Rentcuck here, I live in a building dating from the 70s. Picrel is a picture of a copper pipe in the "utility closet" (where the water meter is, behind a panel in the toilets). I know some corrosion is normal on exposed copper pipes but is this still in okay territory or should I be worried ? It's noticeably worse than the other pipes next to it. I'm worried about a leak at some point from it being eaten by corrosion.
looks like black pipe (iron) on copper.
galvanic corrosion
Plus a few booger welds that could have been previous leaks patched over.
If it busts at least it's in the bathroom area.
>let the slumlord/landlord know and ask them to replace it m8.
Also carry flood insurance with your rental insurance so if it does go pop you are covered.
Unless I'm being moronic it's all copper, that section is just blackened at least for the vertical pipe. The horizontal one, it's all black so maybe you are right. I'll be giving the landlord a call but they'll probably just tell me it's no big deal.
Forgot to attach the pic.
>galvanic corrosion
Correct.
>is this still in okay territory or should I be worried
Depends on your worry.
That it will burst and require a long time to repair? Yeah, probably. Pick a weekend you want to be out of town and give one good whack of that iron pipe with a hammer a couple feet up from that joint.
If nothing happens, you'll be fine for a while. If it bursts, call it in. When the plumber tells your landlord "water hammer probably did it," try not to laugh on your way out to your girlfriend's couch.
That it'll kill you? What the city puts in your water is more likely to do that.
If that's a cold water pipe I'd suggest NOT putting pipe insulation around it, let it breathe.
Guess that's it then, thanks for the answers
Plumber here, I've been called for less problematic pipes to switch them.
That shit is a time bomb.
What happens is cheap material with inconsistent metals inside (bad pipe) or dirt/metal dust sitting on one point causing punctual corrosion. The dirt either comes from not having a filter or some moron working on a pipe and not cleaning the cut area properly.
What many people don't know is copper pipe also corrodes if the pH value isn't right.
Photograph that shit and tell the landlord about it.
Your landlord is a fricking scumbag who deserves to get stabbed in the throat with a piece of corroded copper pipe if won't fix that shit before it blows up
OP here, thanks for the additional answers lads. I may have been moronic and this is actually the central heating pipe and not a cold/hot water pipe. The landlord called a plumber but I'll have to cancel since I can't shut off that circuit.
Asking because I'm curious but is a leak/burst in that case less catastrophic ? I thought any leaks in this kind of loop dropped the pressure to Patm at some point.
the plumbers supposed to isolate the pipes himself
Sadly not in this case. Two different contracts and companies that deal with "normal" plumbing and central heating.
Isolation is the plumbers problem.