Installing and Connecting new Water Mains - DIY 

I'm excited 6 years later lol

Thanks, definitely please we did it. We also converted to an unvented cylinder last week and now have great pressure hot water which is such an improvement.

Yes the gas was moled in last year and was impressed. That said they would have had to pass two clay soil pipes so not sure if it would have been possible with the water route.

@@TheRestorationCouple Mine was done today and its amazing how they can turn it and round below drains etc. I would of kept old main before digging lol.. Thanks.

With the respect we're all animals and all animals behave badly when not fed properly are you a cheapskate

@@vmax1399 I’m know bloody cheapskate mate, and since you have no idea about the problems I’ve had to deal with, with so called experts, your not really in a position to comment on individual cases. I always gone with recommendations over price, and I like many have learnt the hard way. At least I’ve been compensated a little after lengthy distressing disputes. Keep your opinions to yourself!

Pay well to get the job done decent. Pretty rare day where you land lucky with tradesmen. If you can do it yourself then do that. At least you are in control and paying yourself.

It is a tracer wire so the pipe can be found from above with a detector.

I think the grommet was from a plumbing merchant and possibly one you trimmed down to size. Otherwise you could perhaps use an end cap and drill a 25mm hole? Yes duct is just to protect where pipe runs under walls or future walls. Insulation is just for where it rises out of the ground near house. In UK I guess it would never freeze 750mm under surface so not needed. All the info was on a PDF from water company though so best to check.

It was water company, just a chap with a clipboard to check it over. They manage the replacement of old lead/iron pipework so did the checks on house side before digging up road. If it’s a new development then BCO might do it or at least want to see it but not sure I’m afraid.

Regs just required it to be insulated for the last section as it comes back up to ground level. The info is available online. It will never freeze at 750mm deep so only as it comes to surface that is the risk.

Local merchants as they sold it by the metre. Did find it online too though, try ebay.

28mm pipe insulation did it and was just about flexible enough. We ended up with sharp sand below and above before filling in the trench so hopefully fine.

Not sure actually as I didn’t see that end in detail. I dug a new route rather than exactly where the old pipe was.

Usually I think you would leave enough pipe cooled up your side until ready for connection. Plus yes it needs to have the cap on and taped to keep clean.

​@@TheRestorationCouple Thanks. And is it a regulation to use 110mm pipe for the ducting when going into the property? Can I use a 65mm or 82mm ducting? The smaller the pipe, the easier it is.

Probably using a reducer fitting

+mark duncan The connection and sign off is done by the water company, I just did the digging and rolled put the pipe.

The pipe is just 100mm underground waste. It is as suggested by water company, I then used 28mm pipe lagging, all builders merchant stocked stuff.

28mm inside and 13mm thickness was that ? Yeah now you mention it looks obvious but the mind tends to skip things from time to time well mind does don't know about you. if you could confirm the side please thanks for your quick reply.

If you mean the large pipe I used as conduit, it’s just regular abs soil pipe.

Matthew Halls yes I used 28mm pipe insulation. Snug fit for 32mm pipe but adequate.

The Restoration Couple I fitted pipe insulation like you but not having seen those grommets also then used expanding foam to fill the remaining space in the 110mm pipe used for conduit - as extra insulation and to stop soil/creepy crawly access into the conduit.

+Keyur Dhruv just followed their guide for old pipe replacement. They tell you how deep, how wide and where to dig to. You just then let them know once ready to connect. It’s just like building regs, they care out before and during then contractors did the road side in a morning.

The Restoration Couple great thanks I will be calling my water company tomorrow to things moving. However, one question begs: if I were to to get them to replace their external pipes to 25mm and then replace my supply pipe to 25mm, but the actual internal house pipework would still be around 15mm would that affect the water pressure? Or would I still end up gaining a little more pressure anyway.

This whole thing is more about flow rate than pressure. For us, although our pressure is relatively low in our area the flow rate made a big improvement. Even though you have 15mm runs in the house the main supply is much improved over what would have been less than 10mm bore by the time is was so corroded. I wouldn't concern to much over 25 v 32mm.

modern regulations require closed cell insulation for the pipe entering the duct. Something like 25-32mm wall Armaflex is more than sufficient depending on what bore size pipe you go with. You can also use SHalloduct which is ideal if used with Twinwall instead of soil pipe ducting.

I used some thick walled 28mm pipe insulation which gets round the 32mm fine. To be honest it probably does not need insulating as it is at floor level but they recommend doing it just in case.

Thanks. Was that via building control or did your water company sign everything off?

All through water company and all free of charge. You fill in the form online then two visits to check route and new pipe and they dig up and connect a week after.

Yes.

The Restoration Couple many thanks you mentioned that you had at the end of your video sorry to have bothered you. Regards Tim.

