Lead water pioe

Jun 28, 2021 Last reply: 5 years ago 8 Replies

I live i a recently acquired bungalow built in 1971. My plumber just revealed that the incoming water main is made of lead.



It runs in a straight line under a bedroom and a bathroom to a stop c*ck in the adjacent toilet.



He is hinting that it ought to be replaced.



If it does have to replaced can it be fed through relatively easily or does there have to be significant excavation?



On 28/06/2021 19:40, Steve Walker wrote:> people generally flush the toilet and wash their hands before taking a drink in the morning.

That way lies disaster. I generally try to leave it until noon at the earliest. Sometimes 12:05.

Hang on, I've lived in this ere house since 1957, and the lead pipe for the mains water is still all the way in to half way up a wall, where its jointed to copper. I was told that its long past shedding lead as it will be coated internally with gunk by long before we moved in. . Brian

Not if you live in a soft water area.

Round here, the water is so soft that 10 year old kettle elements look new. Back in my school days, we titrated the water and found it was almost as soft as distilled water! Lead pipes simply never get coated - hence the water company adding phosphates for the last 18 or 19 years, to deliberately coat the pipes.

If it's yellow, let it mellow...

pinnerite formulated the question :

I would very much doubt lead pipe was installed, in 1971, thought it was possible up to around 1970.

 I bought a 1962 bungalow, that had an iron(? certainly wasn't lead) water inlet pipe ?

The new house my parents had built on part of our bungalows big garden had a new iron water pipe supply under the concrete drive from the road.

Froze up solid during the Winter of 1962/63 and we had to use a hosepipe from the old (now sold) bungalow for 8 weeks. 'New' house was built in 1956.

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