On Thu, 27 Apr 2006 13:48:39 +0100, tony sayer
wrote:

All you have to do is solder a piece of 15mm copper pipe into the end
of the lead pipe. It's very simple to do and permanent.

The proper technique would be to flair the lead pipe with a thing like
a hardwood cone, but anything will do, even the handle of a tool.
You only need to flair it about 1.5 centimetres in and then clean the
inside of the pipe with wire wool. Clean the copper with wire wool as
usual and then insert the copper into the lead. Heat the copper and
solder it in to make a nice snug fit.

If you look at your gas meter you should find an example there.


And remember that Lead is contained in solder and does err.. Melt.. so
go easy with the blow lamp.

Course this skill was what the old timer plumbers used, join lead to
lead, and a very nice job they used to make too!....

I first encountered lead pipe in my 1930's first house in 1974 when my
stop tap under the sink gave up the ghost. One saturday evening I went
out in the road to turn off the mains with a borrowed key and then
indoors to blithely cut the lead pipe under the old stop tap. I had
prepared the copper pipe and had all the stuff laid out for a quick
and efficient job. Sadly I discovered the mains tap in the road had
given up it's job about 1955, and a constant trickle of water from the
cut lead pipe made soldering very interesting!

Ah, the good old days of DIY