Gas supply pipe replacement: update

Where are you? They're just putting our paving stones back today, I'll be able to park outside the house tonight. OpenReach had the same slabs up earlier in the year. twice.

I'm between Manchester and Bury.

I must say I was impressed with Cadent, even if we were without gas central heating most of Tuesday which was pretty cold.

I took the view that in over forty years living here this was the only interruption to the supply.

Reply to
Graham.
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Well after 3 false starts going back to last August, the crew turned up yesterday with no warning whatsoever. They dropped loads of the bits needed to put around road and pavement works along with copious amounts of yellow piping.

Today they have been busy cutting into the pavement in selected places and (I am guessing from the truck used) have washed the earth away to reveal the pipe to the house. But only in one spot so far.

Obviously the entire road is now covered in dust, but I guess they won't charge for it.

My main concern is when they've finished, I don't want the refilled pavement sinking making the road like a pinball machine.

Reply to
Jethro_uk

You just missed the Natural Gas Changeover?

I seem to remember that taking about five visits to do us because one of the fitters had a ladder. I don't know why a ladder was required, or maybe that was a new boiler rather than the Changeover.

We had to drill holes in the door of the cupboard where the Ascot was located.

Owain

Reply to
spuorgelgoog

West Midlands. There's been a huge ongoing programme for the past few years.

No slabs. Beautifully tarmaced just over 10 years ago. Done properly with roller and everything. So if nothing else there will be a clear edge to the repair work. Which I imagine will look good for a few weeks. However when the subsoil settles and compacts ....

If you remember, post in a years time :)

Only time I can ever recall an interruption to gas was in 1985 when we smelled gas in our student house. BG were there within an hour and confirmed it was a very slight weep from a join near the meter on the property side. I can't recall how or who fixed it. Just that he disconnected the gas, hooked up a pipe with mercury in it and we all watched it slowly falling ...

Reply to
Jethro_uk

If it was on the property side it would have been a water filled manometer. The pressure is too low to use mercury.

Tim

Reply to
Tim+

Complain to the local council if that happens as they will have more leverage over the gas company.

Reply to
Michael Chare

Oh, it was definitely mercury ... it was mid 80s :)

Reply to
Jethro_uk

Noted. Although I am expecting the problem to appear in say 6-9 months.

I guess I should be grateful we've enjoyed over 10 years of showroom standard tarmac. Someone important must have lived down the road (which was also retarmaced about the same time. Still not a crack anywhere ....)

Reply to
Jethro_uk

Jethro_uk submitted this idea :

They made a fine job here in the road, with the main. Refilled, tamped down then aircrete, then tarmac. It has seen some heavy traffic testing it since then and no compaction. No settlement in pavements either, which received similar treatment.

Reply to
Harry Bloomfield, Esq.

You may have to have it that way for the short term as what tends to happen is a temp fill, wait for it to sink then come back and make good properly. Just hope the company doing it does not change hands or go out of business in between as chances ar the new lot will not have any idea of the need. Also, when they did this down my street they killed half a dozen street trees, and cut several peoples cable phones and internet, and half the streetlights in the road stopped working. It reminded me of that Flandwers and Swan song. The gas man Cometh. Mind you some years earlier the cable tv people killed several more trees just putting a green duct under the footway, but then it was Morrisons construction or as we calleed them destruction. Brian

Reply to
Brian Gaff (Sofa 2)

Seems daft trying to watch fractions of a mm drop in Hg when water would show the leak much more obviously.

Tim

Reply to
Tim+

From the vehicle I've seen, I think they are liquefying the soil and hoovering it up to expose the gas pipe rather than pick + shovel. Presumably that's the safest way to avoid cutting through other services.

Currently they've cut open about 10 spots (incidentally the pavement tarmac was bloody well laid at 6" thick). My guess is they are going to expose the whole street and then push the new pipe in one run ?

SWMBO answered the door yesterday to one of the workmen who asked where our meter was. When she showed him there was a nod of approval and a comment that it hadn't been moved in a tone which suggested a lot had. SWMBO asked if they'd need to dig up our garden but he said it was very unlikely.

Reply to
Jethro_uk

When they replace the main, they can run at a higher pressure (having eliminated potentially leaky joints), so the run to the house can be a smaller diameter and still achieve the same gas flow. They normally push a new, plastic pipe through the existing metal one.

SteveW

Reply to
Steve Walker

Update 2:

Just had the guys knock on the door. Apparently one of the pipes runs under our front lawn (we're on a right angled corner in the road) and they've tried to get to it from the pavement but the lawn needs to come up.

All sounds very exciting ??????

Reply to
Jethro_uk

If the pipe doesn't contain any right angles then they dont need to dig up anything, The yellow liner is flexible enough to get around curves so they only need access to your feeder where it meets the main in the road - basically cutting away enough to thread in the liner from the reel - and the outlet inside your house next to the meter. However if there are any right angles in the pipe inside your house (as there may possibly be as according to the fitter who did ours the original installers must have got bonus payments for right angle joints) the carpets and floorboards may have to come up.

michael adams

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Reply to
michael adams

A few years back we had a mains water leak, which revealed multiple gas leaks. The combiantion ended up with them (gas and water - and me) digging up half our garden. The water leak had already turned most of the garden into mud...

Reply to
polygonum_on_google

Well they've replaced the pipe - 5 chilly hours this morning, but no need to do more than disconnect and reconnect the metal pipe. Presumably they needed to seal the plastic pipe to the outside of the metal pipe.

Guy popped in and fired up the gas fire, cooker and boiler to purge the air, and that was that.

They've already started filling the holes. They *look* OK ...

I got a zillion smug points for digging out the Super Ser from the garage (no home should be without) and noting it still had a full gas bottle. Amazing how much heat it throws out - full heat managed to warm 3 rooms in about 15 minutes. And I mean warm !

(pauses to reflect the pipes just fitted will outlive me ...)

Reply to
Jethro_uk

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