Steel pipework puzzle.

[Useroftheforce]

The photo shows the main junction of pipe work in our property and all my questions centre around the steel cold water feed pipe and its unions. The water comes from the meter, under another room about 4m run from the meter and emerges in this room behind this panelling. The water then passes as can be seen through a reduced section size, into the stop cock tap and into an elbow and then a T. The upstairs including the header tank, toilet, sink and bath are all fed from the rising section. The downstairs from the falling section. Next to my right shoulder is a sink and there is a branch from where the steel pipe terminates at the [‘T’] union with the sink cold feed into a copper pipe which then feeds all the other points downstairs and the garden tap.

I have fitted a water softener [in the utility room to the left of this shot] and when we liberate that water to the rest of the house, eventually [although probably not for some years] the saline water will cause issues with the steel pipe work. Currently the softener is isolated to supplying the washing machine and cold feed to one sink only.

These hugely industrial sections of steel are a completely different ball game to end feed 1mm tubes and bits of plastic which we use these days. So before I do anything, I am posting here for some information, probably from the older members who actually worked with this stuff when it was in common use.

1. I can’t replace the supply pipe without digging up 4m of perfectly good room which I am not considering doing until the pipe fails in the future, obviously this will not be affected by the salt in the softened water anyway, however there is the dialectic corrosion possibility [copper <-> steel in an electrolyte (water)] which I am planning to sort out with a plastic fitting in the mix to prevent it.
2. Does anyone know what is going on with the small bit of pipe emerging from the centre of the feed pipe in the floor? It looks like someone has painted over some chewing gum to fill a gap between two dissimilar pipe sizes??
3. What is the old bit of wire connecting the piece of pipe in the floor to the piece of pipe above the stop cock for?
4. The stop cock seems to have female connections, presumably this is because steel pipe was always done with the pipe being threaded ? Could I replace this stop cock and start from there?
5. I am wondering if I could try and re-use the thread on the end of the upper section pipe work with an elbow, but getting the T off looks like it could be “a game” – any thoughts ?

Its all just thinking at this stage.

Thanks in advance of any insights.

 

[footprints]

Well the "chewing gum" joint is a taff joint where a brass tailpeice has been soldered into the lead main pipe, usually a proper rolled/wiped joint looking like a sausage of plumbers metal around the joint, but a lazy plumber will do a taff joint like you have there.
The wire is most likely an electrical earth connection.
Old lead is prone to crystallization and will leak like a trickle hose if moved much so avoid any stress on it.
Old iron pipe can be very hard to dismantle unless you are good at diy and confident I suggest leaving it alone or getting an experienced qualified plumber to do it.

 

[Useroftheforce]

Thank you for the answer - can I check that I have understood correctly that we are drinking water which is passing through a lead pipe? Or is that a sleeve for another material perhaps? The previous owners in their 80's had lived here over 50 years and are not suffering mentally, which is why I ask.

Thank you for the warning too about the difficulty of tackling steel pipes. I am aware, I already tackled the hot water pipe which had almost entirely stopped delivering downstairs. That pipe, once we cut it all out with angle grinders, was found to be entirely blocked with sludge. Cold on steel, obviously, does not suffer in the same way. However, in this case, if I cut it out with the grinder which is pretty simple to do then I am into primofit territory to continue using it, which is why I was asking about to feasibility of winding off the 'T' and re-using that thread for an elbow fitting. Or re-cutting a new thread into it. These things as you say require an experienced plumber because experience is needed of working with steel which the newer generation as has been posted on here before do not work with it.

I want to do the replacement in stages, so the upstairs will come later when we need to remove the bath, bidet and sort out the waste and remove all the iron pipe work up there, but as I say there is nothing the matter with it so I am keen to tackle this in bite sized chunks as the décor and carpets which will all be affected are in perfect condition.

 

[oldbuffer]

The water output by a water softener has extremely low levels of salt in it. During the regeneration cycle, brine is pumped over the zeolites to remove the calcium etc, and runs to waste. At the end of the cycle, mains water (unsoftened) is run to waste over the zeolites to remove as much salt as possible. As a result, very little salt remains on the zeolites to be carried into the softened water.

 

[Useroftheforce]

Hmm - interesting, thank you.

In that case, the only reason for disturbing it at all is to modify the existing circuits to basically split what will be remaining hard feed into kitchen tap and softener feed - and then the connecting the softener return to the rest of the house.

But disturb it we must.

 

[footprints]

Yes it is lead pipe supplying your water no problem at all, mine has always come that way and I am still here well past my three score and ten years!
Can't comment on the brain damage but still seem to function OK.
The inside of lead pipes builds up a sort of silty layer on the inside over years so actual contamination is really not an issue. Millions of home in the UK still have lead pipes it is really not an issue.
As you say you need someone who is not just out of college and never worked on lead or iron pipe. Does seem these days may plumbers shirk even copper, just using plastic and those horrible flexible things even for quite long connections.
The main thing is does the stopcock work, if it does I would leave well alone if I were you.

 

[Useroftheforce]

Stopcock works a treat and the cock on the water meter also works - so we are well covered - for which we are grateful.
Yeah ok - so looks like I'll be chopping out in the ceiling where there is a nice straight run and primofit onto that - as opposed to the vertical which we will otherwise have to look at each time we use the room.
Then remove all the steel after the stop cock and replace everything with copper which I can run as needed more easily. (Not too many 90° bends mind you!) The female on the top of the stop cock should be a standard 3/4" BSP thread.

And maybe leave the upstairs as is - since the softened water won't hurt the steel pipes very fast. But we might do something when we remove the bidet as we will be there in any case.

 

[Mike13]

Hard water passing through lead pipes is usually pretty safe, as the calcified lining really does slow down the rate of lead leaching. It is in soft water areas that you need to worry about lead pipes.