Sprinklers - riddle me this

[41magsnub]

Moved into a new house a few months ago.  The sprinklers work great, there are 6 zones that make sense (5 lawn sprinkler and 1 drip line).  However, there is a 7th valve that ends in a 1" pvc pipe aimed straight up flush with the ground next to the foundation.  The valve is not near the other 6 valves, it is actually buried in dirt outside of the control box, between it and the house.  Nothing is attached to it and there are no gaps in sprinkler coverage.  There is nothing laying around that may have been connected to, and it either never had anything attached or did and was cut off very cleanly.  If that zone runs, it just creates a fountain right next to the foundation/backflow preventer.  It was programmed in the controller to run for 1 minute.  I am totally lost as to what the point of it could have been.  I set it to 0 run time in the controller and next time I dig anything up I will cap it off/pull the wires.

Any ideas what it might be for?  Some kind of bizarre arrangement for blowing the sprinklers out?  The pipe is not threaded or anything.  There are the standard fittings on the backflow preventer most people use for blow out purposes.

Note, there is no water damage in the basement next to the sprinkler box and the foundation is not settling.

[zahc]

Where do you live? Some people water their foundations with soaker hoses

[41magsnub]

Where do you live? Some people water their foundations with soaker hoses

Montana..  never heard of watering a foundation :)

[Monkeyleg]

Are there any plants near that stub of a pipe? I'm thinking that someone cut off a head for some reason, and didn't know how to cap it, or the cap blew off at some point.

The previous owner installed a system in my front yard, and I've found heads I didn't know existed before. The pipe joints aren't all 90 degrees. Some are 20, or 40, or 60 degrees and make no sense.

[Unisaw]

Could it be a stub to provide for future expansion of the system and the person who programmed the system forgot to zero out that zone?

[HankB]

Montana..  never heard of watering a foundation :)

Some places have unstable soil - the idea is that if it dries out too much, it will shrink, heave, and crack the foundation.

[BobR]

Some places have unstable soil - the idea is that if it dries out too much, it will shrink, heave, and crack the foundation.

SW Oklahoma,you water the clay around your outside walls to keep it from shrinking in the summer and causing your exterior walls to move. You may not water your grass but you water your house. 


bob

[Fly320s]

It may be a clean out/blow out valve to get the water out of the pipes before winter.

[griz]

The Russians have hacked your sprinkler system.

[Brad Johnson]

I set it to 0 run time in the controller and next time I dig anything up I will cap it off/pull the wires.

Any ideas what it might be for?  Some kind of bizarre arrangement for blowing the sprinklers out?  The pipe is not threaded or anything.  There are the standard fittings on the backflow preventer most people use for blow out purposes.

It may have been a dedicated tap for a flower bed that used to be there (or never came to fruition).

I'm big on not removing capability unless it's absolutely necessary. Rather than capping the stub why not put a standard spigot on it? Close the spigot and it's capped. Open the spigot and you can run a hose-connected whatever, if needed, with the benefit of timer control. It also allows you to open the line so you can occasionally exercise the valve and blow stagnant water out of the line.

Brad

[230RN]

I was going to suggest a line for a capped-off outside hose connection for washing car, doing windows, whatnot, but it was put on the sprinkler system just for convenience, since that is where al the outside plumbing was to be installed anyhow?

Someone hit the valve and blew the existing cap off.  Might have been loosely fixed on the pipe for conveniebnt later installation of a hosecock.

[41magsnub]

There is a spigot on the backflow preventer already.  Mostly I am confused by the placement of it and the part where the valve is just buried, it is outside of the sprinkler box.

[230RN]

I've acquired a lot of little unsolvable mysteries over the years.  I learned to ignore 'em if they have no significant impact on my existence.

Curiosity persists, but fixation does not.