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Purchased this house last week and the previous owners also did not know what it was. The pipe is heavy duty and set in concrete. There's water about halfway up the length of the pipe, but I haven't tested the depth.

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UPDATE: it was definitely an early generation giant satellite dish. Not only did we find 2 buried coax cables running towards the house when we removed it, I've since spotted several other such remnant poles in backyards across town.

Drew
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    Flagpole? They have been known to be stolen... – Harper - Reinstate Monica Apr 03 '18 at 16:18
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    You should do something about that standing water. Mosquitoes breed in such. – Brock Adams Apr 03 '18 at 16:33
  • If it was a vent pipe I don't think it would be set in concrete. Did you look around the neighborhood for similar pipes? Where I live there there are old poles made of used track from the coal mines. – Keith McClary Apr 03 '18 at 17:35
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    I strongly suspect that this pipe used to have a very large dog tied to it – Valorum Apr 03 '18 at 19:02
  • Can we get a closeup of the top? It looks like it was broken off, so originally might have been much longer. – PlasmaHH Apr 03 '18 at 20:25
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    Side note: If you aren't going to remove the pole, a tennis ball or racquetball can cheaply plug the hole to avoid creating a mosquito habitat. – bta Apr 03 '18 at 22:52
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    The fact that it's set in concrete suggests that it was meant for supporting something, and it's not a pipe for water, gas, sewage or whatever. – Mike Baranczak Apr 04 '18 at 01:01
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    Don't assume that the string/cord is from the original purpose. – Criggie Apr 04 '18 at 09:05
  • I'm curious about the pointy bit at the top. seems like an arrow pointing at some directions or a cable feed. It seems to go all the way down – Tschallacka Apr 04 '18 at 09:58
  • the thing on the end of the line does look like it was used for a dog run. – aaron Apr 04 '18 at 16:58
  • @Tschallacka -- What "pointy bit on top"? The pipe is roughly cut, but there's nothing resembling a "point". (Or are you confused by the fence gate in the yard behind it?) – Hot Licks Apr 05 '18 at 01:57
  • @HotLicks Pointy bit that's what I mean. Doesn't seem to follow the fence tilt and seems to be part of the pipe. – Tschallacka Apr 05 '18 at 06:03
  • @Tschallacka - There's a jagged piece on the front edge that sticks up higher than the rear edge and makes it look like there's an odd formation near the top of the pipe. But it's just that. If there were an intentional "pointy bit" on the pipe there would be some sign of welding, etc. – Hot Licks Apr 05 '18 at 11:59

5 Answers5

50

Since the pole is so thick and there's only one of them, it could have been the base of a satellite dish - like one of the old 8' dishes (big, not sure of exact measurements).

enter image description here

The height is about right for that, and it's kinda short for a clothesline.

It filling with water is just from the rain. I've never seen anything plumbing or well related that looks like that.

JPhi1618
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    I think this is a great guess. A dish there would have an unobstructed view of the southern sky. – Drew Apr 03 '18 at 14:01
  • @Drew, my grandfathers house still has a dish like that in the back yard - he's never taken it down. – JPhi1618 Apr 03 '18 at 14:02
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    Is that a ground wire wrapped around the base. – Kris Apr 03 '18 at 14:08
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    @Kris, no, if you look at it you can see the rusted remnants of a D-ring on a loop at the end of the cable. This vinyl covered braided wire rope is commonly sold for dog runs like this. – JPhi1618 Apr 03 '18 at 14:11
  • heh, good point. i forgot these things existed! – aaron Apr 03 '18 at 14:50
  • I seriously doubt a cast-iron post was ever installed for satellite dishes. This one predates the satellite era, in my estimation. – isherwood Apr 03 '18 at 15:21
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    @isherwood, why do you think that's cast iron, and not weathered steel? That picture looks a lot like a post that's set in the back yard of a house that I own, and the one in my back yard is steel for sure. Like the OP, I don't know what the original purpose was, but it does have a clear view of the southern sky, and it has been used to support one end of a laundry line in recent years, and it also has been used to support a bird feeder. – Solomon Slow Apr 03 '18 at 16:19
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    The way it's broken and the thickness of the wall point to cast iron. Steel doesn't crack off like that, and is rarely that thick. This question is essentially asking for educated guess with no way to confirm. That's mine. – isherwood Apr 03 '18 at 16:40
  • @jameslarge I agree with isherwood, looks like cast iron to me as well. Which doesn't necessarily rule out a mounting post for a sat-dish. If a previous tenant just happened to have that pole lying around when he needed one. Stick it in the ground, pour some dry cement around and let's call it a day. – Tonny Apr 03 '18 at 19:02
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    Not that I'm trying to strengthen my answer - it is just a guess - but I have a metal ranch fence made out of pipe similar to that in the picture. It's pretty thick, and where it's been cut with a torch it does look "broken" like the top of this pipe, but it's just a jagged cut. I'd assume like @Tonny said that whatever this was for, it could have been a scrap pipe that was laying around that got repurposed. – JPhi1618 Apr 03 '18 at 19:11
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    Yeah, the pipe doesn't look broken, just sloppily cut. – Hot Licks Apr 03 '18 at 21:43
  • I've seen what appeared to be cast iron (it needed to be painted) used for a satellite dish support before, but the dish was mounted much higher than this one. (Wind + moment arm--the pole needed to be pretty strong!) – Loren Pechtel Apr 03 '18 at 23:01
  • I'll add that we had a sat-dish at my old home, got rid of it and the remains were exactly like the pictures (including sloppy cut lol). We then used the pole for a dog run. – interesting-name-here Apr 04 '18 at 13:59
23

