Any Plumbers here?

[nev]

Joy of joys! Low water pressure due to leak on shared supply somewhere under terrace of houses. Only solution is to run new supply from pavement at front of house, and yep! you've guessed, all plumbing is at rear of house and ground floor in extensions.
I'm not going to be digging up floors and running it up into floor space and back down again as that only covers half the distance anyway. So its surface mount. Straightish run along hallway through bottom stair and cupboard through original exterior wall and around kitchen wall to pick up nearest cold supply at washing machine.

Question: Is the copper going to sweat, if so enough to worry about? dripping/staining? Should I use P-EX ? Other solutions?

Thanks in advance.

 

[finneyb]

Don't like the idea of a leak under the houses - no knowing what damage its doing - will it be shut off?

No plumber, but I would have thought copper would sweat; plastic may also but to a lesser extent.
I found plastic very easy to work with in the CH BUT make sure you put the inserts in at the joints and cut the pipe square at the joints.

Brian

 

[novocaine]

copper is the traditional route, it should be mounted on standoffs so staining is unlikely, assume it will painted at some point or boxed in, (wider skirting is an option). temperature inside to water temp shouldn't cause major condensation on the pipe but will be some especially if house is "wet".
Poly is the new way, no reason it wont work, easier to fit (push fit joints and the like) but doesn't look as clean as copper. if it's the main inlet you might (length depending) need to use 22mm, which is going to look pretty rubbish anyway as is a stop **** in the hall (has to be at nearest point to entry of property). I'd get a plumber in to look at it, they may have a better idea than anyone online after they've seen it.

Poly and copper have different thermal properties, however both will be colder than surrounding area and will see some condensation (again depending on house).

why is shared to the rear and main at the front? don't you love short thinking companies like UU.

good luck.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

It was not uncommon for houses to be connected to the mains in pairs - no one foresaw the water charges being either metered or separated from the rates. have a look up and down the pavement and you'll probably see pairs of meters where the supplies have already been separated. If you separate, you'll be obliged to have a meter, and you may well cut off your neighbour's water at the same time. Where is your rising main? If it is right at the back of the property (along with the kitchen and maybe bathroom), you probably need a decent bore pipe to maintain the pressure, so it would be better done in plastic (blue alkathene) anyway - you've a minimum of joints then, anyway.
It's wise to consult your water board, and your neighbour.
Damhikt #-o I sold the house.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

" temperature inside to water temp shouldn't cause major condensation on the pipe but will be some especially if house is "wet"."
I would question that. if I have flushed my toilet the cistern and incoming pipe will drip condensation - and that's fed from the roof tank, not a below ground main. In not very cold Cornwall, as well.

 

[novocaine]

larger surface area Phil.

 

[oakfield]

Could you get the new water supply moled under the house so it can be connected in the same place as the existing supply?

 

[nev]

I'm waiting on a phone call from Welsh Water planning/ site man whatever he's called, to arrange a visit to tell me his requirements etc.
The shared supply feeds something ridiculous like 10 or more houses and WW cannot find the leak - they mentioned litres per hour!
If I install a new supply WW will bring water to house FOC and I am no longer responsible for shared supply. When the entire block has done the same the leaky pipe will be shut off. But heres the good bit- unless there is a contamination risk - WW cannot force anyone to do any works, so it only takes one stubborn or skint homeowner to put the lot on hold indefinitely. Seems the simplest and only real solution for me is new supply and hope the water from the leak isn't undermining the house.

Not looked into 'mol(e)ing' but I imagine its a tad costly?

 

[Phil Pascoe]

"If I install a new supply WW will bring water to house FOC "
You're lucky there - they told us they were responsible for absolutely none of the work (or costs of it) our side of the stop **** on the pavement, nor for anything interconnected between us and our neighbour - though you'll get a meter whether you want it or not. We were fortunate in one thing only - the neighbour accepted quickly that he had cut ours off and reinstated it.

 

[mikefab]

I'm waiting on a phone call from Welsh Water planning/ site man whatever he's called, to arrange a visit to tell me his requirements etc.
The shared supply feeds something ridiculous like 10 or more houses and WW cannot find the leak - they mentioned litres per hour!
If I install a new supply WW will bring water to house FOC and I am no longer responsible for shared supply. When the entire block has done the same the leaky pipe will be shut off. But heres the good bit- unless there is a contamination risk - WW cannot force anyone to do any works, so it only takes one stubborn or skint homeowner to put the lot on hold indefinitely. Seems the simplest and only real solution for me is new supply and hope the water from the leak isn't undermining the house.

Not looked into 'mol(e)ing' but I imagine its a tad costly?

I got a new water main moled 65m from the road to our house at a cost of £1500. They also put in some SWA cable at the same time for a potential future out building so needed to run the mole twice between each hole. The holes were dug every 10-15 metres I would guess.

It was done by an independent contractor who has approval from the water company to do this, they then did the connection from our boundary to the main in the street FOC as it had been a lead main.and the deal is apparently that if we got rid of the lead between the meter and the house they do the few metres to the main supply under the road.

HTH

Mike

 

[oakfield]

Moleing is one of the specialities of my fathers company.
There are a couple of ways of doing it.
One as mentioned above involves digging holes 10 to 15 meters apart aiming the mole form the first hole into the second - if the ground conditions are good you can be accurate to within a couple of inches, if the ground isn't great it can sometimes go off the intended line.
The other way is with a directional mole, which can be traced and steered - this can do 100m in one go.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Have you looked into whether you are responsible for other supplies further from the main that you might potentially cut off when yours is sorted?

 

[nev]

Have you looked into whether you are responsible for other supplies further from the main that you might potentially cut off when yours is sorted?

I'm not going to be cutting anything, merely closing and disconnecting the existing stopcock and teeing in to the (nearest) cold supply with the new one.