New mains water pipe

S

smh

Greetings all....

My house has a stop-cock and water meter at the road (well, in the middle of the pavement outside actually) running down to another stop-cock inside the house which I'd like to relocate. The stop-cock in the house doesn't look too good, and I'd like to replace it. It looks at least 40 years old (the house is victorian).

A friend told me that it was highly likely I had lead pipes, so he recommended replacing the water main with a plastic one up to the road while I'm at it.

Before I start digging things up I have some questions:
- Who do I need to notify of such work? I believe I'm responsible for maintaining the system up to the meter, however I'm not sure about access over the 10 inches or so of pavement I've got to go under to reach the meter. Is this BCO, water board or both? Should I try to make a 'tunnel' under the pavement to make the coupling?
- Do I need any special tools for working with the plastic pipe?

thanks for any comments,
-Simon.
 
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Simon,
You need to inform your water supplier as they will make the connection at the pavement end. They will send you an application pack which will contain all the installation details that you need to follow. Also, they dont shout about this because it does them out of money, but if your existing main is lead, and lead is toxic. If you ask about the lead replacement scheme it means that you are entitled to your pavement connection for free. As opposed to them charging you hundreds of pounds for the privilege. All of this depends on that your existing main is lead and also that the scheme is still running but as far as i know it is. :D
 
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Just to follow up, unfortunately they don't replace lead pipes for free in my area, because they say there have been no water quality issues relating to lead pipes here. I have to make the case that it's affecting my health :rolleyes:

As macgee hinted, the cost for re-connection of a service pipe (for Thames water) is a whopping 500 quid :eek:, however they say if I cut/separate the pipe inside my property then the inspection of my re-connection is free. They didn't seem to mind exactly how I did that, so I'll just have a dig and see what's there.

cheers,
-Simon.
 

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