Replacing lead main water feed,

[jimAuk]

Hi
We have lead water pipe from the water meter/stopcock (which are both inside our property boundary) to the in-house stop-cock, which is a distance of about 20m.
Also the in-house stop-ck is in a very odd place (to to historic house extensions), so as part of some other building work we would like to replace this lead pipe/ relocate the in-house stop cock.
I understand the incoming water needs to be 25mm MDPE (blue) pipe, 750mm U/G and in a 100mm sleeve insulated and sleeved as it passes under the foundations to enter the house?
Luckily where is enters the house is the current front door (don’t ask!!), but we are relocating the front door and this will then become a window. Also the front door is a double pourch type affair, so I can remove the external door section, still leaving a sealed door to the house whilst I work on the out side.
I can break up the current foundation section to get 750down, but where the lead is, is only about 20” down with some odd sort of lime scale unit in a pit with a man cover on.
I only want to part replace the pipe to this man hole which is only about 1m away, and then do the other approx. 19m at another time.
So I will have to dig down to 750 through the foundations, but bend back up to the current lead pipe level!!!
Also when I finaly get round to replacing the rest of the lead pipe, can I connect to the meter/stop-cock myself?

 

[JohnD]

If you are planning to replace a lead pipe, contact your water supply co. They may have a subsidy programme, or may replace their part of the pipe (under the pavement up to your boundary). This will make it much easier to connect your new pipe than working with 100-year old lead or odd-sized stopcock.

Contact them before you start work. I did one not long ago, and they take a sample of the water to see how much lead it contains before agreing to help. They took so long to make the appointment to test the water, that by the time they came, I had already repleced my part, so I got no subsidy and they did not replace their part or connect up my new pipe.

 

[jimAuk]

If you are planning to replace a lead pipe, contact your water supply co. They may have a subsidy programme, or may replace their part of the pipe (under the pavement up to your boundary). This will make it much easier to connect your new pipe than working with 100-year old lead or odd-sized stopcock.

.

They have allreay replaced their part of the pipe which is upto the meter/stock which is in our garden, before we moved in 4 years ago.

I still have 20m from the stopcock/meter, to where our house is/inside house stop-cock.

So as the Yorkshire water site, everything on my boundry side./house side of stop cock is my resposiblity! (I.e no grants etc)

So is I just turn of the new plastic stopcock/meter (which is underground down a pipe) and then dig around that, find where the lead joinds in and remove and join in new blue pipe? As it is on my side???

 

[JohnD]

OK, so you mean you can join onto their new pipe, which is presumably plastic? And it should be easy to fit to the new stop cock, but check the size before you buy your pipe. It is worth fitting the biggest you can, for a good flow, and the price is not much higher. You can put a garden tap Tee in while you are at it, down a pit for access and frost protection.

It is still worth asking if they offer a subsidy to replace old lead pipes, even if they are on your own land.

They may be entitled to inspect your new pipe to verify that it is correctly installed and deep enough.

 

[Agile]

I would fit a larger pipe a its so cheap.

It does not have to be sleeved except where it comes into the house.

Thye should be advised of the work and given the opportunity to inspect the pipe in the trench before its covered!

Technically it should really be connected by someone qualified under the Water Regs

Tony