|Nick wrote: | | |> Surely it's very bad for your health to run drinking water |> through lead pipes? | |Depends on the water. | |I wouldn't want to do it here in mid Kent as the water is as |soft as a baby's botty and might just dissolve some lead |on the way through.
They put a little chalk into our soft water off the peat moors to get over that problem.
That was the advice I received (here, I imagine, many years ago) and with some trepidation I tried a lead-lok. I can confirm they are just great!
Douglas de Lacey
Only in soft water areas, where the lead may be dissolved into the water. In hard water areas, the inside of the pipe rapidly grows a protective layer of scale.
MDPE pipe is the usual way for renewal or installation in Britain too. However, there is a lot of digging out to do to replace a riser and not much wrong with leaving a lead pipe in place if it is in good condition and the water is hard. My main concern with a lead pipe would be whether it had been damaged or distorted, causing either leaks or reduced flow respectively.
Colin Bignell
That's curious. I thought that Kent was all hard water as a result of the chalk hills......
No, lead is very reactive and pipes soon oxidise, creating a barely soluble lining.
Mary
>I would back that one up from experience and I would add in the fact that I think lead pipes perish over time don't they ?
I had a lead riser when I took on this house 30 years ago - it burst three times in three different places before the situation arose where I had the time, etc to dig the whole lot up and replace it with the blue piping - about 20yds of it. Age was the cause not pressure as that is generally low here.
My penny's worth, based on the above and having a similar experience at a friend's house, is that you should bypass the lead pipe altogether. Remember that in general you won't have to bury the plastic pipe so deep.
Rob
Certainly is in the Medway area, hard as nails.
How do you work out what size leadlok you need ?
I have a blanked off lead pipe in an outside WC I want to join to but cant cut a bit off to take to mercahnt as I cant guarntee being able to turn off the supply !
Robert
OK - more specifically, near Tunbridge Wells. All sandstone and/or clay round here.
I measured the water with one of those little chemical kits when I got my first dishwasher - a Bosch that can be programmed with the water hardness.
The kit read right at the bottom of the scale, the dishwasher hasn;t bothered to use any salt since (2 years on). Surprised me - never seen water that soft before.
Cheers
Tim
I'm surprised the water supplier isn't adding hardness, they have done round here (Leeds) for donkeys' years. We have no choice.
Mary
Which mid Kent do you live in? :) The water round here is not what I would call "soft".
Alex
After the cold winters of the late 70s the depths pipes had to be buried (to prevent freezing) was increased. Unless th lead is very deep, you will have to bury it deeper.
The water cut-off stopcock at your property boundary usually sets how deep you need to go. If you are replacing it, it is probably easiest to mole the new pipe in, rather than dig a trench.
Colin Bignell
And would be contrary to the regs to boot.
1/2" 7lb lead pipe is about 25mm OD 3/4" 9lb lead pipe is about 30mm OD 1" 16lb lead pipe is about 40mm OD
Colin Bignell
I don't think wiped lead joints are alowed anymore anyway...
You can use a leadlok connector or a universal transition connector.
Depends on if you DIY... that would probably depend on you having a stopcock outside that would let you isolate the house feed.
You may find that you can request replacement of the lead anyway - and that might even happen for free. If not I would only be concerned if you are in a soft water area. With hard water the lead soon acquires a coating on the inside that keeps the metal out of contact with the water.
Thanks all. I will investigate leadlok fixings. Luckily there is a stopcock further down the line so all I need to do is agree with my neighbour (who shares it) a suitable time to turn the water off. I'm in a hard water area so I think the lead pipe will be OK - hasn't failed yet anyway and I'm not keen to dig up the front garden
Mary: The solution is for you and hubby to come to visit me in Sunny Suffolk for a holiday. Make him finish the kitchen first though or you will never get it done :)
Anna
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