Thread: Copper or galvanized ?

Hi guys, I'm a new building inspector and looking for your help on this one.

Are these pipes and valve made of copper or galvanized ? The house was build in 1954.

I see galvanized below the valve but not so sure about the main water line underneath.

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Picture (left) Galvanized pipe connected to brass valve at top, with copper connected at bottom of valve.

Picture (right) copper line coming in from street with grounding connection/bonding.

always get your truty magnet out--it will stick to galvaniuzed

cvf

always get your truty magnet out--it will stick to galvanized - GREAT ADVICE!!!!

I found that galvanized tastes different than copper if you do the lick test. :-)

Originally Posted by Christian Tag

Hi guys, I'm a new building inspector and looking for your help on this one.

Are these pipes and valve made of copper or galvanized ? The house was build in 1954.

I see galvanized below the valve but not so sure about the main water line underneath.

Welcome.

Noticed your location is Montreal.

Have you considered the possiblity of Lead (Plomb) connecting pipe ?


Lead is grey, does not echo if you strike it, and leaves metallic marks when you scratch it. It does not attract a magnet.

I do NOT recommend to "lick" the connecting pipe, ever.

See (clickable link): http://ville.montreal.qc.ca/pls/port...OMB2009_EN.PDF

Which is also attached. Please review the above link or the attached document and save for your records!


Additional information from an older news on the subject is below

Warning over lead in Montreal water


CanWest News Service March 7, 2007

Montreal residents were surprised and, in some cases, horrified by letters sent out by the city this week advising them lead levels in their drinking water might exceed provincial limits.

"Please read this notice, especially if you have children under age six or are pregnant," the notice begins, in capital letters.

The notice targets buildings erected before 1970, with eight units or fewer, that are connected to the municipal water system with lead pipes, the city says - a total of 75,000 buildings located in all the municipalities on the island of Montreal.

Lead pipes were outlawed in 1967, although surplus pipes were permitted in construction until 1970. They were never used in buildings with more than eight units because they couldn't withstand the pressure.

Hardest hit are older neighbourhoods like St. Laurent, Notre Dame de Grace, St. Michel and Plateau Mont Royal, city officials said.

While Montreal's water is clean, standing water can pick up particles from the lead pipes that connect homes to municipal water mains. In humans, lead poisoning is cumulative, building up in the body over time, and can lead to organ failure and neurological damage. Children and pregnant women are particularly at risk.

More than 1,500 tests conducted last summer on buildings across the island still using these pipes found 55 per cent were within the maximum standard, which was lowered to 0.01 milligrams per litre in Quebec in 2001 to keep pace with international norms for developed nations.

For decades before then, the provincial standard had been 0.05 milligrams per litre - five times the current norm. Forty-five per cent of the buildings tested registered lead levels above the norm. The average of those was 0.014 - only slighter higher than the 0.01 cutoff standard. None of the buildings registered higher than the older 0.05 milligrams-per-litre standard. The health hazards related to living in a home of this type are low, Montreal's public health board said.

Yet in the letter, the board recommends "pregnant women and parents of children under age 6 use commercially available water filters, such as faucet-mounted filters, filter pitchers certified by the NSF for lead reduction ... or drink bottled water. This precaution applies particularly to nursing infants who are fed commercial water-based reconstituted milk formulas."

That came as an unpleasant shock to those parents who have been serving their children unfiltered water for years, and to women who have given birth in the past few decades and took their drinking water right from the tap.

More than 1,000 people had called the city's Water Info-Line for advice as of noon yesterday, about 24 hours after the first letters had been delivered. Despite the heavy traffic, calls to the Info-Line yesterday afternoon were answered almost immediately.

City officials said there was no cause for alarm, however. They noted lead levels were still extremely low and no case of lead poisoning from tap water has ever been reported in Montreal.

The city of Montreal is to hold a news conference this morning to address the matter.

"The public was first informed of this issue in 2005," said Sammy Forcillo, the Montreal executive committee member responsible for water services.

In December 2005, fliers were sent to 4,600 "wartime" homes, most of them built in the 1940s in St. Laurent and Verdun, after similar tests showed elevated lead levels in tap water. Residents were advised to filter their water or run the taps before drinking, Forcillo said.

The results of those tests spurred the city to conduct more far-reaching tests, he said.

Researchers run the taps for five minutes before testing the water, as per health board recommendations, Forcillo said.

Montreal is the first Quebec municipality to institute an action plan to remove lead pipes, Forcillo said, calling for the 75,000 lead connecting pipes still in use on the island to be replaced by 2026, at a cost of $270 million. The European Union recently instituted a similar 15-year plan, Forcillo noted.

The city said it hopes provincial and federal infrastructure grants will cover the costs of replacing the pipes.

Residents who want to purchase filters or do private tests of their water systems, at a cost of $50 to $120, will have to pay the tab themselves, Forcillo said.

Homeowners will also be responsible for the cost of replacing the pipe on their section of land - a $1,200 job if done by a private contractor. The city will replace its sections of the water mains during regularly scheduled maintenance, Forcillo said, and will offer homeowners a better deal to replace their sections of pipe. He couldn't specify prices.

"The norms changed overnight in 2001," Forcillo said. "Do you think the Quebec government would allow 20 years for changes if there was a threat to the public health?"

Forcillo showed a copy of the notice he received at the Centre-South home in which he and his wife have lived and raised two children since 1981. "I sleep well at night," he said.

Montreal Island residents can get information from the Water Info-Line at 514-868-4483.

Thank you so much for your help !

Yes in fact, It is apparently a common problem here in Montreal to find lead plumbing pipes.

I will certainly use your advices and find myself a good magnet !

Thank you for your fast replies, I'm loving this forum !