Rising Main Saga

[Andrew]

My 1976 house has black 'plastic' pipework connected to 15mm copper under the sink. That's how they did it back then.

[newshound]

You get a mixture of blue and black on farms, all sorts of stuff in my local Mole Valley. They sort of seem expensive especially if you have to buy a collection of bits, but once you realise they let you do a permanent job in minutes (up a ladder in a barn or in a muddy field) with rudimentary tools you realise they are good value after all.

[Tim Lamb]

Has he said that? I guessed '60's because I knew black imperial sized alkathene was in use then.

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[Mike Halmarack]

There's quite a lot of mixed blue and black when you look up from under Sandown Pier and it doesnt seem to be leaking. Wish I could say the same about my airing cupboard.

[Mike Halmarack]

Early 70's really, if that would make much difference.

[Andrew]

I am beginning to wonder if a simple lack of inserts inside the ends of the black stuff is the problem ?. You would have to dismantle it to prove one way or the other though.

[Robert]

Isnt the Black version the same as the Blue but with a UV inhibitor added. I used to use the Black where exposed to sunlight and the Blue were buried as it was cheaper in the 1990's.

[Mike Halmarack]

After much haranguing, the management company plumber came around yesterday with a handful of "new style, super quality" connectors and lengths of blue pipe. He converted the black and blue cocktail of pipework to all blue.

I hope that's cured the leakage problem but I must say that there are now so many connectors that the rising main pipework looks like a string of rosary beads.

[T i m]

<snip>

Hehe!

Cheers, T i m