6 ms·
I recently did a full replacement of my lead-soldered water pipes in my 1970s home in Seattle. Despite how much people rave about how great the drinking water i
by laluser 2y ago
I recently did a full replacement of my lead-soldered water pipes in my 1970s home in Seattle. Despite how much people rave about how great the drinking water is in Seattle, many homes have older piping systems, which will test positive for lead in the drinking water. It was a very expensive and time-consuming project, but I am glad I did it. Unfortunately, many will not even know they are being exposed due to the clean water reports from the city.
- Mistletoe 2y agoWouldn’t it have been easier to just install an RO filtration system on your drinking water source at the sink? Then you get the benefits of RO drinking water and the cost is minuscule. You don’t drink from the toilets and showers and all that.
- bobmcnamara 2y agoOnly about a 20dB improvement for something that has a zero safe exposure level.
- getfroggie 2y agoI find the zero safe level needlessly shock oriented. Many things have no safe value but a low level is less likely to play a major role in a life than another risk.. Cars, guns, opioids, suicide, cancer, maybe the last two have a minor lead influence, mostly outweighed by alcohol.
- fredgrott 2y agoyou do realize that other things have a no safe value...opioids no doctor can predict which dose of opioid produces the addiction...opioids first use was for pain medication for those with terminal diseases
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- fsckboy 2y agoit's alarmism to say zero safe exposure. For example, you should limit your tuna per week, but you don't need to stop eating tuna. The problem with heavy metals is that they're cumulative, but it's also impossible to avoid them completely, so minimization is the strategy. -20db is 1/100th which is a dramatic improvement, at least for that threat source.
- rpnx 2y agoLead is toxic at any dose. This means is damages your neurons in any amount. Contrast to say, copper, which doesn't start causing damage until levels exceed a certain tolerable threshold. While lead is toxic at any amount, low amounts of lead cause low amounts of damage. It doesn't change the fact that the ideal exposure is 0 and over 99% of people have about 5 to 10 times the bond lead levels found in remains of our ancestors, and that even relatively low lead exposure levels from breathing lead in the air from just air pollution are linked to dramatically reduced IQ.
- fsckboy 2y ago>99% of people have about 5 to 10 times the bond lead levels found in remains of our ancestors 99% of people live better lives than all of our ancestors, in every dimension. if you're telling me it's because of lead, then lead is a good thing.
- rpnx 2y ago
- iluvcommunism 2y agoI support RO water filters. But consider not cooking with that water either. I’d just bite the bullet and eliminate the lead.
- kccqzy 2y agoWhen you have an RO water filter (like I do), you just use that for cooking.
- laluser 2y agoI have a young toddler so would have needed multiple filters throughout the house. They tend to like to drink from the bath and my anxiety can’t handle that.
- maples37 2y agoWhat did you end up replacing it with? I've done no research, but I wonder what the risk tradeoff is between a tiny amount of lead in contact with my drinking water (assuming copper pipes joined together with lead-based solder, not lead-free solder) versus the new plastic pipes that are becoming standard. I'm sure PEX is designed so that it doesn't leach plastic nastiness into the water, but I wouldn't be surprised if we find out that after a few decades it starts breaking down anyway and suddenly we have a whole new toxin in our drinking water and we need to replace half of the pipes in America again.
- thecompilr 2y agoPEX isn’t new, it has been in use for at least 50 years by now
- TSiege 2y agoI would assume they do leach microplastics and nanoplastics and require third party proof that they do not. From what I can find on the internet plastics leach micro/nanoplastics period. https://safepipingmatters.org/plastic-pipes-microplastics-impacts-on-human-health/ https://safepipingmatters.org/plastic-pipes-microplastics-im...
- rpnx 2y agolead is extremely toxic even in small doses, microplastics are comparatively a non-issue.
- drewcon 2y agoYeah, I can't believe this has to be said.
- hammock 2y agoThere is no indoor plumbing without tradeoffs. Copper, PVC, CPVC, PEX, etc all leach just different chemicals. Maybe copper with lead-free solder is best? Very expensive though
- 2y ago
- sidewndr46 2y agoare you not allowed to simply abandon the old pipes in place? Do you have to actually replace them?
- jakogut 2y agoThe issue is not removing old pipes, but even getting access to install new pipes. This typically means opening up walls and floors, and patching the resulting holes after it's done.
- laluser 2y agoYep, this was the longest part of the process. Plumbers were in and out in 3 days but left a huge mess to deal with, which we were aware of.
- laluser 2y agoYes, a lot of the old pipes were left in place. That seems to be fairly common as they are difficult to remove given they are made of copper
- davis 2y agoWhat type of pipes did you have? How did you know they had lead issues?
- laluser 2y agoI tested the water at a local company. Did multiple water tests. First pull in the morning, another one after flushing for a few minutes and then in multiple areas. Home inspector let us know we may have lead in the joints for the pipes which turns out to be a significant amount.
- therealdrag0 2y agoWhat material was your pipes besides the joints?
- laluser 2y agoCopper. The lead joints were enough to considerably contaminate the water with lead.
- Izikiel43 2y agoDo you know if in Seattle newer houses are lead free?
- laluser 2y agoAs far as I know newer homes are using pex these days. I lived in a newer townhome prior to this house and that was pex too. There’s a place in Fremont that does water testing.
- yieldcrv 2y agoThe entire understanding of good or bad water is based on anecdotes, conjecture and taste. Which tells you nothing. Then some savant talks praises about the water source and municipal treatment process. When really the last mile is the most variable aspect. All of it needs to be clean the whole way. The way people talk about local water is absurd.
- laluser 2y agoSeattle does a good job of publishing stats about their water and it is tested at multiple different locations. However, as you allude to, you should test your individual water as well.