# Old School Water Main



## GAN (Jul 10, 2012)

How would like to bid on installing this type of water main????


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## PLUMBER_BILL (Oct 23, 2009)

gan said:


> how would like to bid on installing this type of water main????


history being shown ... Now gan "what is a plug dummy"


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## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

I've heard of wooden water lines, but never seen one in person. Lead is the oldest I've seen in use.


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## Plumbus (Aug 4, 2008)

I've tied into a wood sewer line once. It was held together with metal hoops, just like a barrel.


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## Plumbus (Aug 4, 2008)

I cut a wye into a wooden sewer lateral once. It was held together with metal hoops, not unlike a barrel.


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## Tommy plumber (Feb 19, 2010)

Wow. Does that say 1799? As in the year? I love that old nostalgic stuff. Looks like it was in upstate NY. Troy, NY if my eyes are seeing that correctly.


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## Tommy plumber (Feb 19, 2010)

Now isn't that something. That probably lasted over 100 years. When compared to the stuff made today, it looks good and makes some of the junk made today look really bad.

No need to worry about not having the right fitting, just make one with a sharp axe.


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## dhal22 (Jul 30, 2010)

Tommy plumber said:


> Now isn't that something. That probably lasted over 100 years. When compared to the stuff made today, it looks good and makes some of the junk made today look really bad.
> 
> No need to worry about not having the right fitting, just make one with a sharp axe.


Looks like it lasted longer than polybutylene.


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## fixitright (Jan 5, 2012)

I was told once by a city of St. Paul inspector a few years back 
that there was still a wooden water main in use. ( inspectors can BS too??)

But the story he gave me to go with it was how the term Fire Plug came about.

The Fire Department would somehow tap into the wooden line and when they were done they would pound a wooden plug back into the line.


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## GAN (Jul 10, 2012)

Tommy plumber said:


> Wow. Does that say 1799? As in the year? I love that old nostalgic stuff. Looks like it was in upstate NY. Troy, NY if my eyes are seeing that correctly.



Yep 1799. First example I have seen. Have seen many lead potable lines. Working with them you best be good at wiping.


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## GAN (Jul 10, 2012)

PLUMBER_BILL said:


> history being shown ... Now gan "what is a plug dummy"



Old school carved plug in this case to cap off a tap. Newer school the "cock hole covers" of today are sometimes called this.

You can also define them as an anti-tamper device for portions of a system that is meant to keep open and/or closed for a long time.


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## KoleckeINC (Oct 22, 2011)

Never learned water service, if I had the opportunity I would jump. I've repaired but never replaced.


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## WashingtonPlung (Jul 25, 2016)

Can you make a lead an Oakum joint into that? lol


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## PLUMBER_BILL (Oct 23, 2009)

GAN said:


> Old school carved plug in this case to cap off a tap. Newer school the "cock hole covers" of today are sometimes called this.
> 
> You can also define them as an anti-tamper device for portions of a system that is meant to keep open and/or closed for a long time.


Plug Dummys were the grunts that fire dept.'s hired to dig open the wooden main and plug the hole the fire dept made to use the water.

"cock hole covers" also had a different meaning, the modern day to that was panty liners ... This guy, me walked into a drug store one evening picked up a box of panty liners and took them to the register. The girl said I'll put that in a bag for you most men don't like carring them. I said you don't have to bag them, there for me. She said "YOU" I said yes I stick them on the bottom of my Saber Saw so I don't scratch formica when I'm cutting it. I never saw a young girl laugh so hard. Turns out that she was going to buy a box for her father. He was a carpenter!


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## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

WashingtonPlung said:


> Can you make a lead an Oakum joint into that? lol


I've been told one step glue works best. I would think gorilla glue, but I don't think that's code. Flex Seal might work too.


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## 89plumbum (May 14, 2011)

Looks like a 7/8IDx4-1/8 OD...


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## Dpeckplb (Sep 20, 2013)

I have heard of wooden sewers but not water mains. I have seen glass gas mains. Our whole municipality is down to 3 lead water mains.


