Scared of cutting pipe!

[IngeJones]

I am pretty sure this is an empty lead pipe, travelling vertically inside a lathe and plaster wall, that used to carry gas to a gas mantle. I need to get it out of the way so I can finish making this hole in my wall.

Immediately above it, high up on the wall, is a sort of capped off bit sticking out of the wall about a centimeter. Lots of the rooms in our house have those. I have always assiumed them to be old gas light supplies, but this one is in the WC so it just *could* be a live capped off water pipe that would have been the supply to a high level cistern. So that is fear #1.

The pipe is about the diameter of a copper pipe, but blackened and slightly rough. I sanded it in an area, and that produced a silvery finish with small black pitted bits. Does this sound like lead so far? Fear #2 is it might still have gas in it.

What else can I check to reassure myself?

 

[adlplumbing]

run water hot and cold leave central heating off and see if changes temputure
p.s. if u saw last version forgot i was in public forum

 

[denso13]

Might be an old gas or water supply and highly unlikely it is still live. But.....the only way to check for sure is to trace it back and see where it comes from. Might be a lot of work but scrap values are high at the moment so it could be worthwhile

 

[IngeJones]

Is it true that no plumber would join a new copper supply to old lead pipes? Since all the water pipes I know about are copper or plastic, and all the gas pipes I know about are copper, apart from some under various floorboards that are already open-ended with sections missing, does that give any hint I can use? The pipe from the outside gas meter is copper, and I can trace that all the way directly to my gas hob and water boiler with no other branches, as it travels all the way on the outside wall. The water is trickier. It would be very difficult tracing it back now, as I already have fixtures installed that make it impractical to take up the flooring relevant to this particular run.

 

[denso13]

Is it true that no plumber would join a new copper supply to old lead pipes?

No, I've seen it plenty of times. As I said before it is highly unlikely it is still connected but not impossible.

some **deleted** by Mod

 

[adlplumbing]

let me get this right u just advised some one to *************

****....Yes he did. Have therefore had to delete several posts.. Mod 10

 

[denso13]

.
.


Are you suggesting his house is still piped with an old, still live, gas supply? If so, that is something I hadn't considered and I withdraw my advice.

 

[Agile]

The only safe advice is to get a registered gas engineer........

This thread should have been locked or deleted to prevent some of the unsafe advice that has been given.


Tony

 

[Agile]

If you followed the CORRECT advice then the risks are minimised AND the responsibility is transferred to a qualified, experienced and INSURED person!

 

[IngeJones]

We don't have a household income currently. Therefore all work I can legally do myself will be done by myself. I am sure you know what I am likely to be charged for calling someone out.

 

[expertgasman]

Denso, I have learnt not to assume anything about this weird old house, I am just trying to narrow down the risks - but they still exist!
Allow me to paraphrase:

Denso, I have learnt not to assume anything about these weird old householders

EDITED: Used the wrong quote I shouldn't assume ANYTHING

 

[IngeJones]

I think it is 99.99% certain it is not connected to *anything*. I don't like the idea of paying a couple of hundred quid just to have the overwhelming probability confirmed Supposing a gas-safe engineer came out to see to this for me, what steps would they take? How would they go about seeing if the pipe was connected to a gas supply, and what would they do if it was?

 

[denso13]

Mod 10 - I stand by the advice I gave considering the info given by the OP but apologies if it was deemed inappropriate. Can you explain why you deleted posts before, and after, mine which gave the same advice and left this

Is it true that no plumber would join a new copper supply to old lead pipes?

No, I've seen it plenty of times. As I said before it is highly unlikely it is still connected but not impossible.

some **deleted** by Mod

The one following mine was then altered to this

let me get this right u just advised some one to *************

****....Yes he did. Have therefore had to delete several posts.. Mod 10

Delete the whole thread if you like but don't alter things to look like I've committed some heinous crime.

 

[adlplumbing]

you did you gave realy bad advice
when u join the cc look this topic up