In 1987 I was working away from home ans stayed with a friend, while there she moved house and I replumbed/rewired/fitted kitchen & bathroom etc the scrap value of the lead paid for the whole of the plumbing and central heating except the boiler.Experiences vary. Like countless other people in my generation, I spent most of the first 25 years of my life living in a house which was entirely plumbed in lead (including a long run into the house), and neither I nor anyone else living in the house was aware of any symptoms as a result - and, some 50 years later, I still seem to be going, with no more fatigue and muscle aches/pains (or other symptoms) than i can blame on the ageing process
That house still had it's all-lead plumbing when it was eventually sold in 1987, and that may possibly still be the case today.
Bonding of Water Pipe
- Thread starter Woodsmoke
- Start date
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I'm currently undertaking an exercise on a house I have inherited which I hope may work out in a similar way, since I have removed and replaced a lot of lead pipework, including not only the 'water supply pipes' but also (much larger/heavier) downpipes from a couple of high-level loo cisterns and even some significant lengths of ~4" lead soil pipe!
anyone remember lead toys?
I'm sure that I still have some, somewhere - and maybe even some lead paint somewhere in the house.
Times change. When I was doing Physics at school, we literally 'played with' mercury on wooden things called "mercury trays"
... not to mention those (always fraying/crumbling) asbestosis mats on ironing boards!Sponsored Links
We used to put sheets of asbestos (old garage sites) onto fires, especially near bonfire night. Watch them explode. Great fun.
... and, of course, there were those asbestos mat thingies which we used to shoot flames at on gas hobs (and 'camping gas stoves' etc.) "to spread the heat"!
As I said, times change
That house had hot and cold water, sink bath and and basin waste with seperate overflows, gas pipes and toilet flush all in lead. Hot and cold tanks in loft with heating pipes from fireplace back boilers and gas outlets at 2 fireplaces down stairs/one upstairs and kitchen (presumably for gas copper) plus cooker. In one corner of the kitchen there was a mass of 6 lead pipes ceiling and 5 in the bathroom above, but before I started removing only looked like 2, it seemed the stuff just kept appearing as I ripped the layers away.
This was 35 years ago, IIRC it was over half a ton and my poor van ran a lot higher without it over the back wheels.
Playing with mercury was good fun as a teenager.
One bloke around here went to court for administering mercury in a cup of tea to his estranged wife.
In court he refused to tell the judge where he got the mercury from.
Clue - he was a retired electrician
One bloke around here went to court for administering mercury in a cup of tea to his estranged wife.
In court he refused to tell the judge where he got the mercury from.
Clue - he was a retired electrician
Indeed it was - quite fascinating stuff!
Even if he had not been a retired electrician, he could have smashed up a few thermometers
. What was he prosecuted for - attempted murder?Kind Regards, John
No , he said he was trying to make his estranged wife a bit poorly but not long term harmed so she need him to take care of her and they`d get back together. On the local news when he was making one of the court appearances he said "The whole of (Our Home Town) is on my side!" which was completely untrue anyway. In fact, one time, he managed to head off an inspection required by insurance company on premises he was a member of and he had done a lot of the electrical works over the years. A committee member approached me and I recommended a colleague for the Periodic. He got wind of it and stopped him at the door, telling him he was not needed. It was a while later that I found out about this, he was saying "The insurance co do not want all this fancy test and inspect malarky, just needed a bit of paper to say the wiring is alright". I referred it back to the committee member who had asked me in the first instance and voiced my concerns about the bloke and his wiring and this member said "Yes I know what he is like, that why I asked you to get someone in the first place, he has persuaded the whole committee that it does not need a Periodic I & T" , so what happened next I have no idea, this "electrician" was well known amongst trades and fire officers and LA grants officers etc etc for the questionable standards of his works. A complete billsitter in my opinion judging by what I`d seen over the years, Legend had it, by those that should know, that he got a handsome payout from a local rogue by pleading guilty to a big theft he did not commit, got a few years of the Queens Holiday and a very handsome pay-out from the rogue for saving him a big "Queens Holiday". No idea if there is any truth in that rumour but a few people who should know the answer did confirm it to me, so I suspect an element of truth might be present.
