Draining system safely

[Nicholas Lambert]

how do I go about draining this heating system to move a radiator? I presume turn off the boiler and tank immersion. Then can I go ahead and drain? Also close off the header tank? Is there anything else I need to do to do it safely?

 

[Scott_1979]

Just isolate your f&e tank in the loft and that’s all. If it doesn’t have any means of isolation you can shut off your main stop tap instead. Remove the radiator and drain from the valves or if your lucky enough to have a drain off use that.

Did you do that shower pump yourself ?

 

[Nicholas Lambert]

No that was already installed when we moved in. Yes there is a drain off on one of the radiators. Thank you for the reply.

 

[JCplumb]

Did you do that shower pump yourself ?

OMG that's bad, I'd strongly advise getting a plumber to redo that, won't take long to put it right so shouldn't be too costly.

 

[Nicholas Lambert]

Why? What’s the problem with it?

 

[Ric2013]

The pipework isn't clipped properly, the PTFE on the joints shows the person doing the work wasn't a plumber, and the elbows will not improve flow or reduce the risk of cavitation. And the pump probably isn't screwed down. It's all wrong.

But if it works... except anything done this shitely probably doesn't use the right plastic pipe inserts or fittings, and they may not be properly inserted. If the details we cannot inspect by photo are as badly executed as those that are, you may find a serious leak one day, if it isn't leaking already. Looks like some of those plastic joints aren't properly tightened anyway.

 

[Old Account]

Just isolate your f&e tank in the loft and that’s all. If it doesn’t have any means of isolation you can shut off your main stop tap instead. Remove the radiator and drain from the valves or if your lucky enough to have a drain off use that.

Did you do that shower pump yourself ?

Hopefully he won’t get an airlock afterwards.

 

[Nicholas Lambert]

How do I solve that if I do apart from get a plumber in haha?

 

[sammathias]

I feel there definitely alot more too it than just isolating the f+e and banging a hose on a drain off as matchless has mentioned. Could have no end of trouble when you come to fill system back up, especially if your inexperienced.

 

[Nicholas Lambert]

It didn’t go too badly. Had to turn the water off completely as the pipe coming down from the ceiling I presume is from the f/e tank in the loft. It goes into the bottom of the tank. Anyway I shut that pipe off but i could still hear something keep filling as I was draining the radiator downstairs. Maybe that valve is faulty. I then moved the radiator, connected it all up! Tentatively turn the water back on and bled all the radiators. Turned the heating on, all radiators started getting warm but turned the heating off as soon as they did as it was getting to be like a sauna. Checked for leaks and everything seems fine. Fingers crossed I managed it!

 

[sammathias]

Glad you managed it

 

[skoronesa]

Why does his shower have a pump? Do you guys not have good pressure? Wouldn't it make sense for the whole system to be on one booster pump where the water comes into the building? Why is there a tank in the loft(attic?)?

But yeah, that ptfe on the compression joints, and the wonky pipe show that this was hacked. There probably aren't stiffeners in that plastic pipe as you suggested. I like how they used two elbows instead of a coupling lolz

 

[Best]

You needed inhibitor put into the heating system when you refilled it.
Needed put into the small F&E tank when system was refilling.
If you haven’t done that, you need to drain the entire F&E tank plus a few litres more and that will allow the inhibitor down into pipework of system