If you’ve worked in a bar you know the relatively short connection between cellar and bar needs frequent cleaning.
So why does the connection and internal pipes in your home never require any cleaning, despite providing potable water?
I’m aware that throughput in the pipe an chlorination play a role, but working in a new hospital plagued with legionalla it’s amazing to think my Victorian house is ticking away with decades old pipes without an issue.
In: Biology
There’s chlorination but most water systems will add a small amount of something called orthophosphoric acid. This acid is a pretty benign acid and is used frequently as a food acid. As it passes through the mains pipes it reacts with the metal of the pipe to form a layer of metal phosphate. This metal phosphate layer is highly resistant to things growing on them and sticking to them. It also prevents any future corrosion of the pipes below the surface of the phosphate layer.
Also the pipes are always kept under pressure. Even if there’s a leak into the environment from the pipes, water is always flowing out of the leak, nothing can get back in.
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