My vote is that it is for a clothes line/rack. Water is just accumulated over the years from rain.

Example 1:
Woman hanging clothes on outdoor rack

Example 2: Kids swinging on outdoor rack

brichins
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aaron
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    That's a fair guess, but it would be the most overbuilt clothes line rack pole I've ever seen! That pipe is almost a half inch thick! And there isn't a corresponding pipe elsewhere on the property. – Drew Apr 03 '18 at 12:30
  • How far from the house is this? My guess is the other end was the house. What type of “string” or ”line” is the wound around the base? – Tyson Apr 03 '18 at 12:44
  • Quite far. The lot is just under a half acre and this is near the NW corner. – Drew Apr 03 '18 at 14:00
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    If it was a for a clothes rack instead of a line, it wouldn't need a second pole/proximity to a house. Also the height just has to be enough to insert the rack, which could have its own pole. My parents-in-law's house had a rack in their back yard on an 8x8 concrete pad, so, sometimes things are just overbuilt? – stannius Apr 03 '18 at 14:48
  • Cast iron was common in the days of outdoor laundry, and with 5-6 tensioned cables pulling on them, the posts needed to be robust. I think this is most likely the right answer. – isherwood Apr 03 '18 at 15:21
  • @Tyson That is clothes line - plastic-coated stranded steel wire. – Andrew Morton Apr 03 '18 at 17:24
  • @AndrewMorton that was my guess, I was trying not to use baiting words in my question. I now think JPh1618 hit the nail on the head with his answer. – Tyson Apr 03 '18 at 17:33
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    Looks like base of part of umbrella-style drying rack: https://www.bestdryingrack.com/images-new/heavy-duty-Rotary-clothesline-with-woman.jpg – Bald Bear Apr 03 '18 at 19:11
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    @BaldBear My great-grandparents house (still in the family until recently) has a pole mounted just like this in the back yard, holding a clothes rack similar to the image you linked. Decades ago (ever since an indoor electric/gas dryer was common) they gave up on keeping kids from swinging on it and added hanging seats on each arm. Very fun for young kids and a classic example of their generation's frugality in re-purposing things. – brichins Apr 03 '18 at 20:19
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    My great-grandparents house has a clothesline in the backyard using exactly this type of seemingly-overkill pole (been there since at least the 1950's). It could hold enough wet laundry for the weight to pull the pole off of plumb, which could explain the OP's concrete. – bta Apr 03 '18 at 23:01
  • Given its apparent age, I'd vote for this over the satelite dish. I've been in yards where the pole in the middle of the yard was removed but the one on the side was not because it's a pain in the wazoo to remove them, and the picture shows it near the property line. The poles I saw were just that thick, too. – JBH Apr 04 '18 at 21:49
8

Remnant of a basketball pole, maybe?

MarkL
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0

It could b a fill tube to an underground oil tank. If it rusts/rusted and has/had oil in it ground contamination is worse than mosquito breeding

Wayaway
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Perhaps used for grounding ? It must work specially when in touch with water or wet earth.

user84347
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