Does the ruling in the Hanafi school regarding the non-obligation to peel excess skin and ensure water reaches underneath apply to dead skin (al-qashaf al-mayyit)? And is this the relied-upon position in the school?

What appears is that Ibn al-Humam, by his statement: "If a skin grows that does not need to be peeled," intended the living skin, the removal of which causes pain to its owner, and not the dead scurf that is removed without pain. This is confirmed by what is stated in Al-Muhit al-Burhani: that if what is to be peeled can be removed without pain, then water must reach what is beneath it; but if it cannot be removed except with pain, then it is sufficient for him even if water does not reach it. So, the scurf that the jurists speak of and mention as being removed is dry skin or skin dirt, and not living skin.