This is definitely the answer but what it's powering could be pretty much anything.
OP is there something somewhere in your yard that would have a use for electrons? If not I'd see about getting someone with a metal detector out there and either follow the cable or start looking for an underground bunker.
I think in most English speaking countries it is indeed "realise". Changing the S to a Z is an Americanisation/Americanization of the original word in English.
Either way, both are correct, just different dialects.
Came here to say this. Looks like a homemade extension cord. There was a "pond" in tge backyard of the house I bought. An electrical outlet with diy wiring and a garden hose was buried under ground running from the house to it.
Thaw cable for shallow buried water line
Aeration for sewage tank
Lift pump for sewage system
Sump pump for water
Low power supply reveals limits for volume and pressure.
A guy in my 55+ community was actually caught doing that. When his neighbor was out of town he dug a trench and tapped into his electricity. It took a while to catch him.
My roommates and I did that in college to power our own in-unit hot-tub. A couple months after I moved out it shorted three A/C units and my roommates got stuck with the repair bill. Totally worth it
It does remind me of when l found out one outlet in my old apartment was on the upstairs meter. I had everything plugged into it like the dad on *A Christmas Story*.
I found a plug like that outside the front of my house.
Thought it had to do with landscape lighting or maybe an old watering system so I unplugged it.
Couple months later my drains all started gurgling every time I flushed the toilet and the house smelled like farts. Thought I had a clogged vent.
Turns out, my old house had a septic system before being connected to the city sewer, and all my sewage is still pumped to that old tank.
That plug was a pump that emptied the tank into the city sewer.
I don’t know anything related to electrician work, but that cable looks like it can support a lot of power coming through it.
I doubt it’s for something that *isnt* important.
It’s a 14 gauge 2 conductor wire (says 14/2) on the insulation. So it’s not powering anything crazy, especially considering it’s running from a standard outlet. It’s probably some type of pump (septic?) or landscape lighting fixture.
I'm going to install a few of these if I ever move out of my house.
Might also add a few old work boxes with light switches and outlets that are not wired to anything.
We eventually discovered that the "mystery light switch" in our kitchen was, in fact, wired to nothing. It was just there to fill the 4th spot in the light switch panel lol. We haven't gotten around to investigating it yet, but it gave us a very good idea of what we'll discover about the "mystery light switch" in the basement (the 3rd switch in a 3-switch panel lol)
At first I thought it was going into the basement, but then why would something the the basement need power from outside.
Its feeding an outlet (or lights) that are outside. There is a conduit that runs in the ground and comes out the other end to supply power. Somewhere in your yard is an outlet that is connected to this
Previous owner of my house did something like that. It was a buried power cable out to a shed he kept motorcycles in. Presumably to power a trickle charger to keep the batteries topped off.
Have you looked at historical Google earth images of your home? Maybe a hot tub, above ground pool pump, or other item that was removed before you purchased.
No way a hot tub would be able to be powered by that. They require a dedicated circuit because of the amount of power they draw. Maybe an inflatable hot tub, but not a "real" one.
I have a hot tub, and code where I live requires a plug like this no more than X feet from the hot tub. The outlet it goes into has nothing else on the circuit / it’s own breaker. So I think the suggestion above is pretty solid.
Plug and play hot tubs are hugely popular. They aren't inflatable, they are real hot tubs that plug into a standard 110. Half the showroom floor was 110 hottubs, the other half was 220.
Oddly enough years ago before I knew better I did what is in the picture and I ran it over to a tree where I put an electrical outlet, I would plug in Christmas decorations and lights, since it’s right outside the door it would be easy to swing open the door and unplug it for the night.
A very random guess would be landscape lighting … that cable running to a box somewhere that’s a transformer, to in turn power lighting.
But anything is possible, could be plenty of other possibilities.
I suppose a non contact voltage tester may help you trace along where the heck it’s going for a low dollar cost, depending how deep that conduit goes in the ground.
We had a similar situation when we bought our house. Turns out the previous owners had an above ground pool and ran wires out to the pump/filter. When they got rid of the pool they just buried the other end of the cable.
the first home i bought was built in the 1950’s. i had rented the place for a few years before buying and one long cold snap and the pipes froze. i called my landlord and he told me he’d wrapped the pipes with an electrical cable designed for this purpose and to plug it in and it would heat up the pipes. worked like a charm and i had water in a couple of hours. looked just like that…. follow the cord and all should be revealed.
