While I share a concern about contaminants in the environment,
especially in regard to young children, the amount of negligible
particulate created by the Ampico is at best nil for this reason --
the total of lead "dust" is a rather small quantity, under low volume
of air.

Remember that the vacuum pump is encased with a felted "exit" for
the air to escape in order to silence the sound of the pump.  This
acts as a filter to particulate matter as well as for sound deadening.

Secondly, there is a precious little amount of lead overall in
comparison to many other things which tend to be in a house with lead.
The fact that many _millions_ of homes in this country were painted
with lead-based paint prior to its exclusion in 1978 suggests that
there is a far greater, and more friable lead threat from painted
finishes than from any player piano.

Given that many houses were painted on their exteriors with lead paint,
over the course of time, scrapped, sanded and repainted, suggests that
the soils around houses is in far greater chance of being contaminated
than we might consider.  Those working in flower beds would be far more
likely to come into contact with lead particulate.

The recent enactment in some states for lead abatement requires that
for lead abatement, haz-mat suits are worn, a house is enshrouded in
plastic, and all painted surfaces are scraped to the wood to ensure
that lead paint is not released to the atmosphere in some future time.
Needless to say this makes for a very expensive process.  Furthermore,
certification as a "lead paint" remover in compliance with local
governmental agencies is coming down the pipelines.

My suggestion is to replace lead elbows with something else and not
worry about it.

Phil Bordeleau