon77

Does it connect to anything on the inside of the bathroom? 

cosh25

Simonon77 said:

Does it connect to anything on the inside of the bathroom? 

I can’t get the bath panel off, but luckily have some pictures from when the bathroom was done last year. It connects like the below picture. I had a new stop !!!!!! added under the sink so one in the picture is old. 

cosh25

FreeBear said:

Either cold water feed to the bathroom, or it goes off to a stand pipe out in the garden. You need to find both ends and see if they are sealed. Do not go cutting the pipe just in case (it might even be gas).

Thanks 😊 i need to try and find where it leads to in the yard when I have more time as it suddenly dips off and I lost it 

cerebus

I suspect you've answered your own question 

You mentioned you had a new rising main fitted last year under the sink , well that pipe that comes in is probably the old rising main and is no longer in use.

Is the stop !!!!!! that's connected to the pipe open or closed - closed the pipe is no longer in use - open then it's still in use and you need to find out it's function 

cerebus

Oh hang on , having a second look the right hand end of the pipe is capped - that pipe probably is the incoming rising main to your house and the stopcock has simply been moved to make it more accessible 

If I'm right do not cut or attempt to move that pipe unless you know where the outside stopcock is!

It's also possible that pipe is the responsibility of the water board too 

Section62

cerebus said:

Oh hang on , having a second look the right hand end of the pipe is capped - that pipe probably is the incoming rising main to your house and the stopcock has simply been moved to make it more accessible

It would be unusual (aka a total bodge) to use 15mm copper laid that shallow for the supply pipe.  That doesn't mean it is impossible, just that extra care needs to be taken to work out what is going on here.  And if it is the supply pipe, then it ought to be replaced with something more durable.

cerebus said:

If I'm right do not cut or attempt to move that pipe unless you know where the outside stopcock is!

It would be a bad idea to cut the pipe without knowing what it is in any event.  As Freebear suggested earlier there is a possibility the pipe outside might be gas, and I also wouldn't entirely rule out the possibility of an electric cable inside either. It needs carefully checking to make sure the water pipe on the inside is connected to the pipe outside, then isolate it from the water supply (including any storage tank), before contemplating cutting anything.

cerebus said:

It's also possible that pipe is the responsibility of the water board too 

Water company responsibility almost always stops at the property boundary, so it is unlikely this pipe is their responsibility, unless the OP's outside pictures were taken in the street.

cerebus

Not entirely correct,  it depends on the water company , my water board look after my supply pipe up to where it enters my house which is handy as it developed a leak last year and was repaired free of charge 

Section62

cerebus said:

Not entirely correct,  it depends on the water company , my water board look after my supply pipe up to where it enters my house which is handy as it developed a leak last year and was repaired free of charge 

Some water companies carry out free repairs on privately owned supply pipes, but that isn't the same as them being responsible for them.

What I said is correct, because I made the point of saying "almost always" to allow for some special cases where the water company has responsibility beyond the boundary.  But the norm, as I said, is for the water company responsibility to end where the supply pipe crosses the boundary.

If you know of a water company who have responsibility for the supply pipe in all cases within their operational area then it would be useful if you could name them.

JohnB47

I'm wondering if that pipe was laid to supply water to a decorative fountaIn/ pond outside.

Is there not a meter outside somewhere where the water supply to the property could be disconnected?