Lead pipes in home

[GFFord]

Unfortunately just discovered my pre 60s home has lead water pipes. Currently going to get the lead levels checked for water, but I will be getting them replaced. Sometimes can get reduced prices depending on your water company, they'll also replace lead water mains for your street if you discover them - you can ring your water company to find out what it's made of. Please check your pipes, I was completely ignorant until someone warned me!

We have this too 😢 the water company won't do anything until we've had the internal pipework investigated and fixed. Really annoying and expensive!

Unfortunately, I think lots of pipes in the 'system' are still lead. I remember at the previous house I stressed over this and the plumber told me even once it was all replaced, the likelihood is that the water I receive will have been through many lead pipes.

My mains is iron! Obviously it rusts up. Seems such a daft thing to make pipes out of!

@user1471530109 Are your water pipes iron? Sorry to tell you but iron pipes can actually leach lead when rusted and are not used anymore because of this. You might want to look into this.

@kitchenplanner that is really frustrating. Just run the tap for a couple of minutes if you need to drink from the tap. Have you had the lead level tested?

If you are in a hard water area then lead isn't such an issue because the limescale coats the inside of pipes thus forming a barrier between pipe and water.

I had a lead water feed. The water company agreed to replace the water pipe from the road to where the pavement meets our drive. We had to apply and then install all the new pipework within the boundary of our property. Once they’d inspected it they made the new connection and the lead pipe was cut off.
We dug all the footings for the new pipes while having building work done so it wasn’t that disruptive and cost us under £50 for the pipework we had to buy.

We’ve had ours replaced ( 1870s house) .....our water board paid for ( and did the work) the pipes to be replaced from Our boundary to the common supply .....the job entailed shitting our road for the day so the water board had to get a licence to do this from the council that took 12 weeks. We paid for a company to replace our pipes from the tap to our boundary....took a day and involved ‘moleing’ so very little upheaval in the garden and drive. The water board also gave us £550 to replace our pipes within our boundary ( we were charged £1k so actual cost was £450 ).
It seemed like a mammoth task to begin with and I thought it was going to cost a fortune but all very easy to navigate in the end....I would think Mose water boards will do a lead pipe replacement scheme?

Shutting the road....not shitting it,,,😁

@GFFord we did a lead test from Amazon and the result was negative. But I don't think we can rely on that really, with little ones in the house

I think a lot of homes still have lead pipes as there never was a point where they all got changed unless the homeowner did it them self.

When we moved house, I couldn't drink the tap water as it tasted awful, am originally from up north where we have the most delicious tap water, when I came to the south a very long time ago, I always hated the tap water as it evidently tasted horrible. But I kind of got used to it and wasn't so bad if I had to drink tap water. Until we moved house, dh thought am being a bit precious and ignored me or so I thought, he in fact requested I think from the council to have our water tested for lead, this was during the lockdown. They found small traces of lead in the water, apparently it's still safe if we run the cold tap every morning for a few minutes. So we aren't drinking standing water that's been sitting in the pipes overnight. They changed the pipes outside that was leading in to our home. This was all during the pandemic whilst we were getting a new kitchen tiles fitted, all communication was taking a long time so by the time we got the results our kitchen and tiles were already placed so to change the internal pipes would mean we take apart part of the kitchen and ruin new tiles laid in the kitchen and hallway, which will cost even more now. So we had to leave it. We drink bottled water, and ensure we eat the tap run each morning.

The previous owner of our house was a 80 year old women who is still alive, so we do have bit of a giggle that if she survived in good health, we have some hope.

we ensure we run the tap each morning

@MrsMoastyToasty

If you are in a hard water area then lead isn't such an issue because the limescale coats the inside of pipes thus forming a barrier between pipe and water.

This.

And if you are worried, run the tap for a while first thing in the morning before filling the kettle.

If concerned about water waste, run it into a bucket and use it to flush the loo.

Millions of homes still have lead pipes.

This was on Southern Waters website if you want more info:
If you do need to use lead pipes, don't drink the water that has been standing in the pipes overnight:

first thing in the morning, run the tap for about one minute (instead of wasting water, fill a bowl to water plants)
you'll need to run the tap for longer if your cold kitchen tap is more than 50 metres from the water mains
as a guide, run your tap an extra 15 seconds for every extra 10 metres to the water main.
You should also run the water for a minute if the tap hasn’t been turned on all day – for instance, if you’ve been out at work.

@kitchenplanner yeah best make sure with a proper test especially if you have young kids, there must be some level of lead if that's what your pipes are made of...

How do you test your water for lead/any other nasties?

@Sorbustree123 You Can either buy a test online (may not be accurate like kitchenplanner said) or you could ring a water testing service to get an expert analysis. They'll test in the morning when lead is highest and send a sample to a laboratory. Do you know that your pipes are lead, or galvanised iron/steel which release lead when rusted?

@GFFord can you recommend a service provider? We will look into this

Though as my username suggests, we're having a new kitchen fitted so perhaps it's a good time to just have it all redone?

@kitchenplanner Eurofins, ALS Testing, Water Treatment Services are the largest so probably most reliable.

Lead piping is not a surprise to me because:
a) I previously knew that older pipes were made of lead - might have picked it up from Cluedo or 'doing my own research', can't really recall
b) we've had a number of posts on the property board recently about lead piping

Since nothing has changed (about lead piping, where and when it is/was used, and the risks arising from it) in the last couple of months, the only thing that 'surprises' me is the number of recent posts on the property board about it.

But good on you, OP, for alerting people to the existence of lead piping. Real public service.

@MrsMoastyToasty am in hard water area. And the test carried out still detected small amounts of lead in the water. Our first test detected more than what is considered safe, the second test showed small amounts. Ours were not home kits, they were tested in the lab.

Water companies don't apply their regulations retrospectively so chances are if you've drunk water in restaurants, workplaces etc that are pre 1960s there's a chance (unless the premises have been replumbed) that a person has drunk from a supply containing lead.
Water companies will test the supply if they supply the premises. Environmental health at the local council will test private supplies like wells, springs, and private boreholes.
Beware of private companies offering to test your water- they are usually trying to sell you something like an expensive (and probably unnecessary) water treatment device!

Am ex water company employee. (I was also brought up in an era where lead in paint was normal- I probably teethed on a lead painted cot rail!)

@MrsMoastyToasty I think if you know you have lead pipes it's important to get your water tested. I've seen many stories about people testing there water and finding extremely unsafe levels. Especially if you have children, lead is far from safe and no amount is safe.

Here's an interesting article for any of you who are planning on replacing lead pipes about safety (if not replaced fully enough, lead can actually increase!) It's American but probably applies to the UK too: "The Hidden Costs & Dangers of Partial Lead Pipe Replacements | NRDC" www.nrdc.org/experts/cyndi-roper/hidden-costs-dangers-partial-lead-pipe-replacements