lead piping

[Anonymous]

having moved into turn of the century terraced property
in Aug 05 i am dissapointed at lack of info in my homebuyers report.
surveyor stated internal stop tap could not located.strange as it is on the only wall in kitchen with no cupboards & plainly visible. I can assume from this it was of no importance. I discovered when I had water flooding through the ceilings it was jammed. My plumber then informed me that it is a lead pipe indicating lead pipes internally & externally. The cost of replacing these as a safety issue is close to £1000. The work is of an urgent nature and I was wondering if in veiw of this I could go back to surveyor?

 

[Anonymous]

What safety issue - have you had them tested? Your local water company should do this FOC. I have lead pipes and the level of lead in the water is miles off even the proposed tougher limits.

 

[Anonymous]

Get the watyer tested, but yes, you might be be able to go back to the surveyor - it depends upon the terms of their instruction, which you should have been given.

 

[Anonymous]

Contact your local council authority, there is a good chance you will find grants available, to bring your pipes up to modern health and safety regs, they will also possibly
be able to offer professional advice of your options.

 

[Anonymous]

Don't get too worked up about lead pipes. I have been an inspector for a water company, so I know about this subject. Lead will disolve into water, but slowly. Therefore the biggest chance of you drinking any is first thing in the morning. So make sure that the first thing you do is flush the loo, and then run the kitchen tap for a few seconds before filling the kettle. This will move all the stagnant water from your pipes, through the system and out and leave you with safe water to drink.

Even if you don't do this the levels are low. The biggest problem with lead pipes is that they are old and corroded inside which inhibits water flow (often confused with pressure) and which can affect some showers and central heating boilers. Oh, and also the internal old taps are usually jammed!

Get the supply pipes changed when you can. I wouldn't put this to the top of the list though, although a new stop tap would be good as you have discovered.

Sue

 

[Anonymous]

Lead pipes are usually lined with a good coating of limescale - so the water is not in full contact with the lead and disolves even slower.

 

[Anonymous]

We have lead piping coming into our property from the mains. As I understand it, the water authority will replace the pipes, up to the boundary, FOC.

We found this out as a plumber came to fit a new boiler recently and commented on the poor flow from the mains. He stated that lead can build up deposits over time in the pipe which reduces the flow. Is this true? And if so, is there any way that we can increase the flow in the short term without having to replace the pipes?

 

[Anonymous]

The normal policy about lead pipe replacement appears to be that it's your responsibility (ie: cost!) to replace the pipe that runs from the boundary of your property to the house. But if you decide to do this, your water authority will at the same time replace FOC any lead pipe that runs from the edge of your property to their main supply pipe.
Remember to give them the required advance notice of your work, so that they can tie in with it.

 

[Anonymous]

> is there any way that we can increase the flow in the short term without having to replace the pipes?

no

NT

 

[Anonymous]

If you get the pipe renewed from the stop cock in the road or backlane into your house the Water Company will probably take the opportunity of repacing that external stop cock with a more modern one - in my case it was two days later.
The pressure through the cold water tap went up significantly after the old lead pipe was replaced. I had to be a bit careful as the cold water overtook the hot when filling the bath :-/

 

[Anonymous]

There are many solutions on the market. I can't vouch for any of them but here's an example -



http://www.magnet-healing.co.uk/h2flow-water-limescale-removal.asp

 

[Anonymous]

These solutions don't treat the supply pipe though, they only treat the water within the house. And I don't think they are a good idea with lead pipes anyway. The lime scale is what protects you from lead poisoning.

NT is right, there is no solution except replacement of the pipe.

 

[Anonymous]

This is probably totally irrelevant, but I lived in the Caldbeck Fells of Cumbria on a farm. The water supply for the whole of carlisle came from an old lead mine (Roughtengill) on the fells there. It was (still is) chockers with lead carbonates and phosphates - seriously so. Anyway - they did a survey of water supplies a while back - and couldnt work out why the inhabitants of this area in particular, who had drunk lead riddled water all their lives, were amongst the oldest in the country..!

 

[Anonymous]

We was told that water which has gone through the mineral (galena) is fine - people at Wanlockhead, and I'm sure many other places, were fine drinking it straight from the adit.
We were told that it is after the lead has been smelted that it becomes dodgy.