The lead service pipe comes in vertically and is bent to horizontal then goes back into the floor to another point in the house. I want to bent the service pipe to vertical and run new copper from there on. Can the Lead service pipe be bent to vertical?

Lead service pipe. That is illegal and needs to be removed. Really. You do not mention where you are but when something in construction is changed or modified and is subject to building code it MUST be brought up to that code. That lead pipe is poisoning your home.

OK I'm in Wisconsin, The lead service pipe comes into the 100 year old home from the street and threw the meter then back into the floor then threwout the house. I want to remove all the lead after the meter but there is nothing I can do about the line from the street. I need to know how to bend the service end of the pipe that goes to the meter from horizontal to vertical so I can replace the led in the floor to something safe threw the rest of the home.

We are talking about a water service pipe aren't we? If so then Handyman is bang on. Pull out all the lead and replace with, PVC. Good luck, Tom

Thanks for the advice but that's what I want to do, replace all the plumbing from lead to other safe plumbing. I need to know how to bend the service end so I can run up the wall then across the floor joists to the rest of the home. There is nothing I can do about the led pipe from the street to the meter. But I can remove about 40 FT after. How do I bend the street end from horizontal to vertical?

If that lead service pipe was installed by the municipality originally, they have the responsibility of replacing it with plastic or copper. You should contact you water department and discuss it with them Changing all of the pipe in your home means nothing when the supply line is still poisonous lead. Really. That is what you need to do.

I don't have $20.000.00 to change the street end. I can change everything else thou. The lead pipe is galvanized I'm Tolled and they say there is no lead leaching because of that, but I need to know how to bend the street end so I can get rid of what looks like about 40 ft after the meter. I'm in Milwaukee WI and the city won't replace the street end unless I pay for it. I am installing a lead filtering system as well.

I really hate to tell you that lead pipe in NOT galvanized. Iron pipe is made in a galvanized version but Lead pipe is not galvanized because it does not deteriorate like iron pipe. That was the reason for it's use. I am telling you to recheck with the Water Department about replacing that pipe or ask around your neighbor hood about lead pipe and if any homeowners have the same situation. I do not know how far your house is from the street main but $20,000 here in NY would run about 250' of pipe from street to home including any pavement work!! That pipe has been in the ground for at least 100 years. It is not safe. It is not galvanized (pipe was not galvanized that far back). It IS leaching lead into your water. If you were to sell that house with that lead pipe, a bank may not give the buyer mortgage money until it were changed. If you insist on keeping it, you cannot make a sharp bend in it. You have to make a sweeping curve so it does not kink.

At this point I have to live with the street end of this mess as does 90% of the city's home owners here do. All I need to know at this point is how to bend the pipe and I understand it has to be a sweeping bend I also know I can't get it to do a sharp bend. I just need it to go up and down not across the floor.

Just rent a trencher and bypass all the pipe from the meter to the house and replace with 3/4 or 1 inch PVC outside... sch. 40... just make sure it's buried deep enough so it won't freeze in the winter months... also install a PVC shutoff ball valve at the meter and at the house use CPVC or PEX inside... home depot has this pipe... the cpvc cuts and glues easly (the yellow stuff... no purple primer needed) and just replace all lead piping you can to minimize your exposure... also install water filters under your kitchen sink (particulate, carbon, and for metals if available... the water company should have a PH of 7.5 to 8.5 (get a cheap test kit in any swimming pool section of Wal-Mart for example) in order to mitigate oxidation of this old piping... I installed an extra kitchen faucet for local filtered water at the sink for drinking or cooking water and also ran tubing to my ice-maker from the effluent of these filters under my kitchen sink.. as far as bending lead piping goes, I don't have any experience with this, but you can try the conduit benders at Home Depot for light aluminum conduit... just get the right size for your piping... replacing/bypassing all lead piping is, as others have mentioned, the most ideal thing to do...

Thanks guys but as I said I can't touch the line from the street to the house it has to be done by MR businessman with many licences and permits and tons of money on my part, so that end isn't going to be in the plans for this old house. The plumber near me said $85.00 just to come look and then?? To do the bend. I was hoping someone had done this before but I guess not. Thanks for trying to help anyway. I'll post what I do or have done. Again thanks.

I hate to advise or help you to continue using lead in your water service, Lead plumbing went out about the time I started but to pass a pluoumg mbing license we had to know how to work with lead. It would be nice if you had told me what size pipe you have. To bend a lead pipe you must first pack it with damp sand. Then you'll Get something round to form it on. You can't make too short a bend or you'll kink the pipe, Make a gradual bend around the form. Lead working's a lost among plumbers now days. Only a few of us left.
I can not stress enough the importance of replacing your water service with PVC. Good luck, Tom

Thanks Tom, There is about a million homes in Milwaukee and they just about all have lead service to the meter from the street. If the city ever changes the law and makes everyone remove the lead service pipe I'm going into business lol.

Hi Whiteshadow

I've got some experience working with old lead water lines in the Boston, MA area...

Usually, we just cut the lead off and use transition fittings to change over from the lead to a threaded or compression type fitting that can be used with CPVC or copper tubing, etc.

One option could be the cambridge coupling... click on this link for more info.: Home | A.Y. McDonald (http://www.aymcdonald.com/en-US/water-service-new-products.html) Scroll down the page a bit to find the coupling.

Another alternative that I have used successfully a number of times is the lead-loc fitting... see image below and click on this link for more detailed info.: Lead-Loc Installation - Melimatic.com (http://www.melimatic.com/7.html)

The lead-loc fitting will probably be available locally at a plumbing supply store.

Note here, that lead pipe is malleable and you may find that your pipe is oblong and not round. In cases like this you will take pliers/hammer and reshape the pipe a bit AND you will take a file and file the pipe to finish the job if needed (without thinning pipe wall too much)!

Here's what I would do (without pictures available), I'd try bending the lead as it is quite malleable.. see if you can make that long sweep 90 from horizontal to vertical. Here, cut the lead pipe about 3 feet from where you want to make your turn from horizontal to vertical, and then bend the lead pipe using the extra footage as a wrench and make a smooth long-sweep 90 degree turn. The lead pipe will make the long-sweep that it wants to make (don't fight it)... then you can transition from the lead pipe using one of the fittings above!

Final note... leave room for error. Since you now have so many extra feet of lead pipe, cut the lead pipe out in sections and practice bending long sweep 90s for when you are ready to GO FOR IT on the main itself!!

Questions? Let me know, OK?

Mark

https://www.facebook.com/iamwhiteshadowlifesperit?ref=tn_tnmn#!/photo.php?fbid=4349823798742&set=a.1551453601236.61028.1682037456&type=1&theater

Thank you Mark, Trying to upload a photo but not sure how hope this works.

OK... saw the picture! That's a tough one for sure. Here, you have two choices:

1) You can connect onto the lead (using fitting I showed you) or the shutoff on the street side of the meter and turn up a 90 at that spot. This keeps you about 1.5 feet off the wall (or so).

2) Chip up the concrete around the lead pipe for say 3 feet being careful NOT to come near the pipe itself and then you can try bending the pipe up. You cannot take the lead bend that exists now and rebend it into the wall... not going to happen. You can chip the concrete, expose a longer section of the lead and then try to bend the pipe up.

Both ways have risks, for sure!

I'm off to work again, but will check in later... ;)

Mark

How are we makin' out over here... hmmmm?