Stagnant Water Concerns

If you are returning to your home or business after an extended absence, RSA recommends that you flush your home/business plumbing to fill your pipes with fresh water.  The Virginia Department of Health has provided the following guidelines:

Tips for flushing building plumbing systems:

○ Flush the cold water first. Remove all aerators, filters, screens, etc. Turn on the cold water from every faucet in the building, starting with the lowest floor first, moving to higher floors (if any), in sequence. All faucets should be flowing as fully as possible, without causing overflows or flooding, and all faucets should be flowing at the same time. Flush all toilets and urinals two or three times each. Flush kitchen sprayers and drinking fountains. Empty the ice from all ice makers and discard. Make and discard two more batches. Look through the building to identify and flush any other fixtures that are connected to the plumbing system. After 30 minutes, turn off the faucets, in the same order that you turned them on.

○ Flush the hot water next. Turn on the hot water from every faucet in the building, in the same way you opened the cold water outlets. Run the hot water until it runs cold. If you can drain the water heater, that could reduce the hot water flush time. Close the outlets in the same order that you opened them.

○ If needed, clean all aerators, filters, screens, etc., once the flush has been completed before replacing them.

○ Larger facilities with complex piping systems will need to flush for longer periods of time to ensure that all water stored in the piping system is flushed out.