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My house was built in the 1950s. I was redoing my bathroom, and I noticed there was a pipe coming out of my pipe. Someone tapped onto the 1/2 inch cold-water faucet bib. What could be the reason for this? Whatever was on the other side of the tap isn't there anymore it was copper tube crimped and bent over.

Faucet tap

I know it's just speculation, but why?

Evan Carroll
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  • For the steam generator. You do have a steam room, right? Was it on the hot or cold line? Humidifiers and ice makers have different preferences. – HABO Mar 28 '23 at 19:22
  • was the cold line – Evan Carroll Mar 28 '23 at 19:23
  • Perhaps a bidet? – Ray Butterworth Mar 28 '23 at 22:43
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    @RayButterworth I've never met a cold water only bidet and hope not to, but I suppose it could be British. Or might have an instant water heater. The line might be for an instant water dispenser adjacent to the throne for the King's/Queen's tea whilst pondering the issues of the subjects. – HABO Mar 30 '23 at 15:23
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    I’m voting to close this question because "You should only ask practical, answerable questions based on actual problems that you face. Chatty, open-ended questions diminish the usefulness of our site and push other questions off the front page." There is no way of providing an answer to this without finding a previous owner of the house who has the answer in hand. Anything else is pure speculation, and there's no practical, correct answer to this question. – FreeMan Mar 31 '23 at 13:50

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We had two of those in the Midwestern home I grew up in. One was to feed a humidifier installed in the furnace duct and the other one was for the ice maker for the refridge. Back then, those appliances weren't pre-plumbed.

JACK
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  • I really like the humidifier theory in the furnace... that makes the most sense imho. The only thing I could come up with was a ice machine in the bathroom. Your theory makes more sense. Especially being it shared a wall with the bedroom. So perhaps that explains it. – Evan Carroll Mar 28 '23 at 19:16
  • @EvanCarroll It could also have been for a bidet. – JACK Mar 28 '23 at 19:25
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Really, it could be for any reason - you'll probably never know. Humidifier, ice maker, instant hot water maker (coffee, tea, soup, etc). Why they chose the bathroom is also a question. By the way, those are quick, DIY devices. I never use them because they eventually leak and are usually in places where you don't realize it's leaking - good riddance.

Brian Miller
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  • yep, re-pexing that vertical drop. good riddance is right. that unionized plumbing labor from Texas in the 1950s, good horror story. – Evan Carroll Mar 28 '23 at 19:16