"Ed Sirett" wrote in message
news
On Thu, 10 Jun 2004 14:16:22 +0000, BigWallop wrote:


"Dave Plowman" wrote in message
...
In article .uk,
Ed Sirett wrote:
I'm pretty sure any lead pipe left in an existing gas installation is
cause for at least an At Risk notice.

As a matter of interest when and where was lead gas pipe used? My
Victorian house had lead for water and lead sheathed cable, but iron
barrel gas pipes.

Our old house in Edinburgh had block tin
as its gas pipes. Never heard of lead
on the gas supply either Dave. (you know it's
block tin if it creakels)

Most houses in the UK had lead gas pipes. Lead was fitted as choice in most
until WW2 and after. Iron started to replace lead befoire WW2 and after took
off after. In some parts of the country gas pipes are still in iron. In
many new houses iron is still the choice. In other parts of the country
copper has been the norm in gas since WW2 , and still is and should be too.

I've seen plenty of defunct small bore lead
for lighting in ceiling voids.
The youngest peice of lead I'v seen in any
live gas installation was a 1958 house. The lead
was probably from original installation, but had not
been removed by and subsequent meter change
or Natural Gas conversion crews.

Natural gas conversion crews never removed lead. In the 1970s lead was
still very common, gas tight and working well.

Also it was (perhaps wrongly) accepted
by the fitter who installed
the gas boiler in 1972-1975.

In the Manchester area the area gas board was installing lead gas pipes for
gas cooker and fores runs up until the late 1970s and probably beyond. I
know friends in Chester who in 1978 had lead pipe delivered for a gas fire
run and told them to take it away and fit copper. They did without question
and all the same price. The fitters would feed the coiled lead through under
the floor boards. One old trick was to open two floor boards at each end of
the run, then send a car down with a string. It always came up at the other
hole in the boards with the string, then they could pull through the coiled
lead pipe.

There is nothing wrong with using an existing 3/4" lead gas pipe for a gas
boiler. If it is gas tight then use it. The problem is that not many have
the skills today to make a lead joint, that is why they rip it out. I have
come across 100 year old lead pipe in walls that has been near perfect. The
only problems with the pipe was where they rammed the iron lead hooks into
the wall. These would sometime crimp the lead.

I once came across a house that still had gas lights in the 1970s, with no
electricity in the house. Two old dears who still had a dolly tub. I have
fitted gas lights, made by Veritas, they were popular after the power cuts
in the 1970s. The Tower hotel at Tower Bridge had them fitted in certain
areas. I think they are still there.