Talk:Cast iron pipe

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There are some points which the article does not seem to address. These points will likely vary for different geographical regions (including the UK and the US). Here are some questions. It is not my point to turn Wikipedia into a forum, BUT water infrastructure would clearly be important throughout the world. I note that some of these questions are already dealt with upon the Ductile iron pipe page. The Cast iron pipe page states that Ductile iron pipe was transitioned to during the 1970s and 1980s, but it is not clear which local authorities of which parts of the world would have transitioned to which particular water infrastructure standards are which times. Anyway, here are a few points :

1) How long does Cast iron pipe last WITH the standards it was typically laid with?

2) To what extent do current water infrastructures rely upon Cast iron pipes? If the Ductile pipes were only transitioned to in 1970s and 1980s that means that the Cast iron pipes are still in use for some significant stretches of infrastructure. To what extent do current companies replace the old Cast iron pipes with new Ductile pipes? I am of the opinion that, if such infrastructure is not Nationalised, then the companies whose duty it is to update/maintain the infrastructure should make sure that there records of Water pipe infrastructure are : (a) Backed up in multiple locations so that those working in the future can know how to coordinate maintenance efforts AND (b) More openly disseminated (online) so that people can correct erroneous records and gain confidence that the water (and other!) infrastructures are well-maintained.

3) Have studies been done (under various typical, and perhaps some extreme) conditions to see what the common causes of failures of these types of pipe would be so as to enable at least some predictive power as to where and when a particular segment of cast iron water infrastructure might fail? Clearly, this depends upon whether coatings for water pipes were used when a particular pipe was laid. But without such information being public knowledge or placed in a public source, it is difficult for members of the public to gain confidence about there water infrastructure.

4) How do cast iron (and ductile) water pipes respond to underground subsidence? (predicting where underground subsidence is going to occur is, of course, a non-trivial thing to do).

If I think of more, I will add it later, when time permits. ASavantDude (talk) 00:34, 24 July 2015 (UTC)