In fact he once scoffed at my mention to a customer that a circuit might have a defect - Sockets and cooker control unit with surface boxes and trunking in a kitchen, I offered the suggestion that it looked suspiciously like that twin socket near to the cooker control unit might actually be wired into the cooker circuit therefore it had one socket on the CCU plus the twin nearby making three 13A sockets on a cooker circuit along with the cooker. I had not opened it up to inspect it yet because I had only called in to see a piece of trunking on the underneath of the staircase (pantry slope, if you like) because I heard that it had been plastered over. I had fitted the trunking, horizontally to accommodate an unprotected cable a few weeks earlier (out of zone) and when he mentioned it had been plastered in I popped in for a peek, now there was still a cable there but no evidence for drill man to avoid it. I knew the Periodic guy was calling round the following week (Same chap who was going to inspect the club I mentioned in the first story). So I warned him to watch out and check my suspicion . Meanwhile our "Mercury Electrician" friend had been back on site and customer mentioned what I said and poo pooed it. Apparently he turned off the cooker switch on the cooker control and that socket still worked "See he is mistaken " he said to the customer.
My colleague confirmed yes it was on the cooker circuit, the wiring to the twin socket was piggybacked to the non switched side of the cooker switch as I had suspected might be the case. I pulled the fuse for the cooker circuit only and asked the customer if that twin socket worked.
No it didn`t but all the other sockets in the house did.
Originally it was only my suspicion that it was wired into (either side) of the cooker switch because of the way the trunking ran on that wall and it was possible that it was done correctly so it needed to be checked to see if my suspicions were right or not.
A cheap easy way to have a twin socket near to where a cooker circuit is added using trunking.
A bit of a bull sitter?
In fact he once scoffed at my mention to a customer that a circuit might have a defect - Sockets and cooker control unit with surface boxes and trunking in a kitchen, I offered the suggestion that it looked suspiciously like that twin socket near to the cooker control unit might actually be wired into the cooker circuit therefore it had one socket on the CCU plus the twin nearby making three 13A sockets on a cooker circuit along with the cooker. I had not opened it up to inspect it yet because I had only called in to see a piece of trunking on the underneath of the staircase (pantry slope, if you like) because I heard that it had been plastered over. I had fitted the trunking, horizontally to accommodate an unprotected cable a few weeks earlier (out of zone) and when he mentioned it had been plastered in I popped in for a peek, now there was still a cable there but no evidence for drill man to avoid it. I knew the Periodic guy was calling round the following week (Same chap who was going to inspect the club I mentioned in the first story). So I warned him to watch out and check my suspicion . Meanwhile our "Mercury Electrician" friend had been back on site and customer mentioned what I said and poo pooed it. Apparently he turned off the cooker switch on the cooker control and that socket still worked "See he is mistaken " he said to the customer.
My colleague confirmed yes it was on the cooker circuit, the wiring to the twin socket was piggybacked to the non switched side of the cooker switch as I had suspected might be the case. I pulled the fuse for the cooker circuit only and asked the customer if that twin socket worked.
No it didn`t but all the other sockets in the house did.
Originally it was only my suspicion that it was wired into (either side) of the cooker switch because of the way the trunking ran on that wall and it was possible that it was done correctly so it needed to be checked to see if my suspicions were right or not.
A cheap easy way to have a twin socket near to where a cooker circuit is added using trunking.
A bit of a bull sitter?
Interesting. I wonder if the law necessarily sees it that way? One one hand, if it can be established that there was no intent to kill, then I can see that might well not qualify as 'attempted murder' (but how could one prove that ;ack of murderous intent?). On the other hand, if someone deliberately administers something which is potentially lethal, one has to wonder?
Do you know what crime he was prosecuted for?
Cant remember I`m afraid and he`s died since so I cant ask him I could ask his daughter she is a friend of my daughter but it would be someting I`d avoid though, wouldnt want to cause upset
Fair enough
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