Connecting to lead water pipe

I wish a) we had time and b) you lived closer to us, Spouse would love to do a job like that and I'd love to meet you!

Mary

I thought that was illegal?

Get your water company to replace it then.

Our rising main is lead. It changes where the internal stop tap meets it - and then only because Spouse changed all the internal piping to copper in the 1960s.

Mary

Thats why you are just a handyman

Crap tools and advice

Blah blah blah.

Blah blah blah.

Blah blah blah.

You don't need to do wiped work, all you need is something to expand the lead pipe to accept the copper pipe you want to use.

This is usually done by danging in a hardwood cone like a victorian childs whipping top, but any substitute will do, the aim is simply to open up the last inch of the lead pipe.

Put the copper into the lead pipe and carefully run solder along the join to a decent depth.

Job done. Time taken about half an hour at most.

There is nothing stopping existing pipes from being lead. However, you cannot now use it for construction, installation, renewal, repair or replacement.

Colin Bignell

Provided you're willing to pay.

Are you the new dribble?

nightjar

Surely it's very bad for your health to run drinking water through lead pipes? Here in NZ I'd just buy a coil of that blue plastic water pipe and a couple of plastic connectors and do it myself. It's very cheap and simple.

Maybe the recent PVC pipes would be a good idea though :)

Not at all, I'm just commenting on the current bout of verbal diarrhoea that's infecting some people in uk.d-i-y. If you can't beat 'em, join them. Bring on some nice adverts, or something vaguely useful, instead of a load of useless wink (sp).

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.

Back in north Surrey, near London, it made no difference at all as the lead pipes (and everything else) furred up in no time with limescale. Up there, if it was a long hot summer, water came out the tap like milk - had to let it settle, pour it off the inch of chalk, then lob in a spoon of citric acid just to make it palatable!

As for leaded solder - big fuss over nothing IMO, given the tiny amount that is exposed to the water flow.

Have the kiwis banned leaded solder BTW?

Cheers

Tim

Just? And what superior position in life would you occupy? Brain surgeon? Nuclear Physicist?

I am and have been many things.

Your powers of clairvoyance astound me. How do you know what tools I have? Some are cheap & cheerful, some are expensive & good quality - it depends on the use they are intended for.

Crap advice? I haven't given any advice, I simply asked a question.

Why don't you try making constructive suggestions or asking relevant questions?

However, thank you for the unprovoked ad homium attack.

Go to a decent plumber's merchant and get a Leadlok connector. The rest is obvious (and involves doing the new work in copper or plastic).

If your water is even moderately hard, lead pipe is no hazard. If your water is soft, then talk to the waterboard about gettign the whole lot swapped.

Wiping soldered lead is great fun, but down a hole is no place to learn it.

nightjar There is nothing stopping existing pipes from being lead. However, you

Nor should anyone be making wiped or any other sort of soft-soldered joints to old lead pipes. A 'lead-lok' compression coupling is the way to do it:

My city is supplied almost entirely by rainwater, which is presumably very soft. I'm not aware of any lead water pipes at all. These days they are all polyethylene. The connections and pipe are very cheap and the connections just screw together with bare hands.

I see signs of some companies converting to lead-free solder but I don't think it's a worry unless used for drinking water. For years people have had lead flashings on their roof, and collected roof water for drinking. But a roof is usually painted, and the water runs off it quickly. I assume the inside of a lead pipe would be bare lead, and the water just sits there.