[Closed] Rarely used showers & legionnaires disease?

From what I can see online, providing I give it a good run through and replace the head & hose for good measure it should be ok to use?

Correct.

I'm just looking into this for work. There are minimum and maximum temperatures as well, but for little used taps and showers run until hot every week is a good idea. Obviously if you're a business it needs to be recorded.

Most showerheads can be removed so you can clean them properly.

This used to be my line of work at one point. If you are going as far as replacing the hose and shower head there’s not much more you can do; and low risk. Presumably the shower is fed direct from the mains and the only stagnant water is the bit between it branching off from a cold water tap supply to the shower. Bleach overnight or replace the hose and head. Flush through thoroughly with only the hose attached (to minimise aerosols). You won’t get an electric shower hot enough to kill legionella. Use regularly. Drain hose if going to be out of use for two weeks or more.

Unless you have someone in the house on chemotherapy or similarly vulnerable the risk is low.

When we returned to the office after covid (14 months), the maintenance guy from the building just put a tea towel over the tap in our kitchen (to stop any aerosol from the water from floating off around the office) and left it running for about five minutes.

I suggest you could do something similar (drape a towel over the shower head), open any windows and switch on the extractor fan. If you want to be double-safe you could also wear a mask as you do it.

200-250 case reportede each year in uk of these 1/2 are overseas and majority are for over 60's, very likely under reported..

my own logic, when overseas never stick your head under a shower till its been running a while or till hot, 10-15 seconds

The found it in our work shower and it was shut for months as a result. No idea why it took so long to fix it.

60*c kills it - as does bleach.

The showerhead and hose can be removed and dunked in hot bleach bucket for a few hours.

Put them back on and run the the thing on hottest temp for 30 mins.

This was the risk assessment for it in our old outdoor centre - that had dozens of showers and taps around the place. We ran taps & showers weekly. Then, after the winter quiet period we did as above - what can be removed and bleached at high temp was, that we couldn't was blasted with hot water for 30+ mins.

In theory there is also a risk from the cold pipes if we have a really hot summer so the cold feed is above 20 deg, but very unlikely.

You should be fine as you suggest. Seem to recall we had similar guidance around hot water systems when we reopened our Scout hut after lockdown.

Thanks all.

Old shower head in the bin and I’ve left the shower running for half an hour with just the hose attached down into the plug hole. Will replace the hose too when it arrives tomorrow along with the new head.

As mentioned by poly (thanks), the shower is mains fed and from what I’ve read there’s more risk where storage tanks are concerned?

As mentioned by poly (thanks), the shower is mains fed and from what I’ve read there’s more risk where storage tanks are concerned?

Yes, generally more issues with storage tanks (crap gets in them which brings the bugs, rust and organic material feed them, the little amount of chlorine in mains water flashes off and the water can get warm enough for bacterial growth more easily) but on the other hand it’s easier to dose chemical into an open tank than a closed system so when you have a problem you can do something about it!