Salvaged PVC, polyethylene and copper pipe is the most practical water pipe because it is durable, leak-resistant and comes with matching fittings, but only after you have checked what it carried and what it is made of. Reject lead pipe, asbestos-cement pipe and any pipe that carried fuel, chemicals or sewage, flush and disinfect the rest, and test the finished line with water at 1.5 times its working pressure.
Salvaged modern pipe is manufactured plastic or metal water pipe recovered from buildings, streets, construction sites and farms. It saves months of making pipe by hand, but its past use and its material determine whether it is safe to put drinking water through.
Where The Parent Page Finds It
Plumbing supply stores and warehouses, abandoned construction sites, under streets (water mains) and in building walls, and agricultural irrigation systems (large-diameter polyethylene, PE). The parent page also says garden hose is PVC pipe and works for small systems. Treat that last point with caution, below.
Check Before You Trust It
| Check | What to look for | Action |
|---|---|---|
| Material | Plastic, copper, galvanised steel, grey cement, soft grey metal | Identify before lifting |
| Lead | A dull grey, soft metal that dents with a thumbnail and shows bright silver when scraped | Reject for drinking water; the wiki’s salvage page also warns against reusing lead pipe or lead solder (Asbestos, Lead Paint & Other Hazards) |
| Asbestos-cement | Grey cement pipe, fibrous at a broken edge | Do not cut, drill or sand it; leave it where it lies (Half-Pipe Salvage) |
| Past use | Smell of fuel, oil, solvent or manure; oily or coloured residue | Reject for drinking water; plastic can absorb what it carried |
| Irrigation pipe | May have carried fertiliser or pesticide | Use for drinking water only if its history is known to be clean water |
| Rating | Printed pressure or class mark | A class number is the nominal pressure in bar at 20°C (Pipe Sizing) |
| Damage | Cracks, UV chalking, flattening, kinks | Cut out the damage or reject |
Lead and solder identification is a recalled method, not a test from this wiki; if you are unsure, do not use the pipe for drinking water.
Garden Hose Is Not Drinking-Water Pipe
Hoses are rarely made or tested for drinking water. As I recall, the plasticisers in vinyl and lead in brass couplings are the concerns. Use hose for irrigation; do not use it for the drinking supply unless it is marked for drinking water.
Method: Prepare And Lay
Step 1: Identify and sort every length into: plastic by material and rating, copper, and reject.
Step 2: Clean. Flush the inside with clean water until it runs clear; scrub if needed. Cap the ends.
Step 3: Disinfect with chlorine before use (Chlorine Sources, Water Purification).
Step 4: Match the bore. Measure the inside diameter and use it, not the label, in the friction calculation (Calculating Head Pressure).
Step 5: Join with the right fittings. Use the fittings designed for the pipe: solvent-cemented or ring joints for PVC, push-fit or compression fittings for PE, copper fittings for copper. Do not use old lead solder; if you solder, use lead-free solder.
Step 6: Bury or shade it. Sunlight degrades exposed plastic, and ground cover prevents freezing; bury below the frost line, 0.5 m in mild areas to 1.5 m or more in severe cold (Winterization).
Step 7: Test with water. Fill with the air bled out, and pressurise to 1.5 times the working pressure for about 10 minutes, as Metal Pipes describes for pipe testing. For a line with a 20 m head (1.96 bar), the test pressure is 1.5 × 1.96 = 2.9 bar. Check every joint for seepage.
Hot And Cold
Plastic pipe softens with heat; do not run hot water through PVC. Copper is the choice for hot water, as in Hot Water Systems.
Common Mistakes
- Using lead or lead-soldered pipe.
- Using pipe that carried chemicals because it looks clean.
- Reading the label diameter as the bore.
- Testing with compressed air.
- Leaving PE or PVC in the sun for years.
Safety
Lead poisons, asbestos fibres cause lung disease years later, and air-tested plastic pipe can burst
Reject lead pipe and lead solder for drinking water. Do not cut or sand grey cement pipe. Never pressure-test pipe with compressed air: stored air energy can shatter plastic and throw fragments; use water with the air bled out. Do not burn plastic scrap: the smoke is toxic. Keep every non-drinking line apart from the drinking supply (Plumbing Separation).
What’s Next
- Learn next: Storage Tanks & Cisterns — the tank the pipe feeds
- Combine with: Metal Pipes — making iron pipe when no plastic is left