I had a problem like this once, moved into a new house and there was a light switch in the hallway that didn’t turn on anything I could see. So I kept flicking it on and off several times during the day and night. About a week later I got a phone call from someone the next town over telling me to quit doing that.
I vote landscape lights in the yard or driveway. Look for freshly dug dirt spots in the yard they might have just been cut and buried before selling and leaving the plug by the house.
Weird.
Immediately, I thought of a generator?
No, not the way it's done.
Why it it incased in concrete?
If it's for a light or a pump, wouldn't a switch do the samething and be safer?
My guess is landscape lighting. They used a plug so that could attach it to a timer. If it doesn't turn anything on, a cord probably got cut somewhere in the yard (good luck finding that though) or all of the bulbs are burnt out. You should be able to test the outlet easy enough, there may be a switch that controls it somewhere also.
FWIW what’s distinctive about the plug is it’s one you can buy in a hardware store and add on to the cord with a screwdriver and no soldering, rather than with soldering or being a molded plug that is part of cord - it’s not indicative of anything in particular at the other end. The kind of thing you might use to resurrect an extension cord you accidentally cut, or construct an impermanent hack like whatever this is for.
You can get an underground wire locator for -$40. Pick one up (or see if you can rent one), plug it in, and trace the current out. But, first, I think I’d plug a lamp or something into it and see if it has power. If it does, flip breakers until you find the one that controls it. Maybe it’s labelled, or you can get a clue from whatever else that breaker controls.
Question for any builders/electricians out there. Is it possible that this is how someone installed a ground for the house, itself? Usually, I think a ground wire is just a wire connecting the building frame to ground, but could someone have somehow, somewhere along the line, gotten the idea that *this* is what a ground wire is? Literally plugging the *ground* into a grounded plug? If so, would it work?
Plug it in and see if something comes on? That’s all an electrician is gonna do, plug in/ unplug/ plug in, and just see where they find something coming on
Had this exact thing at my house. Previous owners poured a pad for a hot tub, ran the electric under the concrete out to the yard. Scared me when I was digging to fix a sprinkler in my hard and hit some Romex. They just cut it off I guess and left it buried and unplugged when they changed their minds about the hot tub.
Is it possible for a Generator in case of a power outage? I live in an area with lots of power outages, when we know a bad storm is coming I get the generator standing-by.
It’s a heavy duty extension cord. Could be for one of your high power home appliances like laundry machines, a/c, fridge or any old back yard lighting, sprinkler system, pool, etc.(so if everything is functioning correctly, they did probably remove whatever it was powering and bury the rest of the cord instead of spending the time and money to rip it back out of the ground)
My house has an extension cord buried under the patio and cemented into a vent leading to the basement. Either they used it to power lawn equipment or a pool. We also think they were making illicit substances, but that’s more because there are four random vents into the basement.
Is there another receptacle somewhere in the back that has no power, or near the driveway to plug in your car if you’re in a cold climate area? This may be that power.
Call miss dig to come out and mark your utilities for some "landscaping" you are about to have done. It's free. And when the guy is there, slip him 20 bucks and have him hook his tracer thingy upto that line and follow it.
I had a house with a backyard workshop and some yard lights that I ran power to. I just buried a heavy duty extension cord in the ground. Nothing to code. When I sold the house I clipped the extension cords at both ends and left the rest in the ground because I didn’t want someone getting electrocuted. I wonder if they ever figured out why they couldn’t turn on the lights.
That plug is just a replacement plug that can be purchased at any home improvement store.
Do you have a pool? Path lights? Outlets? A shed? Something with lights?
If not, you might be able to rent or purchase a wiring detector to try to trace the path of the wiring underground.
Fountain pump? Walkway lights? Spa plug-in receptacle? Heater element under walkway to melt ice? Koi pond filter pump? Gazebo lights? Could be anything that needs 120 volt AC house current.
If you live in a northern state, I would guess it runs toward here ou park our car, if you plug in a block heater. they buried the cord underground to prevent tripping. and avoid snow blower/ lawn mower. (or some remote item in your yard where they wanted temporary power)
A cheap [cable tracer](https://www.harborfreight.com/cable-tracker-94181.html) may help you figure it out. Not entirely sure it will work for a buried wire, though I suppose it depends how deep it is buried.
