"Andrew Mawson" wrote in message
...

"IMM" wrote in message
...

"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.

. . . . I seem to remember that lead pipe has
a habit of growing crystals in its internal structure,
and as they are cubic the material becomes less
ductile and they propogate cracks. This process
happens over many decades but I'm assured
that it does happen. I've had a lead water main
go this way in a house of circa 1890.

When lead pipe is embedded in plaster it is supported on all side, so less
strain when expansion and contraction occurs. Lead on hooks on the wall
would sag and fail early. I have come across 100 year old lead pipe in
basements, where the temperature is pretty stable all year around, that was
supported on wall batons. It was near perfect, having no chance to sag.

Personally I'd not be at all happy with
lead gas pipes and my preference is
for threaded gas barrel indoors

"gas barrel"? What is this?

- it's eay to work if you have the correct
tools, and in future will turn that floor nail
that someone may knock in.
Using copper is ok in theory but in the nail
senario with water you know
imediately that you have a leak whereas with
gas you may not find out until
it's too late !

They give gas a smell to notify people that there is an escape. Copper gas
pipes can be installed so that nails will not penetrate it.