charlie_pank Posted December 31, 2013 Share Posted December 31, 2013 I discovered last night that the cold water supply into our house looks very much like it is made out of lead (it is an old-looking pipe with a characteristic bulge in it, just before the joint). The point at which it emerges out of the (concrete) floor is a long way from the road where the water must come in. I have a number of questions: - should I be worried about the lead pipe? (we do not have hard water) - whose responsibility is it to replace the lead? - to replace the lead it would be much easier to bring the outside feed in to somewhere else in the house and attach it to a different part of the main-feed system (it's all 15mm). As the cold feed supplies a number of convoluted places in the house this is possible, but is there any reason why I should use the same entry point? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stationary M25 Traveller Posted December 31, 2013 Share Posted December 31, 2013 Lots of lead pipe left in water supplies around the country still ! Edit ...... the supply pipe from the meter or external stop tap belongs to the owner of the property. Edited by - SM25T on 31 Dec 2013 08:15:09 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keechy Posted December 31, 2013 Share Posted December 31, 2013 Not sure if they still do but the water authority would normally do you a free connection as it is lead. Just lay a new blue polyethylene water pipe ( at least 25mm ) from the stopcock out in the pavement and bring the other end into you property to the closest cold MAIN pipe, doesn't matter where you do the connection. Just remember to cap the pipe off above the existing stopcock before you go live. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Area Representative Golf Juliet Tango Posted December 31, 2013 Area Representative Share Posted December 31, 2013 It is good practice to replace it and if you wish to tidy up/modernise/rerun the internal plumbing then these can go together very well. I would certainly take the opportunity to bring the supply in at a point more convenient to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie_pank Posted January 4, 2014 Author Share Posted January 4, 2014 🙆🏻biscuits, the old supply is a mystery and is likely to be encased in concrete. To run a new one, I'll have to dig down 750 mm under my utility room (suspended) floor, drill through the foundations and dig down 750mm in the street outside to expose the pipe. Are there any tricks to this that I might not know? For example, is there a way to do the inside digging without tearing up the whole floor? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silver Machine Posted January 5, 2014 Share Posted January 5, 2014 Several years ago our house and the neighbours needed new mains cables. The cause of the issue did not lie with ourselves. The electricity supply people wanted to excavate our property/garden/drive etc. as you describe your current situation. We eventually persuaded them to use a 'mole' that excavated a small diameter tunnel for the new cable. I would have thought this method would work in some way at least up to your house wall. Think use of these devices can be dictated by type of ground though. In our case it must have been cheaper given the degree of excavation saved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie_pank Posted January 5, 2014 Author Share Posted January 5, 2014 I have no front garden, my front door opens on to the street, so I have to dig down 750mm under my floor :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gavin H Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 I called in Thames water to a previous house to discuss changing the supply to the house (from lead to plastic). It turned out that the water main ran along the other side of the road, so changing the pipe to 'my' stop cock in the pavement was al well and good, but irrelevant in terms of both water flow and exposure to lead. What I did do was cut the lead inside my property and convert to plastic, then copper (22 mm to maintain maximum flow - and gradually changed the pipe throughout the house as we improved each room). The advice I was iven was that as long as you use the water regularly you do not need to wory about the dangers of lead poisoning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin J Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 The advice I was iven was that as long as you use the water regularly you do not need to wory about the dangers of lead poisoning. I agree. If asked about this I tell customers that when they are away for a time, holidays or whatever to give the drinking supply a good run to flush the supply before using it for drinking, cooking etc. At college we were taught some lead work & the bulbous joints are called rolled joints. Using a mole skin you shape the molten lead to form the joint. All completely irrelevant now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dom69 Posted January 7, 2014 Share Posted January 7, 2014 I spoke to the water board for oxted, westerham and surrounding area as I found the tap water has a very high reading of phosphate in it(not ideal for swimming pool water), they said this is put in the water to line the old lead pipe to reduce lead leaching into the water Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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