Lead Pipe

[Wandering Man]

We developed a leak in the upstairs bathroom. The house is really old, and our plumber was surprised to find a lead drain pipe between the walls to be the cause of the leak. He cut about 6" off and replaced it with PVC.

I claimed the lead pipe, and now I have a couple of questions:

1) Does anyone know what percentage of lead the pipe is likely to be? It's a drain pipe, about 3" in diameter. The house was built in 1920, we believe.

2) The plumber also cut off a shorter piece of the pipe that is still attached to the under sink brass drain pipe. Do I risk contamination if I throw this piece into the smelting pot? Or will the brass/aluminum/whatever float to the top before it begins to melt?

3) Plumber tells me he's got some old lead ingots he will dig out and give me. Is there any easy way to determine what alloy I'll have?

Thanks,

WM

[Ricochet]

Lead pipe's usually close to pure lead.

Hardness testing's the only practical way most of us can roughly identify alloys.

Personally I'm unconcerned with making precise or precisely repeatable alloys.

[Cherokee]

Treat it all as pure lead and throw it into the pot. The non-lead stuff will float to the top, skim it off.

[mto7464]

make ingots out it and then drop one on concrete. It should go thud and get a flat spot. If it does it's likely close to pure, or soft enough to use as.

The other stuff will float and you can skim it off.

[bradh]

Just about 100% pure as I recall!

[compass will]

If it was in use in the last couple days, let it dry first, then bang it around and most of hair and what ever other "crap" is in it should just fall out.

[jhalcott]

Some times it's fun to be anal about things. Casting is a thing that can be OVER complicated or just plain easy! IF you are shooting small targets far away , a precise bullet and gun should be better than a thrown together plinking gun. I worry about the details to a POINT. After that I shoot for fun. Even my hunting loads aren't so precise that I can hit a dime at 50 yards. I do expect to be able to hit a deers vitals at what ever range I would shoot one. Melt the lead ,if it is real soft use it for muzzle loading. Or mix it for hand gun ammo.

[jlchucker]

All of those lead water pipes and drain pipes that I've found in old houses and on farms seemed to be made of pure lead. If not 100 percent pure, then close enough for boolet purposes. It melts up into really soft ingots, and it casts well as round muzzleloader balls. It mixes well with lino and with wheelweight alloy. Another good pure-lead source is flashing that carpenters use around chimneys and in other roofing applications. I was given a couple of hundred pounds of this stuff and am still cutting off strips to fit into my lead pot to smelt up into ingots.

[billyb]

i have a friend who is a long time plumber he says that lead pipe is just about pure.if there is any soldier on the pipe it is good stuff 50/50 or better.use it ,it is good metal,the ingots are probley pure,they used pure to pour joints on the cast iron drain pipe.follow thru on the ingots it will help releive the sting of the plumbers bill.. Bill

[Wandering Man]

Thanks.

I am excited about using the pipe.

Now I have to resist the temptation to tear my house apart ... [smilie=1:


WM

[454PB]

:kidding:You got it bad.....to get excited about a 6" piece of lead pipe!

[randyrat]

Yep you got it bad. Most lead pipe i find is so soft it dosen't even go thud. Chances are it is very close to pure.

[Frank46]

You ever come across a bag that looks like lead wool grab it and run. We used to to pack joints, close up casting porosities in pump castings and of course make fishin sinkers. Usually came in 50lb bags. If your local utility company is working on extending large gas mains in your area, those old joints had lead seals very thick and heavy. Old lead window weights and even we made boat anchors out of 1 gallon
cans filled with lead. Regular anchors would get stuck so the homemade pail full of lead was a lot easier to get free of the rocks. Frank

[Wandering Man]

Old lead window weights and ...
Frank

I was just thinking about the window weights. I've got some in the garage apartment, I think. I wonder if they are lead ... ? [smilie=1:

If I'm not careful, I'll be looking for a new house soon.

... and it may look a lot like a doghouse. :(

WM

[cbrick]

From the article: Cast Bullet Alloy (http://www.lasc.us/CastBulletAlloy.htm). The alloy info in the article is from "Key To Metals", a world leader in supplying lead alloys to industry.

Lead Pipe. Seamless pipe made from lead and lead alloys is readily fabricated by extrusion. Because of its corrosion resistance and flexibility, lead pipes finds many uses in the chemical industry and in plumbing and water distribution system. Pipe for these applications is made from either chemical lead or 6% antimonial lead.

Chemical Lead. Refined lead with a residual copper content of 0.04 to 0.08% and a residual silver content of 0.002 to 0.02% is particularly desirable in the chemical industries and thus is called chemical lead.

The copper and silver content of these alloys is insignificant for cast boolits, the percentages are too small. The pipe I've run across was not the 6% antimony alloy and I used it as pure lead. If you find any 6% antimony pipe count your blessings and try to find more.

Rick

[meeesterpaul]

[QUOTE=Wandering Man;354439]We developed a leak in the upstairs bathroom. The house is really old, and our plumber was surprised to find a lead drain pipe between the walls to be the cause of the leak. He cut about 6" off and replaced it with PVC.


1) Does anyone know what percentage of lead the pipe is likely to be?
Pipe that I've XRF scanned shows:
0.6%Sn
3.59%Sb
95.9%Pb

[454PB]

It sounds like your pipe was made from wheel weights!

[runfiverun]

extruded pipe will have antimony because it allows the lead to flow easier, even CAME for stained glass windows is now being made with it.

the old stuff was straight lead with maybe some leftovers in it.

[roberts1]

What I'm wondering is what plumber would be surprised that a lead drain from 1920 would leak.

[Grmps]

window weights in my part of the country are cast iron.

[lightman]

window weights in my part of the country are cast iron.

Mine too! I've never seen a lead window weight.

[303Guy]

I picked up some 3" lead pipe from my scrap dealer. No way is it pure. It's quite tough, pretty ideal for cast boolits I'd say. Under sink drain pipe would be pure, yes. But this 3" lead pipe was external down pipe (painted). I've had lead sheeting that rings like a bell. It was painted so would likely not have been roof flashing.




1) Does anyone know what percentage of lead the pipe is likely to be?
Pipe that I've XRF scanned shows:
0.6%Sn
3.59%Sb
95.9%Pb
That sounds about right for my particular lead pipe.

[jsizemore]

What I'm wondering is what plumber would be surprised that a lead drain from 1920 would leak.

More like the plumber was surprised to even find a 3" lead waste line.