Bill Turner wrote:
kenneth scharf wrote:

If lead is insoluble in water, then WHY isn't it used in plumbing?


____________________

Lead is NEARLY insoluble in water, but the more acid the water is, the
more soluble it becomes.

And to answer your question, it WAS used in plumbing for many years
until someone made the connection.

Like I said the word 'plumber' comes from the latin plumbum meaning
lead. Ancient Rome was the first to use lead pipes. Could be why
Nero was mad as a hatter.

In article ,
kenneth scharf wrote:

Bill Turner wrote:
kenneth scharf wrote:

If lead is insoluble in water, then WHY isn't it used in plumbing?


____________________

Lead is NEARLY insoluble in water, but the more acid the water is, the
more soluble it becomes.

And to answer your question, it WAS used in plumbing for many years
until someone made the connection.

Like I said the word 'plumber' comes from the latin plumbum meaning
lead. Ancient Rome was the first to use lead pipes. Could be why
Nero was mad as a hatter.



I heard this. Their wine was being drunk from lead-lined flasks.

Al

--
There's never enough time to do it right the first time.......

In article ,
kenneth scharf wrote:

Bill Turner wrote:
kenneth scharf wrote:

If lead is insoluble in water, then WHY isn't it used in plumbing?


____________________

Lead is NEARLY insoluble in water, but the more acid the water is, the
more soluble it becomes.

And to answer your question, it WAS used in plumbing for many years
until someone made the connection.

Like I said the word 'plumber' comes from the latin plumbum meaning
lead. Ancient Rome was the first to use lead pipes. Could be why
Nero was mad as a hatter.



I heard this. Their wine was being drunk from lead-lined flasks.

Al

--
There's never enough time to do it right the first time.......

Al wrote:
In article ,
kenneth scharf wrote:

Like I said the word 'plumber' comes from the latin plumbum meaning
lead. Ancient Rome was the first to use lead pipes. Could be why
Nero was mad as a hatter.

I heard this. Their wine was being drunk from lead-lined flasks.

Well, no, not so far as I've found. But they _did_ use lead water
piping, and they _did_ use lead acetate ("sugar of lead") as a
condiment.

The first is bad only where the water's mildly acidic.

The _second_ is Just Plain Bad.

--
Mike Andrews

Tired old sysadmin

Al wrote:
In article ,
kenneth scharf wrote:

Like I said the word 'plumber' comes from the latin plumbum meaning
lead. Ancient Rome was the first to use lead pipes. Could be why
Nero was mad as a hatter.

I heard this. Their wine was being drunk from lead-lined flasks.

Well, no, not so far as I've found. But they _did_ use lead water
piping, and they _did_ use lead acetate ("sugar of lead") as a
condiment.

The first is bad only where the water's mildly acidic.

The _second_ is Just Plain Bad.

--
Mike Andrews

Tired old sysadmin

Bill Turner ) writes:
On Sun, 21 Dec 2003 16:26:56 -0500, kenneth scharf
wrote:

Ancient Rome was the first to use lead pipes. Could be why
Nero was mad as a hatter.

____________________

What would explain the rest of the population being normal? Did they
have bottled water? :-)

--
Bill W6WRT

A guess would be that plumbing was a luxury, for a few in the upper
class. The rest of us had to carry water from the well, avoiding
lead pipes.

Michael VE2BVW

Bill Turner ) writes:
On Sun, 21 Dec 2003 16:26:56 -0500, kenneth scharf
wrote:

Ancient Rome was the first to use lead pipes. Could be why
Nero was mad as a hatter.

____________________

What would explain the rest of the population being normal? Did they
have bottled water? :-)

--
Bill W6WRT

A guess would be that plumbing was a luxury, for a few in the upper
class. The rest of us had to carry water from the well, avoiding
lead pipes.

Michael VE2BVW

kenneth scharf wrote:

Jeff Spidle wrote:

hmmm, I have recently had the same discussion with my XYL, we have a 1 yr
old.

My self and another NASA trained ham, N9AEP, just completed teaching a
soldering class for our ham club, Schaumburg Amateur Radio Club.

The EU is going to require all soldering to be Pb free in 2004, I believe
that all US manufacturers will be required to do so in '06. I'm sure
I'll be
corrected on the dates.


The reason for banning lead solder isn't that it is dangerous to people
using it,
but rather that old electronic equipment ends up in landfill and so does
the lead.
Auto batteries require special disposal for this reason. The idea is to
ban the use
of lead in all products (where possible) to eliminate disposal problems.

But just how good IS lead free solder? I guess it DOES work well in
plumbing
where it has been in use for many years.

If lead is insoluble in water, then WHY isn't it used in plumbing? The
small
amount that it IS soluble is the danger. Guess the Romans went mad due
to their
use of lead pipes (that's where the word plumber comes from, the latin
for lead
is plumbum, and the atomic symbol for lead is Pb). Could be the lead
pipes were
the reason for the fall of the empire?


They were poisoning themselves with lead, but it wasn't from the
plumbing. The water that was carried to Rome from the aqueducts was
extremely hard, and a layer of calcium formed on the interior of the
pipes just about immediately after being put in use.

Where they got their lead was from storage containers for wine. They
used lead containers for this! I believe they credited the lead with
preservative powers. The acidic wine pulled a lot of lead out ot the
container and into the gullets of the drinkers.

- Mike -

kenneth scharf wrote:

Jeff Spidle wrote:

hmmm, I have recently had the same discussion with my XYL, we have a 1 yr
old.

My self and another NASA trained ham, N9AEP, just completed teaching a
soldering class for our ham club, Schaumburg Amateur Radio Club.

The EU is going to require all soldering to be Pb free in 2004, I believe
that all US manufacturers will be required to do so in '06. I'm sure
I'll be
corrected on the dates.


The reason for banning lead solder isn't that it is dangerous to people
using it,
but rather that old electronic equipment ends up in landfill and so does
the lead.
Auto batteries require special disposal for this reason. The idea is to
ban the use
of lead in all products (where possible) to eliminate disposal problems.

But just how good IS lead free solder? I guess it DOES work well in
plumbing
where it has been in use for many years.

If lead is insoluble in water, then WHY isn't it used in plumbing? The
small
amount that it IS soluble is the danger. Guess the Romans went mad due
to their
use of lead pipes (that's where the word plumber comes from, the latin
for lead
is plumbum, and the atomic symbol for lead is Pb). Could be the lead
pipes were
the reason for the fall of the empire?


They were poisoning themselves with lead, but it wasn't from the
plumbing. The water that was carried to Rome from the aqueducts was
extremely hard, and a layer of calcium formed on the interior of the
pipes just about immediately after being put in use.

Where they got their lead was from storage containers for wine. They
used lead containers for this! I believe they credited the lead with
preservative powers. The acidic wine pulled a lot of lead out ot the
container and into the gullets of the drinkers.

- Mike -

Mike Andrews wrote:

Al wrote:

In article ,
kenneth scharf wrote:


Like I said the word 'plumber' comes from the latin plumbum meaning
lead. Ancient Rome was the first to use lead pipes. Could be why
Nero was mad as a hatter.


I heard this. Their wine was being drunk from lead-lined flasks.


Well, no, not so far as I've found. But they _did_ use lead water
piping, and they _did_ use lead acetate ("sugar of lead") as a
condiment.

The first is bad only where the water's mildly acidic.

The _second_ is Just Plain Bad.


Here is a good link on lead compounds:


http://www.luminet.net/~wenonah/hydro/pb.htm

- Mike -