Main comes in as a lead line, there are splices into old steel pipe but I need to go straight to copper. I have seen joints where it looks like the copper was just shoved hot into the lead. Is this how it’s done? I’m sure I could experiment, but the access is lousy, all info appreciated. Thankx, patrick.
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Are you sure it is lead? Lead in water line usage has been illegal for more years than I can remember.
If it were my home, I would abandon it in place and put in a new service from the meter. Lead water lines errode lead into the pottable water. You drink it long enough, you and your family will become lead poisoned.
Even the old soilder used in copper plunbing became suspect in the late eigthies. Everything plumbed now uses lead free soilder.
I assume this is a 1-1/2 inch (even up to 4 inch) waste line. The way grandpa did it was to tin the copper, cut a hole in the lead, preheat all the pipes, take a ladle of molten lead and an asbestos glove, fill his hand with molten lead and "wipe" the joint.
I tried doing this when a teen, and was a true believer when told "it takes a LOT of practice", one of the few items not worth doing DIY. If I had to now, I'd probably do the cut and tin, but solder with a temperature controlled iron and 63/37 solder.
There should be someone to tell you if/what the modern fittings available for the job, I've not worked with the solid lead drainage for over 40 years.
what you need is what is known in Canada as a Fernco coupling, its a compression fittng desigtned for oddball pipe diameters including lead and old iron pipe
i lived in a house for years with a lead supply line from the street, and contrary to popular opinion im not sick!!!!!!!
other alternative of course is to have your municpality run in a new line
Thanks for the heads up. I found a kind of compresion fitting up near one of the toilets. It had one side as pipe thread and the other for lead. all I had to do was make a flare in the lead pipe, and crank it together. actually worked great, easier to tighten then a copper compresion fitting.
glad to help, i still find it hard to beleive that after 110 years the lead pipe would be a health hazard
anybody have input on this subject?
Sure do.
If you've been drinking from a lead supply line, you should get your blood lead tested. It's not expensive.
Adults can handle a slightly heigher amt than kids but it's still dangerous. It settles in bones and certain organs such as liver and brain. Effects are cumulative.
Kids can suffer more because some of their tissue is still forming and growing so the damage is possibly hundreds of times as great. The danger level in children for beginning medical intervention is same level that is considered almost acceptable for adults.
over time, you can get stupider and less healthy without noticing it.
I took a class in dealing with it last year and then went to get my own blood tested...
what was I saying???
Oh Yeah, it can make you get stupid over time.
;).
Excellence is its own reward!
What I noticed will working on the lead line today was that there was a brownish deposit on the inside of teh pipe. I was thinking that maybe this build up reduces exposure to the lead. BTW this line has probably been there for 100 yrs, the inner bore was not eroded, so I'm thinking not that much lead has been leaching into the water.
Re: other posts vis a vis safety of lead. I do strictly remodels/rehabs, and while I always recomend to my clients (patients) that they replace the lead (makes things easier for me), the decision is left up to them, and it's still code if it's an period install.