This is the scenario.

A little lead piping in the house, though mainly copper. Lead pipe from
the water board roadside stopcock, along the garden into the lounge
under the floorboards, diagonally across the lounge into the pantry, via
a many times painted stopcock up into the bathroom, then into a copper
system.

I am refurbishing the house, starting in the lounge, when finished I do
not want to remove the floorboards again.

Tentative plan.

Dig a hole and expose lead pipe near the house. fit connector to blue
plastic pipe fed across the lounge and up to the copper piping in the
bathroom. At a later date replace the remaining lead pipe with blue
plastic.

Is that practical or will the underground (initially plastic to lead
then plastic to plastic connector be too vulnerable over the years?

Any comments or fresh ideas welcome.

TIA
John
--
Please only reply to Newsgroup as emails
to this address are deleted on arrival.

In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
Broadback wrote:

This is the scenario.

A little lead piping in the house, though mainly copper. Lead pipe
from the water board roadside stopcock, along the garden into the
lounge under the floorboards, diagonally across the lounge into the
pantry, via a many times painted stopcock up into the bathroom, then
into a copper system.

I am refurbishing the house, starting in the lounge, when finished I
do not want to remove the floorboards again.

Tentative plan.

Dig a hole and expose lead pipe near the house. fit connector to blue
plastic pipe fed across the lounge and up to the copper piping in the
bathroom. At a later date replace the remaining lead pipe with blue
plastic.

Is that practical or will the underground (initially plastic to lead
then plastic to plastic connector be too vulnerable over the years?

Any comments or fresh ideas welcome.

TIA
John

Sounds ok in principle. If you're worried about the lead to plastic
(ultimately to be plastic to plastic) joint, could you put that *just*
inside the house so as to be accessible - with a small trap in the
floorboards to get at it?

Not sure whether you can get lead to plastic in a single fitting. You may
need 2 or 3 bits - going lead to copper and copper to plastic.
--
Cheers,
Set Square
______
Please reply to newsgroup. Reply address is Black Hole!

"Set Square" wrote in message
...
In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
Broadback wrote:

This is the scenario.

A little lead piping in the house, though mainly copper. Lead pipe
from the water board roadside stopcock, along the garden into the
lounge under the floorboards, diagonally across the lounge into the
pantry, via a many times painted stopcock up into the bathroom, then
into a copper system.

I am refurbishing the house, starting in the lounge, when finished I
do not want to remove the floorboards again.

Tentative plan.

Dig a hole and expose lead pipe near the house. fit connector to blue
plastic pipe fed across the lounge and up to the copper piping in the
bathroom. At a later date replace the remaining lead pipe with blue
plastic.

Is that practical or will the underground (initially plastic to lead
then plastic to plastic connector be too vulnerable over the years?

Any comments or fresh ideas welcome.

TIA
John

Sounds ok in principle. If you're worried about the lead to plastic
(ultimately to be plastic to plastic) joint, could you put that *just*
inside the house so as to be accessible - with a small trap in the
floorboards to get at it?

Not sure whether you can get lead to plastic in a single fitting. You may
need 2 or 3 bits - going lead to copper and copper to plastic.
--
Cheers,
Set Square
______
Please reply to newsgroup. Reply address is Black Hole!

Are you sure it's lead and not galvanised steel? I only say that after I
made a complete prat of myself when talking to the water board! If it is
actually lead, most water companies will replace it up to the stopcock for
free with 25mm MDPE. They also have the use of a mole system, possibly
saving you a lot of digging work and disruption.

I live in a Thames Water area, and found that I had a very small leak in the
incoming main. It was too small for them to pinpoint, so they replaced it
all with mdpe.

Actually I've just remembered that they will only do this to the house
boundary, they went up my driveway, then into the house, rather than under
the floorboards as I was planning.

Alex

on 08/04/2004, Broadback supposed :
This is the scenario.

A little lead piping in the house, though mainly copper. Lead pipe from the
water board roadside stopcock, along the garden into the lounge under the
floorboards, diagonally across the lounge into the pantry, via a many times
painted stopcock up into the bathroom, then into a copper system.

I am refurbishing the house, starting in the lounge, when finished I do not
want to remove the floorboards again.

Tentative plan.

Talk to your local water supply people, I think there is a health
policy to replace all lead piping and they may well replace it for free
if made aware of it.

--


--

Regards,
Harry (M1BYT) (L)
http://www.ukradioamateur.org

Set Square wrote:
Broadback wrote:
Dig a hole and expose lead pipe near the house, fit connector to
blue plastic pipe fed across the lounge and up to the copper piping
in the bathroom. At a later date replace the remaining lead pipe
with blue plastic.
Fine but I feel that the mdpe should not rise above the floorboards, you
should transition to 22mm copper for the route up to the bathroom.

You could easily leave enough slack under the lounge in the form of a 3m
diameter coil so that it can be extended to towards the pavement stopcock
without having to form another joint.

Is that practical or will the underground (initially plastic to lead
then plastic to plastic connector be too vulnerable over the years?

Sounds ok in principle. If you're worried about the lead to plastic
(ultimately to be plastic to plastic) joint, could you put that *just*
inside the house so as to be accessible

Buried 750mm underground nothing much is going to disturb it, that would be
my preference.

Not sure whether you can get lead to plastic in a single fitting. You
may need 2 or 3 bits - going lead to copper and copper to plastic.

You can, such as item 13545 at www.bes.ltd.uk, or Leadlok fittings at a
merchant

--
Toby.

'One day son, all this will be finished'

In article ,
Harry Bloomfield wrote:
Talk to your local water supply people, I think there is a health
policy to replace all lead piping and they may well replace it for free
if made aware of it.

IIRC, this requires testing the water (at your expense) for lead
concentration above the permitted amount. And it's unlikely to be so even
in a soft water area with a short run of pipe.

--
*Consciousness: That annoying time between naps.

Dave Plowman London SW 12
RIP Acorn