main water pipe in a detroit house built in 1924

[gemo5011]

My main water pipe is gray and it is moveable (what is this material?). It has a small hole in it about an inch from the the wall.

[LarryG]

if you can bend it easily then it is lead.

[Anonymous]

Sounds more like polybutylene to me. How are the connections made? Plastic would use crimp rings and pinholes are common in PB where the water has high levels of chlorine.
I thought most lead water lines had been replaced. Particularly with the Safe Water Drinking act and all the warnings about lead in the water.

[gemo5011]

To a large degree, the pipes in the Detroit area may not have been changed because the cost would have been incurred by the homeowners, not the city of Detroit.

These pipe is the same as the pipe in my parent’s house which they have owned since 1970 and is probably the original pipe.

I have had the water turned off by the city of Detroit and I plan on opening the wall and cutting the pipe and attaching a clamp. I have been given advise on the type of clamp to use for lead.

When did polybutylene become popular?

What type of clamp would you recommend for polybutylene?

[Author]

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