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davesnothome
11-22-2009, 04:20 AM
So I mentioned before I had my old lead water supply line replaced outside the house to the curbstop. Well after watching them do this I noticed that the City side from the curbstop to the main was lead as well. What seemed like a good idea to me...getting all mine replaced was pointless if the City side was still 1/2 lead. So after mine was done, I immediately contacted the City and started my whining process....and crying and complaining. Well I went all the way to the Water Dept director with it...asking him if he would guarantee my family would not have lead poisoning in the future....he said the water was tested last year...below legal limits....blah blah blah....I kept on him and said I would press it further since I renewed my side of the service. I get a call 2 days later, there coming out to replace the City side!!!
Squeaky wheel gets the most oil....lol. So anyway, watching them dig up the road, sidewalk, my walkway. then down to the main. Ok so its a 4" main, the lead pipe is connected to the Main via a barbed fitting, jammed into the main and then a big rock sat on top of it to hold it in place. I ask the City crew about this, they say this is normal for the older part of town. So now the object is brake of that fitting...tap into the main...and thread in a new fitting to connect my 3/4 to. I have to admire how these guys work....I was impressed. Buddy gets down in that muddy water and has water flying everywhere.....taps the main while staying focused to thread in the new fitting. He was soaked to the bone....but got it done. That water is cold....and his hands were shaking, but he never lost concentrating on what had to be done. Apparently this guy is the only one on this crew that can actually do that....the other guys say, he does this type of connection all the time, and that he was the only one who gets it done. I was impressed!!
My water service is all new now, with K-Type copper. and the whole inner house is done. Cost me about $3000 to do the whole deal.....$2300 outside and into the house, then about another $700 inside. One less worry on this century home....

hj
11-22-2009, 06:13 AM
I hope you do not "anal"yze every problem this badly. If so, you are going to be a nervous wreck in a few months. Next time, worry about something that really matters. NOTHING was going to happen to you because of the lead pipe. A few months after it was installed it developed a brown patina inside that COMPLETELY isolated the lead from contact with the water. It is the same thing that happens to the inside of solder joints so the lead, tin, antimony, they are made of DO NOT come in contact with the water, and that assumes the joint was made properly and the solder even got all the way into the joint where it would have been in the water flow.

davesnothome
11-22-2009, 08:36 AM
Well the biggest reason I started this project was the whole house inside was galvanized and rotted out pretty badly. In fact when they shut the water off outside and began to disconnect the pipe inside from the meter..the water valve fell off in the plumbers hand. The inside of the gal pipe only had like a 1/4" opening in places, so water volume and pressure was very poor. So doing the inside I elected to go all the way...and get it all out, including the lead.