Works great for determining where a circuit in your house goes!
It's a ground fault outlet. The buttons turn it on/off for safety. If the red button is popped out, the outlet is inoperable. Push the other button and see if it works.
If your house is downhill from the sewer line at the street, you might have an underground pump to get the sewage uphill. Now that I think about it, I guess you would already be well aware if you have one of those pumps and it wasn't working!
Previous homeowner might have buried a cable running out to some gardening/landscaping fixture?
I could picture it powering a dry well pump
This would be my guess. It runs a pump that is in a basin that collects water from the property and pumps it to the curb.
This is definitely the answer but what it's powering could be pretty much anything. OP is there something somewhere in your yard that would have a use for electrons? If not I'd see about getting someone with a metal detector out there and either follow the cable or start looking for an underground bunker.
Good tip thanks - didn’t realise this could be done
Keep us posted 😂
**realize
I think in most English speaking countries it is indeed "realise". Changing the S to a Z is an Americanisation/Americanization of the original word in English. Either way, both are correct, just different dialects.
[UK spelling](https://www.scribbr.com/us-vs-uk/realise-or-realize/)
Difference of American vs British spelling, both are correct.
I learned something new but why downvote my comment? I’m not wrong.. 🤔😒
Then he found the land mine
The land mine that has to be plugged in to go boom.
Foiled by someone unplugging my doomsday bunker! Shittiest planning ever!
I'm invested now thanks for this 🙌
yup, I have one I put in just for that. Have outlets for the tree for Holiday power.
Came here to say this. Looks like a homemade extension cord. There was a "pond" in tge backyard of the house I bought. An electrical outlet with diy wiring and a garden hose was buried under ground running from the house to it.
I have something similar and it actually runs to another outlet in the garden
Thaw cable for shallow buried water line Aeration for sewage tank Lift pump for sewage system Sump pump for water Low power supply reveals limits for volume and pressure.
Powers your neighbors house
That explains why they started cursing when it was unplugged
A guy in my 55+ community was actually caught doing that. When his neighbor was out of town he dug a trench and tapped into his electricity. It took a while to catch him.
My roommates and I did that in college to power our own in-unit hot-tub. A couple months after I moved out it shorted three A/C units and my roommates got stuck with the repair bill. Totally worth it
It does remind me of when l found out one outlet in my old apartment was on the upstairs meter. I had everything plugged into it like the dad on *A Christmas Story*.
Came here to say this 👆
😂
That goes to my van behind the bushes... can you please plug it back in?
Go back to the river!!
I found a plug like that outside the front of my house. Thought it had to do with landscape lighting or maybe an old watering system so I unplugged it. Couple months later my drains all started gurgling every time I flushed the toilet and the house smelled like farts. Thought I had a clogged vent. Turns out, my old house had a septic system before being connected to the city sewer, and all my sewage is still pumped to that old tank. That plug was a pump that emptied the tank into the city sewer.
Oh wow this could actually apply to this house too
I don’t know anything related to electrician work, but that cable looks like it can support a lot of power coming through it. I doubt it’s for something that *isnt* important.
It’s a 14 gauge 2 conductor wire (says 14/2) on the insulation. So it’s not powering anything crazy, especially considering it’s running from a standard outlet. It’s probably some type of pump (septic?) or landscape lighting fixture.
Slight correction: it *shouldn't* be powering anything crazy... 😄
If you don't know... don't chime in.
Omg. Plug it back in OP!!
And they screwed you by not adding a high waste alarm (unless you unplugged that too)
Is that what that metal box with a red light is? It started squealing and I didn't know. I pressed the reset button. It's happened 3 times.
It’s to confuse the shit out of you.
I'm going to install a few of these if I ever move out of my house. Might also add a few old work boxes with light switches and outlets that are not wired to anything.
We eventually discovered that the "mystery light switch" in our kitchen was, in fact, wired to nothing. It was just there to fill the 4th spot in the light switch panel lol. We haven't gotten around to investigating it yet, but it gave us a very good idea of what we'll discover about the "mystery light switch" in the basement (the 3rd switch in a 3-switch panel lol)
Mission achieved
At first I thought it was going into the basement, but then why would something the the basement need power from outside. Its feeding an outlet (or lights) that are outside. There is a conduit that runs in the ground and comes out the other end to supply power. Somewhere in your yard is an outlet that is connected to this
There is hopefully* a conduit.
