The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Smallholding => Buildings & planning => Topic started by: juliem on February 23, 2017, 11:54:27 am
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I need to replace a new water pipe to a cottage from the mains connection which is about 150 m down a lane...So the water pipe which was originally put in 1960 used caravan pipe instead of the standard sized pipe which is larger ... Hence water pressure is not very good.The shower is Ok but not Premier Inn standard. I have had a few leaks recently and want to fullproof for the future.
No problem with putting in new pipe which will come across my field....but I know Severn Trent Water will charge me for a connection to the mains...circa £1000.I don't think they will make me have a meter!
What if I replaced the old pipe just a foot before the present connection and therefore avoided having to pay for the connection. Using the old pipe for just a foot say...would that prevent any improvement in the water pressure.?
My water rates are only £90 a year and the pipe after the cottage does go to a barn and fields....all of which Severn Trent know nothing about....but I do begrudge paying for the connection which is only a couple of hours work at most.
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Give or take loss in fittings, the 'pressure drop' in the old pipe will be so many millibars per metre of length. So, if you only have a short distance of the smaller pipe left, before you join onto your new larger diameter pipe (which loses less pressure per metre), that will still help.
When we did similar, we used a plumber who was *registered with* Scottish Water. He checked over the pipe we had laid, in the trench we had dug, gave it the OK and then made the connection to the mains. This was substantially cheaper than having it done by Scottish Water themselves.
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thanks for that info...I thought it might be a mathematical question.
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The water will not increase in pressure or speed flowing because the old pipe part is a restrictor.
Depending on the sort of stopcoick you have at theh mains supply pipe depends on the size of the hole that the water can flow through .
You may be lucky & find it works in your favour i.e. when you take the old pipe off the stopcock the cock will have a capability to take a larger bore pipe .
You should be able to renew the whole pipe right up to the outlet side of the mains stopcock in the street for that is where the water boards responsibility ends , it's not anywhere on your take off pipe to the house's internal stop cock point . There are all manner of converter unions to make the change over from the old black polythene size pipework ( 19.4 MM ??) to the new 22 mm blue alkathene pipe .
Sometimes you may find a water board's meter c/w integrated stop cock & a few inches from it another stopcock ..... done because someone was too lazy to do the job properly in the first place ..
These days & think that under bye-law 40 or 95 or such you must only have a certified & registered plumber work on the rising main water pipes & they should issue you with a certificate of compliance & completion .
If you don't have this it may affect the house sale at a later date when a surveyor comes to " survey" the property on behalf of a client or their conveyancing solicitor .
The absence of such a certificate , ( like those for electrics , gas certs .& building /alterations etc ) gives them the opportunity to knock down your asking price by several thousand pounds .
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I'd fit a new internal stopcock at the same time- probably far cheaper than messing with fittings. If found dozens of stopcocks didn't work anyway, so potentially a flood waiting to happen. Also worth checking the house earth connection as some old properties relied on the original lead pipe in the ground. In our area (staffordshire) they would insist on a water meter.
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Assuming the old pipe is black alkathene, you may find the waterboard have installed a pressure drip device just before it, to prevent leaks due to the higher mains pressure. In which case, replacing almost all of the pipe would need to be followed by a chat with them to remove the restrictor.
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Farmer Short ,
Thanks for the info about the drip device . Our feed from the street to the stop outside the kitchen is black alkathene pipe under several inches of concrete & three feet of rammed clay .
Dave
I gather that these black pipe only have a 30 year or so life .. can you advise ? lie
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if your on rates and not metered - your probably spending too ,much unless your using the water for a swimming pool.
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600 quid a year here for 300 head of sheep - 20 ponies - 3.5km of pipe - 300 people here in summer shitting and showering in the bogs.
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My father put the water in to his cotttage in 1959.He subsequently joined it to a few fields when he had cattle and Severn Trent were never told.I now pay about £90 (he passed away recently) a year) and house is rented out.
If I did sell the fields presumably I couldn't sell them with a right to watet supply? My neighbour reckons Severn Trent would check Land Registry transactions and pick this up.I sometimes wonder if Severn Trent do not have some hi tech equipment thst could find water pipes from a helicopter they would find all kind of add ons.