Lead water supply

NiCkNaMe

NiCkNaMe

NiCkNaMe

Soldato
Joined
17 Jul 2005
Posts
3,192
Hi All,

I may possibly be buying a property with a lead water supply. It was built in 53.

I understand the water board replace the pipes up to the garden boundary and from then on in it's our responsibility for the rest.

Anyone ever done this? I'll be phoning for a few quotes from plumbers in the morning however i'd like a quick idea before calling. Information on the net seems all of a muchness.

From the boundary to where the pipe would enter the house is approximately 7m.

Finally, do they have to be replaced? I'm guessing this depends on testing what the levels of lead in the water are?

Thanks,
 
Im guessing the amount of lead in the water would be extremely low if at all, probably due to a layer of minerals in the pipe itself which have built up over the years? :)

See if you can get some sort of testing kit.
 
Telescopi said:
are you in a hard water area (do you get scale in the kettle?)
Click to expand...

Just had a scan on a 'hard water' map and it's saying we're in a 'hard to very hard' area ... this is Stoke-On-Trent.

I was thinking about ringing the water board - however they won't 'push' us to have it replaced if not required?
 
Generally speaking the water board will also replace your service pipe (Stopock to House) when they do the Comms pipe (Mains to Stopcock) at a reasonable price.
 
JAMAL said:
Im guessing the amount of lead in the water would be extremely low if at all, probably due to a layer of minerals in the pipe itself which have built up over the years? :)

See if you can get some sort of testing kit.
Click to expand...

Not a bad point I guess! Can't really test unless I arrange another visit though (we haven't finalised contracts yet)...

It may be a consideration if it would be a huge cost as to whether we actually made the purchase.
 
Cant you just do it yourself? Literally all it should involve is buying a length of plastic pipe, digging a trench and attaching both ends to where the lead pipe was. You don't even need to take the lead pipe out if you don't want to.
 
my local water company will now only replace their side of the boundary if lead content is above a certain value. this is determined by sampling the mains water

if lead content is over a certain level then they will replace their pipe at the same time you replace yours (subject to satisfactory trench inspection) or as mentioned above can quote at reasonable cost for a new private supply pipe.

the water companies are likely to have different lead replacement policies so i suggest you give your one a call and find out.
 
Amp34 said:
Cant you just do it yourself? Literally all it should involve is buying a length of plastic pipe, digging a trench and attaching both ends to where the lead pipe was. You don't even need to take the lead pipe out if you don't want to.
Click to expand...

what if the connection at the boundary is in the footpath or verge? the customer will have no authority to dig up the path or verge and will therefore be potentially leaving a section of lead pipe in place.

best to involve the water company if the customer is seeking to replace all the lead.
 
ThriceNightly said:
what if the connection at the boundary is in the footpath or verge? the customer will have no authority to dig up the path or verge and will therefore be potentially leaving a section of lead pipe in place.

best to involve the water company if the customer is seeking to replace all the lead.
Click to expand...

I meant instead of a local plumber, not the water company side of things.:)
 
We looked into replacing the lead in our building a year or so ago. I think it was going to be about £3500 but that's for a tenement close so hardly representative for the OP. One thing to check though is whether your council does grants for lead replacement - ours does a minimum of 50% so it would have been about £300 a head if the daft wee woman across the landing hadn't been so worried about her parquet flooring :(
 
NiCkNaMe said:
Just had a scan on a 'hard water' map and it's saying we're in a 'hard to very hard' area ... this is Stoke-On-Trent.

I was thinking about ringing the water board - however they won't 'push' us to have it replaced if not required?
Click to expand...

Very unlikely that anmy part of the lead comes into contact with water any more then :)

Test the lead content if it doesn't cost too much but you wouldn't expect anything in this area after such a long time.
 
Thanks Telescopi :) from reading around that seems to ring true and it will be 2 adults living in the house. It's something that i would want sorting and would hopefully do myself however I could do without the expense initially as it's a bit of a project. Thanks for all the replies and when I decide to do it I will make sure I contact the local council in case of any grants, etc.
 
If you get a plumber / fitter to do it for you keep an eye on them, they'll just jam the plastic pipe into the top of the lead pipe a few inches below the concrete if you don't :)
 
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