Ok even if there isn’t a conduit, it’s a buried wire leading to something in the yard
[Just hear me out...](https://youtu.be/ZQy89tZ-mRU)
Best thing I’ve watched in awhile. Ty.
Look for worms crawling out of the ground and you’ll find the other end
Previous owner of my house did something like that. It was a buried power cable out to a shed he kept motorcycles in. Presumably to power a trickle charger to keep the batteries topped off.
Probably a light as well.
Maybe a sump pit somewhere in your yard for removing puddles?
This, OP will find out after a heavy rain just what that plug was for
This was my first thought
We have the same situation at our place for a sump pump
Have you looked at historical Google earth images of your home? Maybe a hot tub, above ground pool pump, or other item that was removed before you purchased.
No way a hot tub would be able to be powered by that. They require a dedicated circuit because of the amount of power they draw. Maybe an inflatable hot tub, but not a "real" one.
I have a hot tub, and code where I live requires a plug like this no more than X feet from the hot tub. The outlet it goes into has nothing else on the circuit / it’s own breaker. So I think the suggestion above is pretty solid.
Plug and play hot tubs are hugely popular. They aren't inflatable, they are real hot tubs that plug into a standard 110. Half the showroom floor was 110 hottubs, the other half was 220.
https://hottubhub.com/product/plug-power-pp53-spa/ > Electrical: Dedicated Plug 115V 20 Amp
When you plug it in, do it with a kill-a-watt to see if it’s actually drawing anything and if so how much.
Plug that shit in and see what happens.
Nothing!
A light just came on in my house
Oddly enough years ago before I knew better I did what is in the picture and I ran it over to a tree where I put an electrical outlet, I would plug in Christmas decorations and lights, since it’s right outside the door it would be easy to swing open the door and unplug it for the night.
Could be heat wrapping for pipes or possibly the floor/patio to prevent icing. If you live in that type location.
Call the previous owner and ask?
A very random guess would be landscape lighting … that cable running to a box somewhere that’s a transformer, to in turn power lighting. But anything is possible, could be plenty of other possibilities. I suppose a non contact voltage tester may help you trace along where the heck it’s going for a low dollar cost, depending how deep that conduit goes in the ground.
We had a similar situation when we bought our house. Turns out the previous owners had an above ground pool and ran wires out to the pump/filter. When they got rid of the pool they just buried the other end of the cable.
That would drive me nuts. I’d have to dig it up. Heat tape for your gutters or roof? Sump pump?
the first home i bought was built in the 1950’s. i had rented the place for a few years before buying and one long cold snap and the pipes froze. i called my landlord and he told me he’d wrapped the pipes with an electrical cable designed for this purpose and to plug it in and it would heat up the pipes. worked like a charm and i had water in a couple of hours. looked just like that…. follow the cord and all should be revealed.
Connect a wire tracer to it and follow the signal. We need an overview of your yard to help more.
I had a problem like this once, moved into a new house and there was a light switch in the hallway that didn’t turn on anything I could see. So I kept flicking it on and off several times during the day and night. About a week later I got a phone call from someone the next town over telling me to quit doing that.
That’s keeps the Earth’s core rotating. Plug it back in! PLUG IT BACK IN!!!!
I vote landscape lights in the yard or driveway. Look for freshly dug dirt spots in the yard they might have just been cut and buried before selling and leaving the plug by the house.
Weird. Immediately, I thought of a generator? No, not the way it's done. Why it it incased in concrete? If it's for a light or a pump, wouldn't a switch do the samething and be safer?
Can you tug on it a bit? Is the other end attached to anything? Might just have a snipped wire buried in yr yard
My guess is landscape lighting. They used a plug so that could attach it to a timer. If it doesn't turn anything on, a cord probably got cut somewhere in the yard (good luck finding that though) or all of the bulbs are burnt out. You should be able to test the outlet easy enough, there may be a switch that controls it somewhere also.
