Flexi tap connectors. Burst.

[rufusgti]

Yesterday afternoon I was very luckily stood in the kitchen when the Flexi hose to the hot water tap burst about an inch below the tap. My wife stood screaming while I turned the water off at the mains and opened the taps to release pressure. After clearing up a considerable amount of water but no real damage I sat with a cup of tea contemplating.

20 seconds of flow caused a large puddle.
1 minute of flow would have caused a very big puddle.
10 minutes would have left an enormous amount of damage.
1 hour would have completely flooded the ground floor of the house causing serious damage.
6 hours would leave the house uninhabitable and major work needed before the property fit to return to.

So after a bit of research today it's suggested that Flexi hoses have a 5 year lifespan. Luckily, or unluckily for me all the plumbing was renewed in my house when I bought it 7 years ago. So it would seem my hoses are in need of renewing, of which there are quite a few.

I've chatted to a few of the plumbers in work who seemed like they see this all the time. Which I find quite shocking. I remember plumbers 20 years ago saying they would never use Flexi hoses and they were only for bodging and DIY. I always wrote them off as being stuck in their ways. It has seemed that all plumbers use them, yet at the same time accept they can easily split.

So, what do we do. Should I swap out all my flexis for the best quality I can find, what would they be?? Or should I hard line them all In copper. I have a torch and all the kit to do it but it's a fair amount of work and I'm not massively confident. I don't want to employ a plumber if they will just come and bang in cheap flexis anyway. I'd be back to square one.
Any thoughts?

Edited by rufusgti on Tuesday 25th February 21:01

[rufusgti]

Thanks for the replies. One suggested the insurers would be apprehensive if it were a problem. Today I read this https://www.budgetdirect.com.au/blog/how-a-10-pipe...

Which suggests 22% of flooding is caused by flexis so maybe they are starting to be concerned.

But yes, there must be literaly millions. I was already thinking I'd change the taps so I'll renew the flexis there and visually inspect the rest of them. Check how they fit and make sure there's no swelling or fraying.

I do like the idea of a sure stop. Already been looking Into those.

[rufusgti]

Glad you checked them and found a wrong un.
I'm not qualified to say how accurate this may be. But I told a plumber friend of mine about the burst Flexi and he immediately said
"I bet it was the hot tap, closest to the combi?"
He was bang on. Apparently the closest tap gets the hottest water, the heat cycling wears out the rubber hose quicker. Makes sense. So maybe that's where too check first.