Mystery Piece of scaffold pole ?

[trevorbayliss]

Any idea what this piece of pole is hidden in a stud wall ?

It seems to possibly go downwards into the flat below and also upwards into the flat above, but i cannot see it in the flat above as everything is covered up.

Today i was ripping down this stud wall and you can see this pole. It is quite close to the light breeze block wall you can see cut and sandwiched between 2 studs. This wall is the dividing wall between the kitchen and the bathroom.

I am opening up the kitchen to be part of the lounge and the bathroom will reduce in size so i can get more kitchen into part of the bath area. It will just leave a toilet room.

 

[jeds]

Gas pipe? I've often specified steel gas piping for flats to overcome the ducting issue between flats.

 

[trevorbayliss]

All the gas boxes are outside and the feeds run along the exterior walls. So i am not sure if this would be gas. Do mean the gas 22mm pipe is located in the steel pipe as protection ?

I will need to check if ALL gas boxes are outside tomorrow just in case.

 

[jeds]

No, you used to be allowed to run steel gas pipe through one flat to get to another flat, without the need for ducting. Copper isn't allowed and had to be run on the outside walls, which is not the most attractive look.

Could this be an old redundant pipe? I can't think of anything else it could be.

 

[trevorbayliss]

It might be. I will need to check if all flats have external copper piping running to them.

What if it is live ? Would the gas newtwork come out and test it for me ?

 

[mattylad]

how?
Is it continuous or are the any junctions?

 

[23vc]

Old gas pipe when they used to run them inside all the walls, common

 

[trevorbayliss]

So could it be live ? Would the gas people come out to check it before i cut into it ?

 

[jeds]

Not a gas network thing. Private flats = private pipes.

I think all you can do is check the flat above and trace its supply pipe back to the meter. If you are absolutely certain it runs completely separate from this pipe then I'd take it to be redundant.
Beware that once in a flat the pipe can revert to copper - and that often happens because copper is much easier to run and deal with. So having a copper pipe appearing in the flat doesn't necessarily mean it doesn't come from this steel pipe.

 

[23vc]

Can’t you trace at least one end of it to somewhere?

 

[jeds]

If you can't get to the ends of the pipe or to a tapping of some description, you'll need to drill into it. Use a small drill and have a jubilee clip and some sealant handy just in case.

 

[trevorbayliss]

I didnt trace the ends today, but i will ask the ground floor flat as she has a cellar and it might come in from there.

I have just spoken to the gas emergency people and they say if you cannot see the end of it to call them in the morning before i do any cutting. So i will do that and hopefully they can come out.