hot water cap

[dan123]

Recently had someone round to install a washing machine and they gave up due to a seized stopcock on the hot water supply. The new one was a cold-fill only so the hot pipe needed to be dealt with. The pipe comes down from the combi boiler, branches off to a horizontal pipe for the washing machine and then takes a 90deg turn into another horizontal section which connects to a flexi-hose and into the kitchen sink. So with little/no plumbing experience, i did some research and decided to take this one on myself as we needed the washing machine setup asap.

So i cut the dead stopcock off and capped the horizontal length with a pushfit.

My concern is the now redundant length of horizontal pipe which is capped, it seems like the perfect place for bacteria to build up and contaminate the sink's supply.

Is this a potential health risk? The capped section is about 10 inches long.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, i can take pictures if this explanation is unclear.

cheers,
-Dan

 

[dan123]

Forgot to mention, the pipes are copper.

 

[Gray0689]

Don't worry about it it will be fine

 

[Nat]

You are not really supposed to have any dead legs on domestic water supply because, as you say, its a haven for legionella bacteria to grow in. I couldn't tell you what kind of risk your 10 inch dead leg would represent though. Being on the hot is worse though. I heard a story a while back about people who did a lot of driving where getting legionnaires from inhaling the vapour from their wiper bottles as they sprayed the windshield. They did not put any additive in which normally kills the bacteria. Inhaling it is the worst way to get it as it goes straight into your lungs. Think about having a hot shower and how much you breathe in. Sorry don't mean to be scaremongering. I am no biologist either just a humble plumber!

 

[Gray0689]

10inch is not what I would call a problem

 

[royston]

10inch is not what I would call a problem

My wife sometimes complains.

 

[Gray0689]

My wife sometimes complains.

She is greedy then lol