Process to Install New Water Main?

[dlockers]

Hi folks,

I'm about 10 days from completing/moving in. I'm trying to get my head around plan of attack for the jobs. It definitely needs a new boiler but given there is an immersion and a water tank, it may not be a priority whilst it's not freezing.

Equally I think we'll probably go combi this time around, and remove the water tanks/reconfigure the heating (a lot of pipework needs attention anyway as it's exposed).

Then I imagine the pipe feeding the house is lead and probably quite restrictive. It is a block paved drive and easy access to the pavement/where the kitchen is.

Can I just enquire with the water board about the work? Has anyone had it done before? I'm moving the bathroom so the higher pressure affecting the plumbing isn't an issue.

 

[Harnser]

You can ask the water board, but unless there's a leak they are less interested. They will only point you to their preferred partner to do the work which is usally already on their website.

Then you have the choice of digging a trench for the new water pipe from the mains or using a mole to bore it. Neither is cheap.

Why do I know? Ours is one of the old ones that's corroding, so the flow rate is decreased and we get black bits in our drinking water, so I've been looking into getting it done. Plenty of firms around that will do the work.

 

[Showboat]

I replaced our main pipe, water board will only connect it to the mains. So you have to have the new pipe all installed and sitting ready for them to plug in.

I wouldn’t do it until you replace the driveway as you will likely destroy it.

 

[dlockers]

Thanks chaps. Replacing the drive is on the cards. Can't be /that/ dear to run the pipe in prep for the waterboard? Shirley?

 

[casper_uk]

Thanks chaps. Replacing the drive is on the cards. Can't be /that/ dear to run the pipe in prep for the waterboard? Shirley?

A new Gas pipe connection, 8 meters using a mole, cost me £1500 back in March to give you an idea.

 

[dlockers]

A new Gas pipe connection, 8 meters using a mole, cost me £1500 back in March to give you an idea.

Was that two jobs? I.e. paying the pipe and then a connection from the gas board?

 

[JRJ]

How close is your roadside stop valve to your boundary? I was able to dig down to ours and found the valve already had a 25mm MDPE tail my side of the valve which then stepped down to copper which ran to the old kitchen, I just changed out the straight connector for 25mm to 25mm and bought a coil of pipe.

 

[dlockers]

How close is your roadside stop valve to your boundary? I was able to dig down to ours and found the valve already had a 25mm MDPE tail my side of the valve which then stepped down to copper which ran to the old kitchen, I just changed out the straight connector for 25mm to 25mm and bought a coil of pipe.

Just checked street view and it is incredibly close. Could be a winner! I suppose if I bottle it at the 'tap end' then I'll just get water co in.

Any tips on digging down and filling in?

 

[JRJ]

Just checked street view and it is incredibly close. Could be a winner! I suppose if I bottle it at the 'tap end' then I'll just get water co in.

Any tips on digging down and filling in?

Narrow ish shovel, slow and steady, I found mine surrounded by dust and was able to clear that last bits by hand. Mine was about 12-15 inches below ground but I had to undermine the footpath slightly in order to clear enough room to loosen the connector, popped a stop end on the coil and tested the new connection before covering the pipe in dust to a couple of inches and back filling.

 

[Participant]

Make sure the unconnected ends of your pipe are capped when the water company come to connect / inspect it. They can and will refuse to connect if they're not.

 

[b0rn2sk8]

You’ve just got an EV haven’t you @dLockers?

If you go into an EV tariff then it will be cheaper to heat the hot water tank via the electric overnight then it will be to heat it via gas on the next price cap. Food for thought.

 

[dlockers]

You’ve just got an EV haven’t you @dLockers?

If you go into an EV tariff then it will be cheaper to heat the hot water tank via the electric overnight then it will be to heat it via gas on the next price cap. Food for thought.

Thanks, that is indeed food for thought; although we barely use either car so may need to consider the lifestyle changes required to implement it.

