Lead water main

[john4703]

It might not be a real disaster but it was a load of work for nothing. I'm building a driveway that will be covered in block paving. As I cleared the ground I found my water main, a lead pipe that was only 200mm below the surface. I decided to replace it and dug a trench about 800mm deep and some 8 meters long then I discovered that the precious owner had replaced the lead with alkathene.
I wasted nearly two days digging in hard clay and all I got was 28kg of scrap lead pipe.
If I had thought to check if the pipe I found was live it would have saved me so much work.

 

[JasonF]

Quality you couldn't make it up.

 

[xr4x4]

Wasn't the incoming pipe into the house a clue?

 

[Corazones]

I'd say it was a job worth doing, and that you're well rid of the lead. Is the inside of the removed pipe clean-looking (soft water) or covered in scale (hard water)? If the former, you are definitely better off without it.
Alec.

 

[john4703]

Wasn't the incoming pipe into the house a clue?

The incoming pipe in the house is copper so no clue at all. I assume that the alkathene is connected to the copper somewhere under the concrete.

 

[xr4x4]

Wasn't the incoming pipe into the house a clue?

The incoming pipe in the house is copper so no clue at all. I assume that the alkathene is connected to the copper somewhere under the concrete.

Oh....nice!

Thinking about it, the copper incoming should of been another clue.

 

[john4703]

But in the bad old days I've wiped a few dozen lead to copper joints underground and fed copper into the house when the lead main needed rerouteing or was damaged. (I've still got resin and a piece of moleskin in my toolbox but it is not easy to get the right solder these days, and it is illegal to use it) It was a clue but I still don't understand why whoever put in the alkathene left the lead in place. It is worth money.

 

[shane12345]

If it was a good few years ago then lead was worth less than 200 quid a ton. Wouldn't have even been worth the time removing.

 

[CaptainCaveman289]

I had national grid in to move my gas feed,
They dug a little and reached a pipe,
"what's this?" he said hitting it with a spade.
"that's my water main, it's lead, stop hitting it" said I.

Where do they get these people?

 

[B17NNS]

Did you weigh it in?

 

[dormermike]

I had some building work done recently which uncovered the old lead water main - didn't want to chop it out in case it was still live but capped off - i guess i should have ripped it up to weigh in? That part is buried under concrete now but i guess the rest of it still underground. Was about a metre down though.

 

[theprinceofdarkness]

I was under the impression that all mains water pipes outside the house were plumbed in galvanised iron. Lead won't take the pressure and the sharp stones in soil. I base this on a Victorian house and a Georgian house* I had owned. Mains water as we know it were laid in the early 1900s. Before then it was a well or a stand pipe in the street.
So the question is john4703 how old is the house?

* the Georgian house had a roof fed cistern which fed the kitchen sink and the original tap was still in the wall. Just remembered, my brother in law has a HUGE tank built into the top storey of his 1880 house. So I guess this was a rainwater storage cistern. When I say huge, its huge!, about 10' X 8' X 4' high, its basically a missing room on his top landing!
Frank

 

[wrathkeg]

i assumed he was talking about the pipe from the water main in the street into his house: I believe that run is technically called the communication or supply pipe. the communication/supply pipe could well be lead, even if it was much more recent than 1900. the water main could well be iron.

 

[john4703]

I was under the impression that all mains water pipes outside the house were plumbed in galvanised iron. Lead won't take the pressure and the sharp stones in soil. I base this on a Victorian house and a Georgian house* I had owned. Mains water as we know it were laid in the early 1900s. Before then it was a well or a stand pipe in the street.
So the question is john4703 how old is the house? Frank

It is the supply pipe from the stop cock in the street to the house that was lead. The pipe in the street is cast iron, or was until replaced earlier this year. I am unsure of the exact age of the house but it was built around 1900 to 1905. In my experience these supply pipes were nearly always lead as it was a relatively easy material to work with and would move with the ground if there was slight settlement. (in fact it would still be easy to work with if the regulations still allowed plumbers to plumb, by that I mean fire up a blow lamp and wipe a joint on a lead pipe)