Radiator off the wall - Am i able to remove radiator

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Annoying! But you live and learn. I enjoy this stuff so not the end of the world.

So.. If I turn off the valves on the other two radiators on the floor, bleed them and check no air and then no water is coming out, theoreticaly the water is up to the point where it enters the rad in question. Once that dribble of water is out, no more should come through the pipe?

Or is this worth a plumber for ease of mind..
 
You could partially drain the system via a drainoff point lower down in the system. That would involve connecting a hose to the drainoff point, draining down a few litres of water whilst all bleed vents on the top floor only are open. Things to foresee are the drainoff failing to open or close afterwards. A picture of the type of drainoff you have would be helpful. There's more than one way to do this.

Partial drain down, change the valve, close all bleed vents, close drainoff valve, refill system at filling loop and bleed top floor rads of air.
 
Where would the drain off point be?

Attached is a pic of the boiler and connected pipes. Apologies if I sound daft!
[automerge]1571576167[/automerge]
Found it! This is on a pipe that leads directly to the filling hose on the left hand side in the pic above.
 

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You don't sound daft. You are doing well.

There's your filling loop, the braided hose connected to two valves with black levers. It would be possible to drain it from the one on the right for your purposes but you'd need to make a hose adaptor for it. That valve is connected to your heating pipework, however that is not the actual drain off point. The one on the left is incoming mains for filling the system so not that oen but you will need it later. The good news is filling your system will be a simple enough affair with that nice looking filling loop.

There should be a small valve that look like this - Drain Cock 15mm

Or this attached to pipework somewhere at the lowest point in the system - with or without a hose connector is possible Pegler Tee Ball Valve Blue 15mm
[automerge]1571576080[/automerge]
I'm afraid I have to go out for a while but I will be back on later today.

Have a look at the lowest points in the system for the drainoff and report back. If you cannot find one, or if it's of the type that flipping well go wrong all the time, we'll look at the various ways to go about changing that busted valve.

There's more than one way to skin a cat.

All ways have advantages and disadvantages but we can weigh it up to get it sorted.
 
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Sorry to bump the thread!
Attached are pics of the bathroom radiator on the same floor as the problem radiator. Other rad is normal so I can close that.

With the bathroom rad, is it just a case of turning clockwise until stopped, then bleeding to check? The valve on the left drips but my brother has fiddled with it previously so don't actually think it's a problem.
 

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Seeing as that valve on the towel rail is/has been dripping, I'd want to drain the system enough to get the top floor empty and do all the work you need on that floor at once. It would be easy to connect to the filling loop valve on the right in your picture with a 1/2" female hose adapter for partial draining. I'll have a look in a minute to see if I can find a source or at least a picture of one for you.

Here is a list of the steps you need to take, quite a few but take your time, step by step.

1. Attach hose to filling loop valve on the right and discharge end in drain/sink/outside any safe place.

2. Open the valve connected to hose and drop pressure to zero.

3. Go to top floor and open bleed vents allowing air into system at top and it will start draining. Don't worry about the jammed valve, it'll drain through the TRV side.

4. It'll take a bit of guesswork but drain enough water so top floor rads and pipework is empty and close the valve you are draining through. You don't need to completely empty the system.

5. Close bleed vents.

Now you can work on the top floor without fear of water escape. Change the valve on the radiator that got chewed up. Replace the towel rail valve with a lockshield, like for like. Keep the new valves also closed for now. It's a bit hard for me to tell the sizes from the photo. Is that a 10mm pipe feeding the towel rail?

Now would be a good time to add one bottle of corrosion inhibitor through the cap on the top of the towel rail and then replace cap. Keep the inhibitor trapped in the towel rail, valves closed, incase you have a leak on a valve connection. You don't want to have to drain down again and lose the inhibitor.

6. Remove garden hose and reattach braided hose to filling loop

7. Refill system to 1.5 bar

8. Check for leaks at valve/pipework joint. If happy open the radiator valves and bleed air. The pressure in the system will keep dropping as you remove air so you'll need to top it up to 1 bar and keep bleeding rads until water issues from bleed screw.

9. Have a final look at all your radiator connections. If everything is still sealed properly, use the filling loop to fill to 1 bar with the system cold after you've finished bleeding rads.

