To think the pipes should be replaced if they are indeed made of lead

[Honeybee85]

DH and I recently started to get suspicions that the water pipes in our home might be made of lead. Our home was build in the 1970s and using lead pipes was common here until the early 1980s. We have a baby who is on formula milk and we used boiled tap water (which is perfectly normal in this country) to prepare his milk before we were aware of the possibility of lead. Obviously we use mineral water from the supermarket for now. Plumber is coming here next week to check the pipes. Yesterday DH and I were discussing what to do if the pipes are indeed made of lead.
From my point of view, we should replace them because I don’t want to depend completely on water from the supermarket as we have potable water here plus we would still use the water to shower, wash clothes etc and that makes me uncomfortable about possible health risks. Have to add though I am a bit of a hypochondriac by nature (lighthearted) and DH is very laidback. He thinks the replacement is going to cost us a lot and we should just use mineral water for DS’s bottles and our tea/ drinks and not replace them.

What do you think think?

Disclaimer: English isn’t my native language so please be kind about any linguistic mistakes I made here / will make.

You should run the tap on full for 20-30 seconds before filling the kettle - that way the water isn't sitting in the lead pipes for any length of time, and will be safe.

(I used to live in a house with lead pipes which is why I know that!)

@Indecisivelurcher

Thank you, we checked today and the water we buy at the supermarket is marked as safe to use to prepare formula. I used to filter the water with a Brita filter as I think it tastes slightly of chlorine (though it’s potable and DH drinks it directly from the tap) but I am quite sure that filter doesn’t remove lead . Good idea to check if we can get a filter that does directly to our tap, in case!

You can buy special lead filters that can be fitted. You'd have to look into how effective they are though!

@Indecisivelurcher
Thank you, I will look into that.
That would be a very good solution if they are indeed effective. We are a bit hesitant to spend a lot of money on renovating this house as it isn’t our property and very likely will be knocked down in a few years (long story). A cheaper but effective solution would thus be great.

Brita filters do remove a lot of lead, in hard water areas limescale coats the pipes. And I run the tap for a good 5 mins ( it’s a long pipe before I make ds drinks every time )

Cold water from the taps will acquire less lead than hot water, so keep it cold if drinking, for food, or for boiling.

But for laundry and showering, you can’t absorb lead through your skin so you’re fine there.

Bottled water in the UK us only tested and once a year. Mineral water comes from springs where literally anything can impact it the day after its tested.

Run the tap water to fill the sink first thing in the morning, then fill the kettle to boil.

Hi everyone!

So the plumber has checked the pipes today (they also work on sundays here - yayy). As it turns out, pipes are made of some sort of plastic so no worries about lead.

But unfortunately another problem has come to light: we were aware that our waterbill was quite high so we asked the plumber to check for potential leaks. Turns out; there is one unfortunately! He has to come back another time to check it it’s been inside or outside the house, but if it’s inside, walls have to be broken open and possibly the pipes will have to be replaced anyway!

www.theguardian.com/books/2016/jul/02/war-and-turpentine-by-stefan-hertmans-review

Oh the irony...to be continued 😓

Sorry, my silly phone pasted a link in this message that I posted on another thread!

I think you’ve sorted your problem, and you’re not in the U.K. so my advice is useless to you, but I thought I’d pop it here in case anyone looks in the future.

Most older houses in the U.K. have lead pipe delivering the water supply (and some throughout the house too). The best thing to do is to phone the water company who will come and take a sample and measure the quantity. Ofwat current safe limit is 10 micrograms/litre. Lead can be reduced by running the tap when you get up, and in a hard water area it’s not so much of an issue. That said, we did opt to replace our lead supply pipe shortly after moving in, as we have young children and even though lead content was within the limit it was still there. The cost was about £1500-£2000 I think (we had some drain work done at the same time so not entirely sure).