Patch up

[TopJob]

Hello helpful people, can you suggest a way to patch up a leaking central heating pipe joint? I reattached a radiator to my system but in doing so must have stressed the joint as it's now leaking ever so slightly. The problem is that the leak is occurring on the main pipe-work, so I can't isolate it without draining the whole system (which doesn't refill properly anyway, so draining/refilling is a big manual job).

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Thanks for any pointers

 

[Deleted member 105431]

you just need to tighten the nut, simple job.

 

[TopJob]

Oh, I was worried that might make matters worse... but I guess it makes sense

Thanks, I'll give it a try.

 

[david17uk]

It could make it worse if you've strangled the olive.

So the other option is to either drain down and wrap a few turns of thread tape on the olive.

Or do it live with a towel down... Get someone to hold the pipe tight to the valve, then put some tape on. You'll get wet though If it's a combi, it won't be too bad - If you turn the valve off, and stick a hose on that drain-off, that should help ease the pressure a little too.

 

[bengasman]

If it leaks ever so slightly, you should only have to tighten it ever so slightly. If it takes more than 1/4 turn or quite a bit of force, you probably have killed the olive.

 

[TopJob]

I opted for the tighten ever so slightly and it seems to have worked. It didn't need very much force and and seemed to easily handle about a 1/4 turn. All good. Thanks for the advice, much appreciated - it's easy when you know how