Old iron water main!

[carryoncamping]

I've been digging new drains and have come across an old iron/steel water main, approximately 1" diameter. It has a pin hole leak and is spurting water to about 1 metre in height. I've managed to bandage it with an old rubber innertube and a jubilee clip, this has significantly reduced the leak but not stopped it completely. Is there anything more substantial I could use to seal it?

My water supply is definitely fed via black alkathene pipe, meaning the iron pipe isn't mine.

The council houses on my street were built around 1940, when did Iron pipework go out of use? Could this be the original main to the houses that has since been superseded by the alkathene but left 'live'?! I'm rather concerned if so, because it's corroded badly.

Even though I don't use the main am I responsible for it? I have no idea where the stop cock is to it (I've traced the pipe a little way and it goes in to nextdoor's garden as well). When I phoned Yorkshire Water they told me that old pipes sometimes weren't adopted by them, so is it the council? (note, I own my ex council house).

Finally, I've had a request from a neighbour who's on a water meter if he can tee into it!! It may not be Yorkshire water's pipe but it's their water!

Any help much appreciated.

 

[noseall]

baaaad news.

that little iron fella could be shot for quite a distance along its length.

you need to find the stop cock as quick as poss.

there are plastic fittings that will deal with this type of pipe but it will need cleaning up with a grinder and some wet'n'dry.

i have had reasonable success with repairing in the past, though i did have to graft in some blue 20mm for about 2m along its length before i could find any decent pipe to make the connections.

 

[BREAKALEG]

Try www.fwb.co.uk they sell "viking johnson" wrap around handibands fittings which might save your bacon!!

 

[BoxBasher]

If the pipe doesn't feed your house then it's not your responsibility...

I'd call Yorkshire Water and get them to sort it out they'll either fix it or find out who's it is and get them to sort it...

 

[Agile]

If its not feeding your property then there should be a Wayleave Agreement covering it crossing your land.

Often Council properties were not properly documented legally when the property was sold but sometimes contained clauses like "subject to any pipes, wires or other services crossing the land" etc.

In theory if it serves anyone you can require them to enter into a wayleave agreement and pay you say £100 per annum for the priviledge.

I have a terraced property in the Midlands and the water supply is a lead pipe running along the rear of the houses about 1.5 m from the rear wall. The neighbour was digging footings for an extension and found the pipe was 750mm down but came up to only 300 mm below ground where the lead tee connect branched into his house.

He had damaged the lead and it was leaking about 20 litres per minute. There was a stopcock serving all eight houses but after turning it off it still passed about 20 li/min so did little to reduce the leak rate.

The foul drain was by coincidence blocked and that meant that all the back gardens were quickly flooded.

S-T Water sent an inspector after a day but he said it was not their responsibility but did arrange to have the stopcock replaced after about a week and the foul drain cleared after a day or two.

The fact that mains water was leaking into the foul drain water and flooding the back gardens did not seem to concern him.

I reduced the flow with a rubber and clip to about 4 li/min and it was left leaking like that for a week until the stopcock was changed. Someone else repaired the lead and I suspect it was soldered!!!

The head had broken off the stopcock but they managed to replace the works without digging even though it was 3 ' down a clay pipe. How do they do that?

Tony

 

[carryoncamping]

Thanks for the advice guys. Yorkshire Water are coming Thursday morning to look at it, I'll keep you posted.

Let's see if they can be as 'helpful' as when I stuck my spade through my actual water main last year (buried only 200mm under the ground! This is how I know my water is fed via alkathene and not Iron! ). It took them two days and a flooded garden before they came out to renew the stopcock which had ceased open.

Agile, It sounds like older houses didn't have a stopcock each but shared a common one. So I presume this IS the old main. After a quick walk up my street I see every house has a stopcock outside their property.

Cheers

 

[BoxBasher]

The head had broken off the stopcock but they managed to replace the works without digging even though it was 3 ' down a clay pipe. How do they do that?
Tony

Quickly, whilst wearing waterproofs...

Screw out old headworks, screw in new one.

 

[Agile]

The mains pressure is about 2.5 Bar and it was a 3/4" valve so it would give a very good spray!!!

Presumably they have a special box spanner and SPECIAL ? headworks to fit a 80 year old valve?

Where could I get similar parts?

Tony

 

[BoxBasher]

The mains pressure is about 2.5 Bar and it was a 3/4" valve so it would give a very good spray!!!

Presumably they have a special box spanner and SPECIAL ? headworks to fit a 80 year old valve?

Where could I get similar parts?

Tony

Don't know Tony... Our contractors have all sorts of stuff that I would love to lay my hands on.

It might just be a case of luck more than good judgement. Old hands wil ltry the no-dig way first to minimise the time they have to spend doing a job. You will probably find that they have a stock of salvaged/reconditioned taps that they have taken out when replacing leaking pipes... (I know I try to keep a stock of old bits, never know when you can pull a plumber out of the s**t so Ican get home quicker when on call).

Wouldn't need to be that special a box spanner. My old stop tap key used to catch on the body of stoptaps and screw the headworks out (when turning a house back on). Used to whack my broom handle in the hole and clear out all the debris from the box before trying to get it back in...

 

[carryoncamping]

Yorkshire Water have found the stopcock to the old Iron water main.
It had been covered over with 2" of Tarmac! The tap has broken so the road will need to be dug up and the main capped. The YW guy said he could hear water rushing through the old main, so no doubt it's leaking in several other places as well.

I presume the cowboys who left the old main live, are the same who put the replacement alkathene pipe only 200mm down in places!

I'm hoping this will be the last of the surprises my old house and garden give me!

 

[keego]

My old stop tap key used to catch on the body of stoptaps and screw the headworks out (when turning a house back on). Used to whack my broom handle in the hole and clear out all the debris from the box before trying to get it back in...

Ah! memories of the old days..........
Mostly bad though, trying to do that at midnight in the middle of winter.

 

[BoxBasher]

Ah! memories of the old days..........
Mostly bad though, trying to do that at midnight in the middle of winter.

You can tell a good gang by the length of their broomhandle... the shorter it is, the harder working they are (means they'd rather get on with the job than wait for a turnkey to get round all the valves)