replacing lead pipe update

[Stephen]

Hello,

I had a letter from the water company saying they would connect my mdpe pipe free of charge if I were to replace the lead pipe but it says that they will only connect 25mm mdpe pipe, which iirc is 20mm internal diameter.

I think one of the replies when I asked about this before was to get the largest diameter pipe that they would allow. I could use another size but I would have to pay for it to be connected. Do you think 25mm pipe will be sufficient or should I pay for the larger size?

Thanks, Stephen.

[Kellerman]

Water board (Anglian Water) just came and replaced ours. The pipe in the street was a mixture of lead and asbestos they said. Used a mole, minimal digging. They connected it up, no charge. In my case there was a water meter already in place so I assume that the house bit was sorted when that was fitted. Pipes in the house are 15mm copper. Pressure and flow is fine.

[sm_jamieson]

I thought about a new connection when I did the extension - a lead pipe is shared by 4 houses and I am on the end. The requirement was to not leave an y dead leg leading to stagnant water. This was not possible withought diggi ng up the next doors patio. So I changed my section to new MDPE and connect ed it to the lead at my boundary.

Next door has had an extension built and the ground has been dug, so now wo uld be my chance. I would get better water pressure, but its not too bad.

However, I would have to have a water meter - and since my family is expand ing, that might be a bad idea.

What seems weird - since I am not metered, I can mess around with my water pipe however I want. But if I was metered, I would potentially be doing som ething naughty by fiddling with it.

Simon.

[Andrew Gabriel]

I did a relative's one 3 years ago. Thames water wanted quite a lot of money to connect up under the pavement, so I just joined it to the lead as it came under the front garden wall. In this case it was a semi- emergency replacement, due to the unexpected apperance of a front garden pond.