What is this?

This is in I’m back yard in a round valve box in the ground in my back yard. Looks like some sort of valve. What are these typically used for?

image
Read also:

Radiator pipe sticking out into bedroom, is this normal/safe?

Hi all, I just moved into a rental apartment in an old building (late 1800’s) and this pipe is sticking out into the corner of my bedroom. From the placement it seems to be coming from the radiator in my bathroom. I’ve never had steam heating before, is this normal? Also, Is it safe to put furniture next to it? There’s no other place for my desk I can think of. I would be running wires along my desk, but not touching it. Thanks for your help!

image

Can I replace the valve on this water hammer arrestor?

image

Transfer Valve plumbing first thoughts

All the connections bothers me. Should it?

image

What would cause this?

I turned the kitchen faucet on and the water came out like this. I tried the bathroom and it was clear. Then, I ran the kitchen faucet a bit longer and it eventually came out clear. So what is up plumbing?

image

How can I stop loud banging of waste water pipe?

In my bedroom I have this large waste water pipe that spans the length of the wall. Whenever folk in the flat or below us use water it causes the pipe to give this loud continuous banging. V annoying and hard to sleep through. Landlord sent contractors who cut this hole in the dry wall (level to head) and attached the pipe. This helped for the first week no noise but it quickly came much further up the wall above the hole where I can’t reach. Is there anything I can do to prevent this happening?

image

Has anybody used these or even heard of these before?

Straub coupling, apparently it's good for 26 bar, which equals 377 psi!? I use them on blown out pvc water mains when we can't wait for glue to cure. Lots of pvc mains here in SoCal

image

What needs to be done

Need help from someone that is in a little more in the know than I am with this. What am I looking at here and how urgent of a fix. This is a pipe above my water heater from the house we just bought. Thanks!

image

Clogging Issue

My roommate has clogged the toilet twice in the past 3 days needing a maintenance person to fix it and says that our toilet paper is to blame for it. I don't know anything about how well toilet paper dissolves but could this type cause that severe of an issue? Thanks in advance.

image

Is there an easy way to change this?

Im looking to set up a timer for a sprinkler in my yard, and was wondering if it would be possible to change this as it is very old and gets stuck sometimes. Possibly to a ball valve?

image

Slow drip

My plumber left with this slow drip, is it a big problem to fix?

image