UK regulations require 4" ducting where the pipe enters the property. This is so the pipe can be insulated due to the change in temps from exterior to interior

+Jk Prat Unless it is under lots of floors, fancy driveways or other tricky places that sounds quite a lot. I would suggest that you enquire to get a general builder to do it as there is not actually much plumbing involved. All that is involved is digging the trench to the correct depth and destination, the materials are minimal and plumbing is only needed at the house side as the water company do the other. Unless complex it would be a days digging and laying plus a couple of hours of plumbing.

Thank you for your suggestion. I will inquire this with thames water and ask them if they can replace the lead pipes for me. There are still few lead pipes hanging around the house. Will this cause high lead quantity in the water? Thames water requirement when I checked today is >10 micrograms/litre. I am not sure however if they only deal upto the water metre which is located on the road or the pipes that actually supply our house.

You can get them at screwfix and places like that easy enough

@@Jay-rz4rq Checked those outlets but in the video it looks like he's going direct from 32mm to 22mm copper. All I can find is 32mm to 25mm then 25mm to 22mm, not ideal. Restoration couple's solutions looks very tidy and compact. Cheers Kwun

Google" 32mm MDPE pipe to 22mm copper for sale They seem to be around £8.40

A day’s digging I think. Approx 10m

@@TheRestorationCouple Cheers. I was quoted a grand minimum to run a pipe over the same distance, so thinking of doing it myself and save a few quid...while saving on gym membership.

you contact your water and waste utility provider and they take care of everything and will send you information packs of what is involved and the regulations

The prices I've seen were around 600, I think that's crazy.

@@davidnull5590 if there is someone dose please share the number Thank you

@@davidnull5590 I'd estimate 1000 or more at minimum. If it was only $600 I'd take that lol

@@AjmalKhan-zl1tv a plumber..

:-) maybe they did it the other way in the 50's! Back the other way now don't worry.

Underground. Needs to get MDPE for regulations. 👍

Where I am in California plastic water service lines are used for cheap homes/tract homes, and copper service lines are used for more expensive homes or commercial construction.

@@DragonBuilds No. Internally copper is always far superior HOWEVER, externally plastic is best.

@@Jaaammmbbbooo Well building practices vary from area to area. PEX is now increasingly becoming popular, including for underground.

Yes.

@@TheRestorationCouple what does it do?

@@michaelbolt4530 Watch the video. He literally says at 14:30

Even if replacing lead or iron? I think there is a charge here for regular connection but if replacing lead/iron its free.

Apparently. Only hope is if the inspector feels it can be done from my property under the pavement without diggers etc. Its 200mm from my boundary. Then it would be free. Might as well get the communication pipe replaced if paying £500 for reconnection....

The Restoration Couple - we are in Kent and just had replacement. They only replaced for free here if you failed a lead test. A guy came round and took sample. Very useful video. We are just about to cover up pipe - couple of questions: where did you get the “tracer wire”? I asked my plumber about it and he has not seen this before. Also, you mentioned that you covered the pipe with sand... is there a best way to cover the pipe? E.g. sand straight on top of pipe and underneath and then rubble or anything else on top of that and then 10cm cement on the very top layer?

Thames Water are coming tomorrow to test for lead. Tbh I just want to crack on and hopefully the new supply pipe can be fitted to the water meter from my property. Its only 6'' from my boundary.

They had to drag a new pipe across the road for us. In the end the full process probably took about 4 months with Thames Water. The pipe inspection went fine... However, they cancelled on us twice and then there was an odd situation where 1 team came in and replaced the pipe across the road, but then reconnected to the old lead pipe - even though we had laid out our new pipe for them to connect. ANOTHER team then came out and disconnected the lead pipe and connected to our new pipe (about 1 foot away...). From my perspective, the whole thing seemed horribly inefficient - from having to print out a form and mailing it to request the lead test to the various cancellations and convoluted way of organising the work. The guys who actually did the work were fine, but the whole bureaucracy above them seemed to be designed to discourage replacements. Hopefully I was just unlucky. Oh - one last thing... I have been searching online for how the pipe should be protected - we have the new supply now. The Thames Water guide (we received a paper copy - not online...) we were provided with states that we must meet Water Supply Regulations 1999, but did not really provide much detail as to how this applied in the very specific case of pipe replacement - could have been more helpful here... However, I did find a better guide from Anglican Water (I am assuming the insulation/ducting to protect the pipe is a requirement up and down the country - I need to check with plumber): www.anglianwater.co.uk/_assets/media/Laying_of_water_supply_pipes_prior_to_connection2.pdf

Nope

This is all about getting better flow rate to house. Only way we get better pressure is if the street supply increases, ( or we pumped). 👍

I bet six years on you are still a nob. He's not your servant. If you don't like it then click the mouse and you'll be free.