The solder that was used to hold the copper joints together probably has some lead in it.A lot of faucets and valves in homes have brass in them. Lead poisoning has been attributed to mental retardation, organ failure, premature death, and the fall of the Roman Empire. Running your cold water until it feels noticeably colder will indicate the water is from outside your premises’ plumbing.
This is especially a good idea if you know the water has been sitting in your plumbing for six hours or more. Eventually, health concerns encouraged a switch to alternate plumbing materials. Lead soldering, applied to join together copper pipes, continued to be used well into the 1980s. And you can get your water tested.To really know what’s going on, it’s a good idea to have your water tested. Know Your Pipes. Lead soldering, applied to join together copper pipes, continued to be used well into the 1980s. Unfortunately, if you have an older house, you may very well have lead pipes carrying the water in your plumbing system. Neither contain lead, but older galvanized steel pipes can corrode, and these corroded areas can be places where lead leaching from a lead service line can gather.Brass is an alloy made mostly of copper and zinc. (The Romans used lead in cookware, plumbing, and lots of other things.) However, many older homes still have the original lead pipes installed. Yes, it could very well be that the type of plumbing pipes that your house is currently using is, in fact, causing you to be exposed to elevated levels of lead, and there is a good reason for it. It can happen with brass faucets when the water sits unused for longer periods of time.I have an older house. If your house was built before 1986, your plumbing may have lead … The best thing to do is call your city to see what kind of records it has. In the United States and Canada, homes built before the 1950s should be suspected of having lead pipes, unless they have been replaced already. It is cheap, rust resistant, and easy to weld. Copper and specialized plastics (like PVC and PEX) are now choice products for water pipes in homes.In the last few decades, we generally have been well educated about the problem of lead in old paint and about what we needed to do to prevent children from being exposed. Whether it’s from build-up, sediment or a foreign object, plumbers are no stranger to blocked pipes, especially in older homes. Lead was commonly used to make pipes in plumbing for many centuries. Solder connects pipes in household plumbing. Please try again.Do you get your water from a well instead of a municipal water treatment plant? In the United States and Canada, homes built before the 1950s should be suspected of having lead pipes, unless they have been replaced already.
The more the water runs, the less time it has to come into contact with any lead in your plumbing.Mark Brush is a reporter at Michigan Radio in Ann Arbor.The plumbers and experts I talked to say you have less to worry about if you’re on a public drinking water supply and the drinking water operator has maintained what they call “corrosion control” in the system.
The plumbing was updated at some point since I have copper lines running throughout the house. If the metal is soft and turns shiny, it’s likely lead. You can call your drinking water utility or your county health department to find out how to test your water.Companies added lead to the brass alloy to help with the manufacturing process and to improve the reliability of valves.If you suspect you have lead in your plumbing, here are some other precautions you can take:“The amount of time you should run the cold water to flush your internal plumbing depends on whether you have a lead service line, the length of the lead service line and amount of plumbing in your home. During the 1960s, galvanized steel lines became popular. If you have lead in your house pipes, there is no guarantee that the water chemistry is not at risk of leaching lead and bringing it to your faucet.However, many older homes still have the original lead pipes installed.
As a result, lead may still be present in the service lines connecting the water main to your home or school, in the solder used to connect pipes, and in older brass faucets and … Lead Is a Serious Health Concern Most pipes become more susceptible to clogs as they get older and more dirt, hair, and various other material flushes through them.