Search the forum,

To bung or drain down?

Discuss To bung or drain down? in the Plumbing Jobs | The Job-board area at PlumbersForums.net

Status
Not open for further replies.
J

Jennie

Gas Engineer
Messages
283
Hi all,
I'm due to change a lock shield on a rad.
It is a fairly large house, and the rad is on the ground floor. Gravity fed. Two-floor house.
In theory, if I put bungs in the CH vent and supply pipes, the water should be held in the system with only a few drips while I swap the valves.
Is this the case in practise? I don't much fancy getting wet.
Otherwise, I'll just drain down first.
Thanks for all your advice,
Jennie
 
If you bung the feed and the expansion you'll be fine with towels after draining any residual pressure from a doc or just venting the rad. Make sure you close the bleed valve first though :confused:
 
Be mindful to keep only one open end as you change the valve, or swap really quick if possible.
 
Bung it, shut both the lock shield an wheel head, you can then put a tray or rubble sack under the connection from the lock shield to the tail of the rad. Drain the radiator, spin the lock shield valve on the pipe then either make a fitting up to connect to a hose it or open it up into a rubble sack to relieve the pressure once it stops your know it's created a vacuum an you can just replace the valve. That's if it does if you find it keeps glugging water out the valve then draining down would obviously reduce the risk of damage
 
After running the old valve into a hose for a few minutes, the water should completely stop flowing. Usually no more than 1/2 bucket water. Once that happens you know it will be dead easy to replace the valve.
Just be sure to first close any auto vents and only do one pipe at a time. Have plenty towels, drip tray, bucket and all tools at hand that are needed.
I bung the vent & feed nearly every job that I need to replace brass joints/valves. No problem cutting the olive off to remove old nut also.
I have actually replaced oil boilers without draining rest of system.
Only snag I have found is if the tank connector in the f&e tank has the internal lugs and won't let the bung in for a tight seal. I have on occasion had to drain the tank and then use a temporary brass stopend on the feed pipe
 
Best said:
After running the old valve into a hose for a few minutes, the water should completely stop flowing. Usually no more than 1/2 bucket water. Once that happens you know it will be dead easy to replace the valve.
Just be sure to first close any auto vents and only do one pipe at a time. Have plenty towels, drip tray, bucket and all tools at hand that are needed.
I bung the vent & feed nearly every job that I need to replace brass joints/valves. No problem cutting the olive off to remove old nut also.
I have actually replaced oil boilers without draining rest of system.
Only snag I have found is if the tank connector in the f&e tank has the internal lugs and won't let the bung in for a tight seal. I have on occasion had to drain the tank and then use a temporary brass stopend on the feed pipe
Click to expand...
 
I`m sure you will have heard of this, if the feed does have lugs on the inside, a potato forced on the outlet can work. Just don`t force it in too far, you don`t want a potato plug in your pipe
 
Ball Cock said:
I`m sure you will have heard of this, if the feed does have lugs on the inside, a potato forced on the outlet can work. Just don`t force it in too far, you don`t want a potato plug in your pipe
Click to expand...

I've used a carrot but potato sounds good as well. I reckon swede and parsnips will work too but broccoli probably not so good!
 
I used to drain down all the time when I was on the cards. Now that I am self employed I only drain down if I have to.
 
There used to be a Scottish member on here called Colin, who often said a parsnip is perfect for bunging tanks.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Reply to To bung or drain down? in the Plumbing Jobs | The Job-board area at PlumbersForums.net

Similar plumbing topics

sammie81116
Sewer pipe problems not sure about it
Hi all Noticed bad smell in my drain out side put my hand down and it unclogged it for now however I checked my sewer drain and after flushing my toilet a good few times nothing is going to the sewer so don't know is there a blockage or what way it works many thanks and advice would be grateful
Replies
3
Views
463
Chuck
C
D
Covering shallow sewer pipe under concrete Patio
Hello all, I’m replacing a concrete paving slab patio in the back yard. The original patio used 50mm deep concrete slabs on hardcore & sand. I’m planning to pour a 100mm deep concrete patio on 100mm hardcore. In order to achieve the same final height to line up with the rest of the patio, I...
Replies
6
Views
199
DIwhYdidIstartThis
D
A
copper vs pushfit pipes
Copper pipes, I think its fair to say, is not what it used to be, the copper is getting thin while the cost is going up. Meanwhile, plastic Pushfit seems to be getting better and better, cost and convenience was always better, but now the quality is to, have we reached a stage where plastic will...
Replies
2
Views
222
Chuck
C
S
Advice needed for a mixer Spray for kitchen ?
Hello plumbers in my internet. So the Mrs want a spray mixer tap in the kitchen as we had two separate taps. I changed the tap for a temporary two hole mixer but the cold water pressure is high mains fed and the hot is low pressure immersion tank fed. I've been trying to find info on what I...
Replies
0
Views
50
Splitty
S
W
Outdoor Tap at Porch
Hi, basic question, any insight much appreciated. Looking to have an outdoor tap in my front porch fed from 15mm pex coming up from suspended floor. Pic 1 is inside porch, pex temporarily clipped to give an idea of pipe placement (ignore shoddy blockwork of booted cowboy builder!), Pic 2 is...
Replies
6
Views
216
Dave Moore
D
Creating content since 2001. Untold Media.

Newest Plumbing Threads

Back
Top
AdBlock Detected

We get it, advertisements are annoying!

Sure, ad-blocking software does a great job at blocking ads, but it also blocks useful features of our website. For the best site experience please disable your AdBlocker.

I've Disabled AdBlock