I want to get a pipe that runs up one of the walls in my flat removed, as I think it is no longer in use. It looks to my untrained eye like lead - meaning presumably it's at least less likely to be in use. Does anyone know if there's a way to tell whether there's any water going through it without cutting into it? I've attached a link to a picture, below for anyone who wants to hazard a guess as to what it's made out of.
had to work hard at getting it as bright as in your photos,then I suspect it might be galvanised steel.
If it is in a flat then it could be serving somone else above or below yours?
Can you get to one end or a tee junction to see if it has been connected with a wiped joint or a screw thread?
toilet soil pipe from the colour of the photo?
If it is, check to see if yours and your neighbours toilets are connected to it and if they are then it is still "live" and cannot be removed without some form of replacement to carry away the waste.
Brian
No, it's only about 32mm in diameter. If I remember correctly, when I boxed it in (replacing some bulkier 100year-old looking boxing) there was another pipe that came down parallel to that one, and was capped off half the way down the wall.
Hmm, it was fairly easy, and the metal does seem soft, although I dont know if it's 'as soft as lead'. I wonder if there's a chemical test you can do with household materials...
Yep, it's definately not supplying my flat, as I have a copper pipe coming in elsewhere.
Ah... I could try and find the end of the other pipe that's also beside this one and terminates at some point between the ceiling and the floor - more sawing'll be needed though.
It looks like an old 7lb lead water main or something. Try putting a screwdriver point against it and your ear to the handle and if you hear a hissing sort of sound then it is still feeding something. You might have to flush your loo or wait for a neighbour to run some water, but it should tell you quite well if it is still live.
It may be gas, I would ask the people above if you can trace it out just in case. In my old house the gas was lead and when they came to remove it transco had to dig up the road as apparently they never used to fit isolation valves in those days. Take care Rob
From the scrape marks, it looks very much like lead.
Lead was also used for gas pipes, so discovering that it does not contain water is not necessarily useful. You really need to try to trace the ends if you want to cut it away.
Colin Bignell
Trace the pipe out. Find out what it supplies. It may be a dead gas or water pipe, or a gas pipe that no longer serves anything. If it is useless get rid of it.
Two pipes of that diameter running parallel could be old feeds from a back boiler or kitchen range - possibly in the original house before conversion. If you go down from them would that take you to where an old range or fire place might have been?
The pipe was obviously still in use at the time that end was made.
Colin Bignell
The flat has always been part of a tenement, although the kitchen used to be close to this part of the room, I believe.
When I was rebuilding the first floor bathroom in my 1948 ex-council house I came across a capped pipe end in the wall cavity. It was a dirty black thing, maybe 30 to 40mm dia - can't remember exactly. It was a bit in the way of a drain pipe that I wanted to put through the wall, so I considered removing it. Being wary of unexpected surprises, I removed the end cap carefully. It was a gas pipe, and still connected. The house has never had any gas appliance fitted upstairs, so they must have had a change of plan during the building phase.
MJ
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