Capping old hot and cold pipes

[Alf1999]

Looking for some opinions on whether you should cap old hot and cold water pipes. A plumber I got to remove some old sinks from bedrooms has capped off the hot and cold pipes under the floor. I thought it didn’t quite seem like the best thing to do and thought he would completely remove the pipes altogether. I then looked it up and various webpages say this can cause legionnaires bacteria to breed and is a health hazard. Is this correct or is what he has done ok? I also didn’t like the fact that if the caps ever leaked or came off it could flood the ceiling.

 

[ShaunCorbs]

problem is he would have to rip up all the floor looking for where the mains runs are / where it joins pipework and the bill would be heavy plus all the floors lifted

 

[Alf1999]

problem is he would have to rip up all the floor looking for where the mains runs are / where it joins pipework and the bill would be heavy plus all the floors lifted

Ok, so are they ok to be left alone then? I am a bit uneasy about leaving it. Is it the sort of thing where you could leave it and it’s probably fine just not ideal, or is it really quite bad to leave it like that?

 

[ShaunCorbs]

Are they soldered cap ends ?

 

[Alf1999]

Are they soldered cap ends ?

Push fit

 

[Chuck]

Unfortunately, you are correct. You should trace the pipes with blind ends back to their source and terminate them there.

Based on what the HSE and NHS say about legionaires' disease I'd say it's "really quite bad" to leave things as you've described. Here's the NHS description:

Legionnaires' disease

Find out more about Legionnaires' disease, an uncommon but serious lung infection you can get from inhaling droplets of water containing bacteria that cause the infection.

www.nhs.uk

I've never had it myself but I believe that it's quite nasty if you do.

 

[king of pipes]

Better to trace the pipework back to where it's supplied from and cap or better still cut out that section and replace. Kop

 

[Nelder]

If you can pin point the location where the pipe run starts / T's off or whatever, you wont have to rip up the flooring and floor boards along the complete pipe run.

Do the pipes run with the joists so you can put your head in the floor and look where they are coming from?