I have got 1/2" 6lb water main coming in under kitchen sink but the stop cock is knackered.
I want to chop pipe under floor and use a lead-loc to connect to 15mm copper so I can renew the stop cock but also reposition it.
My question is has anyone any experience of using lead-loc are they as straightforward to fit as conventional compression fittings?
I have done compression joints with copper loads but never worked with lead is it easy to balls up?
What is lead loc? Is it a brass adaptor compression fitting? No direct experience (does it use an olive on the lead pipe side of the coupling?) but being that the lead will be pretty old as well as not being very strong I'd imagine preventing it from splitting and distorting whilst cutting it- as well as keeping it round would be crucial to ensure a watertight seal.
They are a brass fitting with a large o ring inside.
I just don't want to get stuck in and then cock it right up.
If it relies on an O-ring seal against the outside of the old lead pipe then the most important thing is to ensure that the pipe surface where the seal is sitting is as smooth and round as possible, I've never worked with lead pipe but it must be very easy to distort due to it's softness.
Yes I would think it's very easy to distort if great care not taken.
I might do the donkey work of lifting floor boards myself then get a plumber to tackle the lead.
Have you got a water authority stopcock outside you can use to turn the water off in the first place? If so then I'd be inclined to have a go myself, you can always try a practice run on the bit of lead pipe you chop off with the old stopcock. Still, sometimes if in doubt it's better to pay somebody else to do the job- at least then it's up to them to put it right if it goes wrong!
Yes there is the main one outside by meter that I can switch off.
That's a good idea to do a practise on an offcut,I will tackle most jobs but if I did make a hash of it the mrs would make my life unbearable! Lol
as you do have a stop cock outside tour property,have you thought about replacing the lead pipe with a blue plastic pipe direct to the stop cock?
ive just googled it and there is a faq sheet from sutton and east surry (pdf)
it might be advisable to lay the pipe your self and then get a plumber to to the connection?but thats up to you.
I thought about that but it would mean digging up drive aswell as ripping up fairly new flooring inside the house,not sure I want all that hassle although I am gonna contact council as read there may be a grant available to replace lead pipe?
The houses where I live are now sixty three years old and many of the properties have suffered leaks between the stopcock in the property and the pavement stopcock.
Five years ago they replaced the mains in the street and gave us all water meters but only replaced a short length of the old copper pipe to the property with length of the blue plastic pipe so was the perfect opportunity to replace the rest of the pipe to my property, as I have block paving at the front it was a fairly straight forward job but of course the original route goes under the sitting room floor to the site of original stop cock.
So of course you don't want to be breaking up your sitting room floor unnecessary.
My course of action was to divert my incoming supply from going under the house and under sitting room floor to my adjoining garage where I have a tap for garage use, so now my garage supply has become our incoming supply obviously fully lagged through the garage with another stopcock where the blue pipe now ends in the garage.
All I had to buy was some of the blue plastic pipe and compression fittings and a stop cock with reducer to 15mm which are all available from plumbers shops.