2 year old radiator sprung a leak - Screwfix (& how much inhibitor required?)

[Mr. Clueless]

Bought 3 rads from Screwfix December 2015. Last night we noticed one of them had developed a paint bubble within the previous 24 hours and when pressed it leaked water.

Since turned valves off both sides of the rad.

What likely caused this?

https://www.screwfix.com/p/kudox-pr...tor-white-600-x-900mm/68129?_requestid=458671 <--- that's the radiator. 15 year warranty it states.

Are these rads seen as being crap or is this just a freak occurrence?

What'd you do from here on? Does it 100% need to be replaced?







And rather than create a new thread just for this question (as i've a few plumbing problems happened all at once) how much inhibitor is needed for this central heating system? The rads i've got in place....

Upstairs:
boiler = Worcester Greenstar 30si
Bathroom: 480mm-x-1700mm towel radiator (nothing fancy, just 2 uprights with horizontal bars)
Bedroom 1: 1270mm-x-610mm (single panel single convector)
Bedroom 2: 1600mm-x-600mm (S.P / S.C)
Bedroom 3: 800mm-x-760mm (S.P / S.C)

Downstairs:
Hall: 600mm-x-700mm (Double panel double convector)
Living Room: 1800mm-x-600mm (Double panel single convector) & 900mm-x-600mm (D.P / D.C)
Diner: 900mm-x-600mm (D.P / D.C)
Kitchen: 600mm-x-700mm (D.P / D.C)

Obviously D.P / D.C just a short way of writing double panel double convector S.P / S.C = single panel single convector.

Thanks.

 

[Doggit]

It will need to be replaced, and I'd suggest you push for all of them to be replaced at the same time. A bottle of inhibitor is sufficient for a 3 bed house, but it's for stopping sludge forming; rust like that eating through suggests a faulty product rather than a lack of inhibitor, but it might be worthwhile getting a sample tested to check the level of inhibitor in the system, and that would strengthen your claim.

Screwfix rads aren't the best, but certainly not the worst, but I've never seen that on a 2 year old rad, so freak is more reasonable than crap.

 

[Mr. Clueless]

Well called in to Screwfix today. The lad at the counter didn't seem sure at all, on account of him saying he wasn't sure

After looking at my photos and the invoice for a while and looking at his screen for a while and not really pressing any buttons or asking for any supervisor the response sort of went a bit like this....

Him: uhhh, errrr, well uhh just uhhh bring it back and we'll exchange it
Me: so bring that radiator back to this store & you'll give me a new one?
Him: errr, yeah

with a puzzled look on his face.

Maybe best i actually call Screwfix through the week to find out for sure.



Out of interest what radiator/s would you suggest to look at? I'm not looking at best-of-the-best because surely you should be able to get decent enough rads without spending £1000s but i'm not sure what's good out there & what isn't so good.

 

[Hot&Cold]

Him: uhhh, errrr, well uhh just uhhh bring it back and we'll exchange it
Me: so bring that radiator back to this store & you'll give me a new one?
Him: errr, yeah

Take it back NOW !

Its a very generous gesture to exchange it without sf involving the routine kudox claim procedure.

sf do read these forums

 

[Mr. Clueless]

Take it back NOW !

Its a very generous gesture to exchange it without sf involving the routine kudox claim procedure.

sf do read these forums

2 problems...

1) Last time i took a radiator off i bent the pipe & flooded the living room. Back then it was exposed floorboards that were due to be replaced anyway, even the joists. Now though there's carpet down. I don't carry this username for nothing you know
2) I could take it back, but say that guy isn't on & i get someone who is actually clued up when i take it through. They want to know what i'm doing with it there, i say well the guy i spoke to said take it. Yeah well that isn't how things are done & he shouldn't have said that to you.

I know that's why you said "now" but this is the first time i've been back online today as i've had a ton of things to take care of.

 

[jagillham]

Taking a radiator off is definitely a job that needs some prep!

I tend to cut open some of the recycling bags the council insist of giving us every other week. Using that as plastic sheeting, including one taped around the pipe. Then some old towels on top of that.

Close both valves, then undo one of the nuts slowly with a washing up bowl under it. Keep going until it's empty of water. When you lift it off the wall, tip it to one end... with a bowl under that end.

Ideally you'll have kept the plastic screws that came with it when new, then you can seal back up the a base. Failing that, plastic bags and lots of tape.

Take it outside level, I'd tip it right up and run a hose through it for a bit. Atleast then if drips on way back through, or in car... it's not that horrible black sludge.

 

[Mr. Clueless]

I think me bending the pipes just came down to knowledge & experience & i had a severe lack in both.

What i wanted to do was make sure it didn't leak so i went to really tighten it up but this ended up putting a bend on the pipe work which is only 10mm. I had 2 grips but i was just putting too much force on i suppose. I didn't need to go OTT but my concern was if i didn't tighten it up as much as i could then it'd leak.

So just knowledge & experience really. You can watch a bit on YouTube but some times you could do with someone there actually showing you.

 

[Mr. Clueless]

So Kudox sent out sample bottles that i've to return. One for cold tap water & the other for a sample of radiator juice.

The heating was turned on when i did this. Just wondering if this colouring is 'normal'



I know it's not so easy to tell clearly because it's in the bottle but can you tell from the photos?


On a side note, are Purmo rads better than Kudox or is there little to no difference? Just asking as we had a couple of these installed around the same time.

 

[EAST61]

What a joke, mix a little bit of tap water and inhibitor together and send that to them.

 

[flameport]

mix a little bit of tap water and inhibitor together and send that to them.

That won't work.

They want a sample of tap water and the radiator water so they can ensure people don't do exactly what you suggested.

 

[EAST61]

What exactly “won’t work”?

 

[Mr. Clueless]

I think he's saying that mixing tap water & inhibitor and submitting this as 'the radiator sample' to go alongside the 'tap water sample' would not result in me getting an exchange approved under warranty.

Anyway i've posted the samples off now so we'll see what happens. 14 working days they say.

Is that colour about right or bad though? We've a plumber coming out on Friday to deal with the hot-cold-hot-cold problem of our boiler. If the system is rusty (i'm purely guessing here) would it be worth cleaning out and if so then how much are we talking (roughly)?

 

[EAST61]

I find it hard to believe that Kudox are going to analyse the composition of this sample in order to validate a warranty claim. These are cheapo radiators.

They’ll probably take one look at it and tell you it’s under-inhibited.

Let us know how you get on.

 

[Mr. Clueless]

Will do.

What brand/s should i take a look at (i also suspect they wont replace)? I'm not looking at top of the range. I paid about £55 for this 900x600 rad. I'd stretch further but wouldn't go for say £300 daft money

 

[andytw]

You could test the inhibitor in your system yourself. You can buy a kit. Or you can put some of the water from your system in a jar and add a shiny nail and see if it goes rusty.