what is this thing?
 

Just like the title says...what is this thing??

Behind my house is this tall pole thing that is cemented into the ground. It sits on a concrete pad about 3 foot square. It's about 8 feet tall, maybe 6" in diameter with some sort of homemade contraption on top. In front of it is a cut off PVC pipe that goes underground and then towards the house but it does not go into the basement (and no evidence it ever did).

Anyone have any idea what this thing could be? I want to tear it up but don't know if it's something important or just a random thing the PO's put there. I've asked neighbors and even the home inspector when I bought the place and no one has a clue. Maybe one of you guys would know?

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1722808698.jpg

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Pump mount for a well?
Does the pipe go through the pad?
Guessing - don’t know.

This is what it is...a well. Looks like a deep well that uses a submersible pump. The pvc pipe to the left is probably conduit for electric.

Used for an antenna? CB or ham radio?

It might be a water testing station.
Was there ever any ground water contamination reported in your area?

Unlikely, but sometimes those are a breather pipe to release methane from an old dump underground.

No idea if it goes through the pad. The pad is probably a foot thick and not easy to dig around. But why would the pump be 8 feet in the air?

Why would it be 8 feet above ground? I'm near Lake Michigan and our current well is 23 feet deep.

Not that I'm aware of. Do you go to the township, county or state for that information?

^^^
I'd start at the township....much easier to get answers.

How old is the house?

How far back in the woods is it? Those pine trees don’t look that old.

I really don't know.

People who put wells in do things differently so maybe that's how it was done by that particular well driller.

If you have any well drilling companies in your area.....you could contact one of them and run it by them. They would be the ones who could confirm this for you. Or call an irrigation supplier and ask them for a reputable well and pump guy who you could run it by.

Government agencies....I wouldn't get them involved unless absolutely necessary.

I'm thinking some kind of gas sensor

Check out how to find major underground gas lines that run through your town

interactive public viewer of major gas lines in your town

https://pvnpms.phmsa.dot.gov/PublicViewer/

That isn’t how we complete or abandon wells around here but…

That could be an old abandoned well where at one point, someone tied into the solution gas for heating a building. This was common with drill and abandon wells back int the day.

Hold a match up to it. See if it blows up.

What makes you think that?

Meaning, please teach the rest of us what clued you in that it's a well vs. just some cobbled pipe and stuff that the dude mounted a trail cam or weather station on. What makes you think/know it's a well? That way, if someone comes across another one, they'll know.

Blast From the Past…look around for the hidden entrance…

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House was built as an underground (now basement, similar to Porsche Tech's pic) home in 1949 and the current home was built on top in 1955. Trees are an old Christmas tree patch that was planted in the 80's. This particular pipe is about 40' from the house.

My thoughts exactly. I don't want to have to get into permits and regulations. We have very shallow water table here and they are very particular about demo and contaminating the water.

This house actually was exactly this when it was started. The guy dug the basement by hand, laid the blocks and had a flat 'roof' on top and his family lived in it like that for 5-6 years before he built the rest of the house on top.

That is, or was, a common way Germans would go about building a house.

My grandfather built his house, and houses for at least 3 of his kids that way. My brother's best friend in HS had a cabin at Tahoe, his dad built it the same way

How about it was part of the irrigation used for the trees? Not a well, but what's left of a sprinkler riser? The PVC routed water to the sprinkler head?

Is there the possibility it is an old satellite dish pole that needed to be positioned at a certain point in the yard to get a signal?

I had something very similar at my house. I finally cut it down.

I'm voting this most plausible. It's also most pertinent. It doesn't matter what it was for. Rip it out.

This would make sense since he was a German immigrant. Came here as a kid pre-war.

Can't. See post below.

Thanks for everyone's suggestions. An update...it is indeed an old abandoned well. Called the township and they verified it was abandoned in 98 when the new well was drilled.

As for why it is so tall, code (or township rules) dictates it has to be capped 24" above grade within 100' of the well. Because this sits in a low spot, it had to be up in the air to get above that code.

So I can't remove it. Probably good I didn't just take a jackhammer to it. But now this is going to be a hassle to work around when all these crap trees get taken down.

Push come to shove you could always cut it off a few inches above grade....do the tree work....and then re-attach using some kind of coupling.

Use the trees to build a small log cabin around it. You're going to cut them down so might as well not have to haul them away that far.

Was it a well for water? Around these parts, old wells usually get filled in.

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Maybe this young lady can confirm whether or not it's an abandoned well ...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1722882933.jpg

I think it's TABS' secret bunker.
Pull the top off, yell down the pipe, and see if he answers.

An approved (and preferred) method for decomissioning a well around here is to fill it with concrete.

I'm assuming they intended to reuse it at some point. Or maybe capping it was fine 30 years ago. Or maybe they used it for irrigation like someone else said because this was an old peach orchard and asparagus farm. Anyhow, it doesn't sound like it needs to be filled.

From michigan.gov: "If a well is going to be used in the future, but is temporarily taken out of service at the time a replacement well is installed, it must be securely sealed and must comply with all current isolation and construction requirements."

Most wells do not "go bad" so doesn't make any sense to destroy it. At some point someone may want to try using it again. It certainly doesn't pose any threat to the planet, as long as it remains capped.

I had forgotten about the height codes, so that explains that part of it. IIRC the code here is 24" above grade and must have a back flow prevention valve installed.

I also forgot that wells are usually marked on surveys....so there's another potential resource for identification purposes.

Actually the correct way to abandon a well is to set a packer (bridge plug) then put 30’ of cement (not concrete) on top, then pressure test after 24 hours, then fill with inhibited water (anti corrosion), then cut and cap 6’ below surface, then back fill.