# What's this pipe?



## swee'pea99 (7 Apr 2022)

Ugly old pipe I'd like to get rid of, in a corner of the hall, heading up through the ceiling toward the first floor:







Now I'm fairly confident this is an old, long-redundant gas pipe that once supplied fires upstairs. 

Two questions: first, any thoughts on whether or not I'm right? And second, if so, is there any chance it could still 'be live'? Ie, if I start cutting into it, gas could start leaking out?


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## dave r (7 Apr 2022)

I'd thoroughly check it was dead before doing anything with it, is it connected with anything upstairs or downstairs?


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## Oldhippy (7 Apr 2022)

Agreed, gas.


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## Sterlo (7 Apr 2022)

Drill a hole in it and light a match, that'll soon tell you . I would agree it looks like an old gas pipe, probably safer to get it checked our properly.


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## byegad (7 Apr 2022)

We bought an all electric house in 1984. In the utility room was a similar pipe, rusty and coming vertically up to about 7 feet. It came up through the concrete floor and was entirely unsupported and presumably had fed into the gas meter, when there was one. I got the gas board in to check if it was 'live', and it was. After much discussion and exchanges of letters, threats and insults they dug a hole in the pavement and cut it off from the main gas supply. I removed it by bending it through about 15 degrees, at which point the corroded pipe snapped. a few minutes with a hammer removed the stub and it was concreted over. Had it been left my two boys, then 2 and 3 could easily have collided with it and we'd have had a house temporarily full of gas, before it self destructed.


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## twentysix by twentyfive (7 Apr 2022)

byegad said:


> After much discussion and exchanges of letters, threats and insults they dug a hole in the pavement and cut it off from the main gas supply.


@swee'pea99 For swifter action cut it off at ground level and then report a leak. You'll be amazed how fast they respond


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## swee'pea99 (7 Apr 2022)

dave r said:


> I'd thoroughly check it was dead before doing anything with it, is it connected with anything upstairs or downstairs?


Obvious question really, and I did try to find the ends. The up is under the floorboards somewhere, but a repeat crawl around the filth that is the cellar managed to find the bottom end, which is not connected to anything, so I'm good to go. Thanks all - much appreciated.


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## classic33 (7 Apr 2022)

Old lead gas pipe?


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## GuyBoden (7 Apr 2022)

You see them occasionally in Victorian houses, used primarily for seances, as a conduit to the spirit world.


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## swee'pea99 (7 Apr 2022)

classic33 said:


> Old lead gas pipe?


Hope so - would make it easier to get rid of. It's going to be a bugger either way - the bottom end is really inaccessible...getting at it with any tool is going to be tricky to say the least. If it _is_ lead I wonder if my branch-lopper would do the job. 

Victorian house for sure - its supernatural history is unknown to me.


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## Darius_Jedburgh (7 Apr 2022)

You were busting a gut to use your dremel yesterday.
Now is your chance.


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## Phaeton (7 Apr 2022)

If you are cutting lead it would be best to cover your mouth/nose, although when working on lead pipe we never did, also do not simply dispose of it, get it weighed in


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## swee'pea99 (7 Apr 2022)

Darius_Jedburgh said:


> You were busting a gut to use your dremel yesterday.
> Now is your chance.


Strange to tell, I don't actually own one.  

I would've thought this was a bit heavy duty for a Dremel - not least since a bit of tapping/scraping has confirmed that it is after all steel. . I'm thinking angle grinder. Don't have one o' them neither.


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## Darius_Jedburgh (7 Apr 2022)




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## simongt (7 Apr 2022)

twentysix by twentyfive said:


> report a leak. You'll be amazed how fast they respond


Indeed. Many years ago I put a flooring brad through a gas pipe when replacing a floor board. Promptly turned the gas off at the main, reported it and the manny was there in less than thirty minutes - !


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## slowmotion (7 Apr 2022)

If it's a lead pipe, you can break it off easily without any tools just by bending it back and forth a few times.


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## Cycleops (7 Apr 2022)

Looks like you may have two different materials there. Maybe steel up to the joint and perhaps lead from there on up.
Scrape off the paint and see what underneath.


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