Ward water loop replacement

[Ronan]

Hi all,

Is there a guideline anywhere for the length of time that the pipework in the ward renal water loop should be replaced after, or if this is necessary at all?
We do loop heats almost every night and can't seem to find much anywhere if there would be any degradation of the pipes in the loop over time due to the heat treatments or what the effects of any degradation might be?
If degradation does occur over time, how would we test for this? Would something come up during the chemical analysis of the loop water?
Does anyone have any thoughts or insight on this?

Thanks
Ronan

[Gareth Murcutt]

Hi Ronan,
We've had a PEX loop in our unit at Barnet since 2002. Fingers crossed etc no issues to date.

[fraser gilmour]

from an integrity point of view I suspect they would outlive us all.
The standard plumbing grade is expected to be 50+ years and the grade we use has a larger wall thickness, so it won't be my problem
As to whether the internal surface will degrade sooner than that and cause issues, I'd say unlikely but who knows.
Chemical analysis won't show anything but maybe micro if it gave the bugs a chance to get a foothold? probably still wouldn't see anything if you're running loop heat every night.
Our oldest is a similar age to Gareth's, but I think the original loop is still in place from the mid-nineties in Dundee. One of the first central loops I'm aware of.

Fraser
   

[Garry]

Hi,  suggest checking with supplier.  We recently had plant replaced but not ring main, as the recommended life covered the new expected life cycle of the new plant.  It was something like 25 or 35 years.  If the manufacture recommends then I would add it to equipment lifecycle and highlight possible risks if not replaced as per manufacturer guidance .....but then I'm completely risk-averse!