10. Turn on your heating and check rads get warm.
[automerge]1571740112[/automerge]
This is the type of hose connector you need to connect to the valve for draining - 1/2" BSP Threaded To Barbed Brass Fitting
 
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Stigster said:
Seeing as that valve on the towel rail is/has been dripping, I'd want to drain the system enough to get the top floor empty and do all the work you need on that floor at once. It would be easy to connect to the filling loop valve on the right in your picture with a 1/2" female hose adapter for partial draining. I'll have a look in a minute to see if I can find a source or at least a picture of one for you.

Here is a list of the steps you need to take, quite a few but take your time, step by step.

1. Attach hose to filling loop valve on the right and discharge end in drain/sink/outside any safe place.

2. Open the valve connected to hose and drop pressure to zero.

3. Go to top floor and open bleed vents allowing air into system at top and it will start draining. Don't worry about the jammed valve, it'll drain through the TRV side.

4. It'll take a bit of guesswork but drain enough water so top floor rads and pipework is empty and close the valve you are draining through. You don't need to completely empty the system.

5. Close bleed vents.

Now you can work on the top floor without fear of water escape. Change the valve on the radiator that got chewed up. Replace the towel rail valve with a lockshield, like for like. Keep the new valves also closed for now. It's a bit hard for me to tell the sizes from the photo. Is that a 10mm pipe feeding the towel rail?

Now would be a good time to add one bottle of corrosion inhibitor through the cap on the top of the towel rail and then replace cap. Keep the inhibitor trapped in the towel rail, valves closed, incase you have a leak on a valve connection. You don't want to have to drain down again and lose the inhibitor.

6. Remove garden hose and reattach braided hose to filling loop

7. Refill system to 1.5 bar

8. Check for leaks at valve/pipework joint. If happy open the radiator valves and bleed air. The pressure in the system will keep dropping as you remove air so you'll need to top it up to 1 bar and keep bleeding rads until water issues from bleed screw.

9. Have a final look at all your radiator connections. If everything is still sealed properly, use the filling loop to fill to 1 bar with the system cold after you've finished bleeding rads.

10. Turn on your heating and check rads get warm.
[automerge]1571740112[/automerge]
This is the type of hose connector you need to connect to the valve for draining - 1/2" BSP Threaded To Barbed Brass Fitting
Click to expand...

Hi Stig,

Thanks for this, again really clear so thank you.

Couple of questions - I'm guessing i turn off the water supply to the tube on the left (A) by closing the valve on the pipe at the lowest point in the house, and also keep valve A closed

I then close the supply on the right - do i attach the hose connector to the braided hose (B) or the metal pipe side (C)

Sorry if thats a bit simple :)

1571751379306.png
 
No need to turn any other valves off or supplies.

That is a helpful picture with the labels.

Keep valve A closed for the draining operation. (it is is in the closed position now, lever across pipe)
Unscrew braided hose from valve C
Connect hose adaptor to valve C, not the braided hose
Connect hose to adapter and open valve C to do partial drain down
 
anagram said:
Cheer, thanks for clearing that up stig. Maybe be next week until I get round to this, but thanks so much for your help.
Click to expand...

No problem. My pleasure.

Any questions before you do the job, just post here and me or one of the other plumbers will help. I check the forums often but erratically as my schedule allows. It also doesn't hurt that I can put "Reading the Plumber's Forums" on my CPD diary I am forced to keep at work.
 
Stigster said:
No problem. My pleasure.

Any questions before you do the job, just post here and me or one of the other plumbers will help. I check the forums often but erratically as my schedule allows. It also doesn't hurt that I can put "Reading the Plumber's Forums" on my CPD diary I am forced to keep at work.
Click to expand...

CPD... the bane of my life... As an ecologist I'm not sure plumbing forums count..

Thanks again and I'll be sure to keep you updated. Looks like the valves on the radiator are 1/2" both end, where as most seem to be 1/2" then a 15mm rad connection ( which I bought online and is too big)
 
Hi all.

After a weekend away, I come back to a radiator valve (15mm to connect to the pipe) and what I presumed would be the standard fitting into the radiator (1/2"), however it looks way too big?

Is there another size fitting which I've somehow missed? Top down pic as it shows the size attached.
 

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