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## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

OpenSights said:


> I've heard of wooden water lines, but never seen one in person. Lead is the oldest I've seen in use.


I have tied into asbestos drainage back when I was a hack in California. Escalated a main line. That job now haunts me because of what I did. Probably a 45 degree 30' from the house to the city. But that was after two weeks of training, and probably a couple of months figuring things out on my own.


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## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

Dpeckplb said:


> I have heard of wooden sewers but not water mains. I have seen glass gas mains. Our whole municipality is down to 3 lead water mains.


Only time I saw a glass drain was 1-1/2 in a hospital.

You've probably heard of the flint MI water crisis. Those dumb ****ers. Yeah let's switch our portable water source to a commonly known polluted river to save a buck. Now they're following Lansing's Board of Water and Light and replacing lead lines. 

Funny thing is, here in Lansing, they boast every lead line has been replaced. NOT TRUE! There is one convince stool that has a soda/pop machine that pregnant women use. There's one property in my old hood that one of my customers bought that is a 5 unit **** hole that has a lead line. He wants to turn it into a 4 unit with seperate meeters. BWL won't allow it because it's a 3/4" feed. I told him to call them back and tell them he'll have a pregnant moving in and it's a lead line. They will be out that day. Haven't heard back.


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## leakfree (Apr 3, 2011)

Watched the City Of Chicago replace 500' of main down the street the last couple of weeks,never removed one lead service,tied all of the new whips onto the old lead services.


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## GAN (Jul 10, 2012)

leakfree said:


> Watched the City Of Chicago replace 500' of main down the street the last couple of weeks,never removed one lead service,tied all of the new whips onto the old lead services.


Still a lot of them in a nearby town called Alton Illinois and across the river in St. Louis. Plumbers across the river still need to know how to wipe lead to patch and convert these.

As stated be Plumbus (I think I got that correct). The lead in water lines is not the same as paint, which can become airborne. This is the most dangerous. The lead water lines have a patina on which gets quickly established thus coating the inside. I still wouldn't suggest it, but the fear factor is not as bad as one may think.


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## PLUMBER_BILL (Oct 23, 2009)

GAN said:


> Still a lot of them in a nearby town called Alton Illinois and across the river in St. Louis. Plumbers across the river still need to know how to wipe lead to patch and convert these.
> 
> HERE IS A POST FROM 2010
> http://www.plumbingzone.com/f7/lead-loc-fittings-lead-water-pipe-8034/#post106435
> ...


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## GAN (Jul 10, 2012)

PLUMBER_BILL said:


> GAN said:
> 
> 
> > Still a lot of them in a nearby town called Alton Illinois and across the river in St. Louis. Plumbers across the river still need to know how to wipe lead to patch and convert these.
> ...


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## Dpeckplb (Sep 20, 2013)

Our municipality is down to 4 or 5 lead services. After next week there will be even one less. If only they had kept better records I wouldn't get the shock of finding 5/8 copper stubbed 2" above the floor.


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## HonestPlumb (Jan 25, 2015)

Had to sweat a piece of 1/2" copper into a lead service in NYC 40 years ago. By jack hammering into the 1930 poured foundation, and packing it with dry ice. Before anyone says anything, this was 40 years ago. Didn't have, or know if a freezing machine was invented yet ? Cut the lead service with a sawzall (ain't no turning back now) swedge the 3/4' service ever so gingerly. Slide a piece of 1/2" copper with a pre sweated shut off on it, into the lead, and sweat the copper to the lead. First, hoped the torch didn't heat up the service enough to thaw.Then after being done, purposely thawing the service, and praying there isn't a leak ! If it leaks, I take two hammers and slam that lead tight ! There were no Curb Shut offs. Had to have the Water Company come out and dig up the shut off (Honestly) for $600. Got lucky. Have had to sweat a piece of DWV into a lead drain, in a turn of the century house. Where the HO didn't want to tear up the tile in a huge BR from that period, any more than necessary. Then you are the hero, after you had previously told them what would happen if it were unsuccessful !!


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