Hello. I have a dilemma. I have the front room of my house currently lifted for floor works and have noticed that the mains water pipe comes in from the front of the house (from the boundary water cock) on about 3m of 15mm copper pipe.
There is then a joint in this front room that connects it to a 22mm galvanised steel pipe.
The steel pipe then runs under a supporting wall through the rest of the house to the kitchen, where the internal stopcock is.
Water pressure is really, really good both downstairs and upstairs and after leaving the house for days or even weeks the water always flows clear, so no signs of rust or blockages.
Since the house is 1930’s built, though i have no idea when the pipes were installed (noting there’s already this copper pipe change in place). Is it worth changing this steel pipe now?
Also is the 15mm incoming pipe okay or should I increase to 22mm? House is on a combi boiler.
The dilemma is that it would mean tearing up the rest of the floors in the other rooms and kitchen and I’m really not sure if i have the appetite to do that if the steel pipe still has many years left in it. Esp. the kitchen with the units and appliances and everything. I guess I’m asking what the likely risk is and is it really a problem (leaks, blockages, health etc). I’m just glad its not lead!
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As for the diameter: if your pressure and throughput are fine, there is no need to change things. Generally for drinking water you want as large as necessary, but as small as possible. This way the volume standing in the pipe is minimised and your water is the most fresh.
Amazing. Thank you
Was there ever municipal lead water pipes in your area? If so there might be old lead scale in the galvanized pipe
I have no idea tbh… hopefully i can get access through the kitchen today and see if replacement is straightforward! Valuable insight though!
The joint from copper to steel might be a breeding ground for galvanic corrosion. I’d probably consider changing as much pipe as you can feasibly reach without tearing the rest of the house apart. If you can reach under/through, or make an access hole in the supporting wall, and then replace the pipe as far in as you can reach with modern PEM pipe (or whatever you use for buried pipe where you are from), from there to the boundary cock. Then you can leave the rest until you renovate other parts of the house, or until it becomes a problem. Plastic also gives you some galvanic isolation, which protects the rest of the galvanized piping. And then you have made sure you won’t have to tear up your nice new floor down the road.
Unfortunately the joint is like a meter from the wall so i wouldn’t be able to reach through. I was looking up plastic vs copper and as much as the flexibility half the cost wins, I’ve found some research articles about micro plastics with plastic piping potentially being a long term issue. Fortunately its a straight run so i can just poke a pipe through. I think ill see if i can cut a small section of kitchen flooring and see if i can find the end of the straight section and go from there. Might save me a lot of work
I did something similar years ago with a house built in the 30s, but notably lived in it quite a while first which influenced my decision. In the years leading up to the moment of convenience for plumbing access I had all sorts of issues with water shifting ground, your experience may be different.
Anyway, I fully gutted and remodeled because I was tired of constant surprise urgent issues. The pipes I discovered were a mashup of galvanized, copper, pex, and even a little lead on one drain.
I installed a full home run led system beside the existing plumbing and then cutover to that one day and regret nothing.
I was considering running a spare pipe system from boundary to kitchen (poking as far through through the wall as possible) and then “terminating” both sides in future but then its an added issue breaking the concrete out the front of the house to get through near the boundary stopcock…
I think ill see if i can cut a small section of the kitchen floor to where the straight run would end and reconsider my options from there when i see whats up