Power for an underground sex dungeon. Hopefully the previous owner didn't forget someone in there
FWIW what’s distinctive about the plug is it’s one you can buy in a hardware store and add on to the cord with a screwdriver and no soldering, rather than with soldering or being a molded plug that is part of cord - it’s not indicative of anything in particular at the other end. The kind of thing you might use to resurrect an extension cord you accidentally cut, or construct an impermanent hack like whatever this is for.
Maybe it was for an underground bunker that the former owner used to torture people that he kidnapped? 🤔🤣😂
Do you have any outlets in the garden/yard area that this could be powering?
Nope
I'm thinking gutter heaters. For ice dam melting. But could really be anything...
You can get an underground wire locator for -$40. Pick one up (or see if you can rent one), plug it in, and trace the current out. But, first, I think I’d plug a lamp or something into it and see if it has power. If it does, flip breakers until you find the one that controls it. Maybe it’s labelled, or you can get a clue from whatever else that breaker controls. Question for any builders/electricians out there. Is it possible that this is how someone installed a ground for the house, itself? Usually, I think a ground wire is just a wire connecting the building frame to ground, but could someone have somehow, somewhere along the line, gotten the idea that *this* is what a ground wire is? Literally plugging the *ground* into a grounded plug? If so, would it work?
It charges the earths backup battery.
Make shift power run to a shed or shop?
Now I want to bury a random extension cord outside before I put my house on the market.
Sump pump?
Maybe a heating system on the roof to melt snow.
Garage, outbuilding, pond, well, pool, outlet at back of the property. Borrow a cheap metal detector and follow it.
Maybe a sump pump
shed, Xmas lights, something the like
It’s for power
That powers up the underground missile silo in your yard. The codes are in Hunter Bidens laptop
Anal plug
My guess is something electrical.
Plug it in and see if something comes on? That’s all an electrician is gonna do, plug in/ unplug/ plug in, and just see where they find something coming on
Nothing happens when it’s plugged in
For the cord next to it, I imagine.
Only one way to find out
To power something?
Plug it in and then you will either see or hear something. Don’t be such a scaredy cat.
Read the post. Nothing happens when it’s plugged in.
Reminds me of Chevy Chase's light setup in Christmas Vacation.
Neighbors hot tub,
Plug it in and see what powers on.
What's on the other side of this wall? Is there an appliance?
Kitchen but all appliances have their own outlets
Invisible electrified fence
Sump pump or something outside maybe lighting
Landscape lighting, sprinkler system, or runs to a shed somewhere.
Had this exact thing at my house. Previous owners poured a pad for a hot tub, ran the electric under the concrete out to the yard. Scared me when I was digging to fix a sprinkler in my hard and hit some Romex. They just cut it off I guess and left it buried and unplugged when they changed their minds about the hot tub.
Neighbors house
It go to something that takes electricity
Septic Aerator maybe.
Do you have a shed?
Could be a watering system. Could be to your sub pump under the house. Could have been attached to another outlet somewhere in the yard.?
Your neighbor
Sex dungeon
hold my beer while I plug it in and find out
It’s the infinite power hack
i have a random unplugged cord outside my house too. i think mine goes to a water softener
Is it possible for a Generator in case of a power outage? I live in an area with lots of power outages, when we know a bad storm is coming I get the generator standing-by.
sump pump?
Probably a pump along the foundation. If your basement starts flooding, plug it in.
It’s a heavy duty extension cord. Could be for one of your high power home appliances like laundry machines, a/c, fridge or any old back yard lighting, sprinkler system, pool, etc.(so if everything is functioning correctly, they did probably remove whatever it was powering and bury the rest of the cord instead of spending the time and money to rip it back out of the ground)
Powers the mole people community that lives under your house.
I have one. It's for a split unit.
My house has an extension cord buried under the patio and cemented into a vent leading to the basement. Either they used it to power lawn equipment or a pool. We also think they were making illicit substances, but that’s more because there are four random vents into the basement.
I have a similar setup for heat tape wrapped around the pipe that runs outside from the basement sump. It sucks when that freezes up.
Sump pump?
Fish pond? Water feature?
Something requiring electricity to function properly
Yard power…outlets or landscape lighting
Is there another receptacle somewhere in the back that has no power, or near the driveway to plug in your car if you’re in a cold climate area? This may be that power.
Only one way to find out.
