Replacing exterior supply line to the meter

I posted here before about replacing the galvinized water supply line coming into the house on a century home. I have since contacted the City and works department. They tell me for my area the maximum size pipe I can run from outside meter valve to the inside of the house is 5/8. And I would need to obtain a permit, and have a plumber do the connections and have the city inspect the connections on com[pletion. Im ok with that...The water meter in the house the max size they use for my area is also 5/8. As the home owner, they tell me I must supply them a drawing with my intentions, a bill of materials list of what I will be doing as well as copies of the property survey. Would the drawing they are asking for be something I draw out neatly describing where and what I intend to do?? or is this something a I have to have professioanlly drawn up?? Does this sound logical what they are asking me for? I assume, I can still do the labour work of digging the trench, just not the actual connections?

Those are questions for you city to answer. Around here, for minor stuff a hand drawn sketch is usually acceptable.

This seems to me to be very odd. Pipe is not sized at 5/8". It should not matter to the city if you run larger pipe anyway, you might gain a little volume through the larger pipe, but the volume would be metered. I would bet that the pipe you are replacing is 3/4" galvanized. In many areas, the city owns everything up to and including the meter. The homeowner is responsible for everything after the meter to the house. You do have to have permits and an inspection when you replace the line. I would seek clarification on the pipe size requirement. Ask them why you would have to use smaller pipe than that which you are replacing.

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Originally Posted by davesnothome

They tell me for my area the maximum size pipe I can run from outside meter valve to the inside of the house is 5/8.

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Sounds like a failure to communicate, involving "maximum" instead of "minimum". Or someone who thinks DIYers are just a PITA, and tries to make life difficult by "hazing" them. From the stories related here, it seems like the majority of inspectors act like petty dictators, who enforce their own version of the code that may or may not resemble the one in print.

Where in hell can you buy 5/8" pipe? Other than ACR tubing there ain't no such thing. Me smells something foul ;)

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Originally Posted by nhmaster

Where in hell can you buy 5/8" pipe? Other than ACR tubing there ain't no such thing. Me smells something foul ;)

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They still sell 5/8 Lead pipe. Maybe thats what they want him to replace it with.

From what I hear, that size is way too small for (most) of today's codes. Where are you?

EVERYTHING you describe is unreasonable. There should be no such thing as a MAXIMUM pipe size, since that is determined by usage, material, and distance. The routing of the pipe is usually determined by where the utility installed the meter and where it comes into the house, and once those two locations are established, NOTHING can change them so a detailed drawing would be irrelevent to the installation.

Im in Ontario, Canada. I was not the one doing the talking to the City, just what was relayed to me. I will try and get it them to clarify it for me. They said that 5/8 was the maximum permitted in that area. Im going to contact them myself next week when Im off to get the details and let you know what they say. The galvinized pipe that is currently there looks visually to be about 1" in diameter. What the inside or class size of that pipe is, I dont know? In any case, I want to replace it into the house.

There is NO reason specify a MAXIMUM size pipe. They may be referring to the water meter, but that has nothing to do with the size of pipe you install after the meter. A 5/8" pipe, whatever that is because it is not a plumbing size, would NEVER give acceptable usage in the average house.

It would serve you well to locate a copy of the applicable plumbing code. Online, in library, available to read at building dept., available to purchase at building dept. are all possibilities.

A quick check of the Ontario code shows a minimum size of 3/4 inch. Link below, page 42. In the US, localities can have stricter standards, but are rarely allowed lesser standards than state codes.

http://ontario-building-code.com/Part7.pdf