What to do
Taps (all sinks, and baths as well as miscellaneous taps):
We clean and descale the taps while the home is empty before you move in, it’s important these are kept clean and descaled throughout your tenancy.
Tip: Run all taps through with hot or cold water for five to ten minutes, this will flush through the pipework. Remember also to do this with any outdoor taps.
Showers:
We clean and descale the showers while the home is empty before you move in, but these should be kept clean throughout your tenancy.
Tips: When your shower has not been used for a while, disinfect before use by taking the head off and submerging it into disinfectant suitable for disinfecting baby items, such as Milton tablets, for up to an hour. We recommend doing this four times a year even when there is regular use.
Run water through the shower’s mixer supply, or both the hot and cold supplies for around ten minutes. To ensure no spray escapes from the showerhead, run it through while the head is submerged underwater, such as in a bucket or full bath as this reduces the risk of aeration.
Hot water cylinder:
We’ve set your cylinder between 60ºC and 65ºC as this temperature kills any harmful bacteria within the cylinder, we recommend leaving it set to this temperature.
Tip: Regularly turn on your hot water cylinder and let it get up to temperature to ensure bacteria is killed, once this is up to temperature leave it for a few minutes.
Please remember to be aware of scalding with hot water through taps or your shower from a cylinder set at this temperature.
Toilets:
Tip: To keep clean and free of bacteria, close the lid and flush your toilets through twice.
Hoses:
Tip: Disinfect and flush hoses through in the same way we advise for showers above. This will flush, reduce/kill bacteria and prevent aeriation through the hose nozzle.
Water butts:
You should drain, clean, and disinfect water butts regularly, with a baby-safe disinfectant such as Milton.
Be careful when taking water out of the water butt to reduce the risk of aeriation. Do not attach hoses or other spray-type devices to a water butt. Never wash in or consume water from a water butt.
Tips: Keep water butts in a shaded area to minimise the chance of the water temperature increasing above 20ºC. Use light-coloured butts to keep stored water cooler. Use catchers on the gutters and above the water butt to reduce the amount of debris, such as moss or leaf litter, getting into the water butt.