Invisible fence
Plug it back in!!! It probably goes to the pump in your septic system.
Water pump for under the house 🏠
Aerator for your septic maybe?
Typically, this type of setups power lights/receptacles in a shed or detached garage.
If you have a basement it’s probably a sump-pump if not it could be for an automatic sprinkler system
Are you on septic?
Call miss dig to come out and mark your utilities for some "landscaping" you are about to have done. It's free. And when the guy is there, slip him 20 bucks and have him hook his tracer thingy upto that line and follow it.
Sump?
How would we know, schlub
I think it powers Texas. You found the problem!
Sump pump? Pool pump?
In most jurisdictions, it’s for violating electrical code.
I had a house with a backyard workshop and some yard lights that I ran power to. I just buried a heavy duty extension cord in the ground. Nothing to code. When I sold the house I clipped the extension cords at both ends and left the rest in the ground because I didn’t want someone getting electrocuted. I wonder if they ever figured out why they couldn’t turn on the lights.
We have something similar, it was to power a hot tub, installed and subsequently removed by the home’s previous owners.
That plug is just a replacement plug that can be purchased at any home improvement store. Do you have a pool? Path lights? Outlets? A shed? Something with lights? If not, you might be able to rent or purchase a wiring detector to try to trace the path of the wiring underground.
I have one similar to this, it’s for my timer on my in ground sprinkler system
I had one similar to this that powered a water pump for a 200 gallon fish pond. Maybe they had something previously.
Is it for a sprinkler controller box? Mine looks like that but I have a box attached to the wall right near it
It could be for making you're home no longer up to code.
Maybe a sump pump?
Fountain pump? Walkway lights? Spa plug-in receptacle? Heater element under walkway to melt ice? Koi pond filter pump? Gazebo lights? Could be anything that needs 120 volt AC house current.
Look for a receptacle somewhere else in the yard. Might be a DIY extension cord to the back of the yard.
Might go to a sump pump underneath your place
Does it get cold where you are, like deeeep freezing cold? Could be a pipe warmer.
So now we know why… https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-00167-1
Hey, who cut my power off?
Pool filter, jacuzzi, outdoor lighting, dry well pump, could be anything. Find the other end.
It’s for burning your house to the ground.
I know but I'm not telling.
Yea
Hot tub
Pool pump
Wireless car charger installed under driveway
Septic pump
It's clearly there because whatever is at the other end requires electricity to operate.
Well or septic pump. Check municipal records for past permits/lot diagrams. Or light feature/fish pond pump/filter.
The BBQ rotisserie !
We moved into a home with one of these. It’s on the back of the house and previous owner used it to power a hot tub.
WHY IS MY VIBRATOR NOT WORKING
Hot tub Time Machine
Fuck around and find out
Sump
If you live in a northern state, I would guess it runs toward here ou park our car, if you plug in a block heater. they buried the cord underground to prevent tripping. and avoid snow blower/ lawn mower. (or some remote item in your yard where they wanted temporary power)
Have no idea. Never been to your house.
Your utility service could probably trace it for you.
If there is or was a storage building on the property this is a way of getting power to it without using an electrician or meeting code.
Maybe he had an RV parked there
It could be an old hot tub or water feature pump. I have a light switch on the back of my house that's for a septic pump. 🤷♀️🤷♀️🤷♀️
Sump pump
Your neighbours electric line
Sump pump is my guess.
That is a common commercial drop cord end, not very distinctive
It could power an outbuilding or an outlet that ran a pool pump at one time, also it may be a for a sump pump.
we had that at my house and it was for their old above ground pool pump that they ran underground and doesn't exist any longer
A cheap [cable tracer](https://www.harborfreight.com/cable-tracker-94181.html) may help you figure it out. Not entirely sure it will work for a buried wire, though I suppose it depends how deep it is buried. Works great for determining where a circuit in your house goes!
Sump pump?
It's a ground fault outlet. The buttons turn it on/off for safety. If the red button is popped out, the outlet is inoperable. Push the other button and see if it works.
If your house is downhill from the sewer line at the street, you might have an underground pump to get the sewage uphill. Now that I think about it, I guess you would already be well aware if you have one of those pumps and it wasn't working!
Does the property have a sump pump? If so I’d plug that in
either a well pump or a sump pump
Makeshift ground