down spout drainage

[drnbean]

Immediately beside the outer wall of my house are 2 open, 2 1/2" diameter PVC pipes that stick out vertically a foot from the ground. One pipe is located to the rear corner of the house and the other pipe is on the opposite front corner of the house in the basement window well. My question for anyone is....can I run my gutter down spouts into these pipes since I assume they are drainage pipes meant for this purpose? What else could they be and how can I find out where they drain to?

[E. Dodge]

Sounds to me like they're drainage for your gutters. You might flood them with watrer from a hose to see if they're plugged...because I wonder why they're not already being used that way.

[sonnyv]

Isn't a 2 1/2 inch pipe a little too small for a gutter drain? I wouldn't connect my down spout to it even if it was meant to be a drain. I don't think a down spout is any lest than 3 inches.