Legionnaires Disease

Blimey! Thanks for this flannery_k.

We leave our property unattended for months so I think I might start running the water when we arrive after a break.

Some electric heating water systems raise automatically the temperature up to 60°C or so once a week because of that.

Microbiology is complex and way beyond me but from my reading...

both of these quotes are from p.2.

Where can legionella multiply?
1. Hot and cold water systems including storage tanks/cisterns.
2. Any system or part of a system where the water is warm-between 20°C and 45°C, and particularly when above 30°C

Keep hot water hot and circulating at all times: 50C - 60C (too hot to put hands into or under for more than a few seconds)

ie at least running the taps/showers/toilets etc once a week is a step in the right direction....and probably as much as most can achieve.

I will check with some one on Monday, but I think the temperature would have to be cold or to be a constant 50-60C to work, otherwise you are back to the old faithfuls chlorine etc....

There was also a recent story about legionnaires from car windscreen water. They found a high instance of the disease in long distance lorry drivers. ALWAYS put screen wash in your windscreen water and shut the window before you spray.

It sounds daft but it it is true. My wife accidentally squirted me with the windscreen water on a hire car a couple of months ago and it freaked me out having read the story: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10293519

B

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