Phil Munro wrote:
Someone else is looking for a pipe rebuilder. Maybe you should send
your pipe to a pipe galvanizer.
wrote:
Greetings,
I recently purchased a house which has had some of its galvanized water
pipe replaced with black pipe. I know that the work is new because
there are bar codes all over the pipe. I know that this is "not
good" but I would like to have some notion of how bad it is before I
decide whether or not to replace the pipe with galvanized.
a) Is this a code violation (if yes, why?)
b) What is the life expectancy of black pipe?
c) What is the life expectancy of galvanized pipe?
d) Are there any other factors?
Thank you for your time and energy,
William
--
Phil Munro Dept of Electrical & Computer Engin
Youngstown State University
Youngstown, Ohio 44555
Greetings,
First I would like to say thank you all very much.
It sounds like
a) if the water is not used I might have to run the faucet to flush the
rust
b) although it is against code, there is no health danger
c) I will have to replace the black pipe early
I plan on leaving the black pipe until it start to fail and then
replacing the system with copper. In the meantime I will paint the
exterior of the pipe. I plan to paint the gas pipe yellow, the hot
water red, and the cold water blue. I am sure someone will tell me
that I should not wait but if the pipe actually takes 7 or 8 years to
fail I would rather have my money invested elsewhere in the meantime.
The value of the house will not increase by the cost of the work.
Answers to some questions:
a) The galvanized pipes are restricted but water pressure appears
adequate.
b) The house was built in the late 1800's. I do not know when the
plumbing was last updated but there are lead drain pipes and lead
joints used for the water pipes so I imagine it is quite old.
Hope this helps,
William