 

[b0rn2sk8]

Assuming the cylinder is decent, it should stay hot for more than a day so it shouldn’t need lifestyle changes to make the most of. You can always top it up using the gas boiler if needed.

You’ll want to do a calculation as the day rate will be slightly higher but it may be worth it, I think the current prices are around 40p/7.5p for 4 hours overnight, fixed for a year.

Either way I’d be hesitant to get rid of a cylinder entirely, I’d probably replace it with a modern one if it was old.

The general direction is to phase out gas and most of the alternative want a cylinder of some kind so you could find yourself putting it back in when the combi replacement is EOL. Likewise if you ever got solar, you’ll want a cylinder to maximise the benefits.

 

[Mercenary Keyboard Warrior]

Yeah my megaflow has a value for the daily loss and its low, I cant remember if its 1.75 or 2.75 kwh roughly. I've got a bit of pipe lagging to do as well as a couple are warm to the touch which will be adding to that loss. Never bothered before but its on this years list to do with the energy price rises.
Its highly likely we will need to return to tanks at some point, they are a good heat store. Especially when/if variable pricing comes in, which I think is practically a certainty at some point.
Although that may be a full heating generation off yet for most I suspect.

One other consideration in having a tank is if you are considering solar at some point, the costs of the diverters to send excess solar to that to heat the water as opposed to the grid are low in the equation of having solar.

 

[casper_uk]

Was that two jobs? I.e. paying the pipe and then a connection from the gas board?

All done at once in the same day. Dug the main pipe on the street, used a mole to get the pipe to my moms house and than capped it at the house end, and connected the other end to the mains.

 

[kinetic747]

Hi folks,

I'm about 10 days from completing/moving in. I'm trying to get my head around plan of attack for the jobs. It definitely needs a new boiler but given there is an immersion and a water tank, it may not be a priority whilst it's not freezing.

Equally I think we'll probably go combi this time around, and remove the water tanks/reconfigure the heating (a lot of pipework needs attention anyway as it's exposed).

Then I imagine the pipe feeding the house is lead and probably quite restrictive. It is a block paved drive and easy access to the pavement/where the kitchen is.

Can I just enquire with the water board about the work? Has anyone had it done before? I'm moving the bathroom so the higher pressure affecting the plumbing isn't an issue.

We're half way through having our supply pipe changed. Local company have put the new pipe in underneath our block paved driveway using a mole, and United Utilities are due to connect to the main. We got a grant for the work under the lead replacement scheme which equates to almost half the cost i.e £550 grant total cost around £1100. Might be worth checking if your local utilities provider are offering the same.

 

[gc123]

We're half way through having our supply pipe changed. Local company have put the new pipe in underneath our block paved driveway using a mole, and United Utilities are due to connect to the main. We got a grant for the work under the lead replacement scheme which equates to almost half the cost i.e £550 grant total cost around £1100. Might be worth checking if your local utilities provider are offering the same.

thanks for that just checked ours seems to be running a similar setup will phone them tomorrow and see what they say. our house is 1930s and we know its lead pipe fed as the first job we had done was digging front garden for a turnaround and they damage the pipe after some arguments they got a plumber to join it to stop the leak 30+ years ago wish id taken the plumber up on his quote to replace the pipe about 35+meters 200 quid weekend work but didnt have the spare cash then ...oh well.

 

[Alex_L]

We had ours done using a mole into the cellar. Thames water were useless about advising what the process was. I used an approved contractor from their site and they did all the work including connecting it and gave us some paperwork to confirm it all. Cost about £1500 in London to run about 7.5m 28mm pipe.

I wasn’t totally convinced that they were actually able to connect it on behalf of Thames Water but I gave up trying to get a clear answer from Thames Water and assumed the fact they gave me paperwork meant it was all ok.

 

[Manbatius]

Worth checking out gosforth handyman on YouTube. He did this himself and there was some decent detail in there.

(Though you've got useful advice above, I'm quite visual with stuff like this)