Temporary removal of rads for decorating

Hi people

I need to remove two rads for wallpapering purposes but i want to do it right and have no plumbing experience.
I have a combi boiler and both rads have a trv and lockshield valves.
Anyone who can run me through it step by step?

Any advice much appreciated.

I can tell you what I've done in similar circumstances. You turn off the valves both ends of the rad, put a shallow vessel such as a baking tray under the rad (judge the size you need according to size of rad.) then unscrew the nut nearest the valve where a valve connects to the rad. Drain the rad. and unscrew the same nut at the other valve. Rad can now be removed and the system water stays in the system, apart from what was in the rad. The water you drained out should contain inhibitor. This is expensive stuff so I put it back into the system after putting the rad back on. I use a simple backpack garden sprayer for this. To connect this to the heating filling loop I used an old sawn off washing machine hose as I found the sprayer hose was about the right size to poke into the cut off end of the washing machine hose. You also need to get an adapter for the screw on end of the washer hose as the filling loop fittings are a smaller pipe thread size. You need to open the bleed screw on the rad. after pressurising the sprayer and opening the filling loop valve to allow the sprayer to force water back into the rad. Make sure you get the correct filling loop valve, not the mains water one!

Be careful of thermostatic valves. They never seems to close properly.

I removed a rad over the weekend to decorate, something I've done plenty of times before and the bloody thermostatic siemens valve would not close fully. It basically drained the whole system

Thanks for the replies
What can i buy to cap off the trv valve in case of leakage?

Would this work?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/WASHING-MACHI...14&_trkparms=72:1301|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318

spoony77, thats what I have used in the past when removing a radiator for decorating - I have always found that my lockshield and TRV never shut off completey (perhaps just age?)

and to keep the carpet okay, I also tend to wrap an old towel round the pipe to pick up any leaks from the valves, as I have found even with a blanking nut, you can still get some seepage

I've used those too.....

The problem is if the TRV does not fully close, when you come to take off the blanking nut to put the rad back on it sprays everywhere as you're undoing the nut. Kinda annoying on newly painted walls.

So I use them on the non thermostatic side and on the TRV I use an isolation valve/service valve which lets me control the water out into a pan which has built up behind the blanking nut..

I don't know if all TRVs are the same but with my Pegler ones it helps if you remove the actual TRV head from the rest of the valve as that ensures it is in the fully off position.

I don't know if all TRVs are the same but with my Pegler ones it helps if you remove the actual TRV head from the rest of the valve as that ensures it is in the fully off position.

Click to expand...

Next person to try that ends up with a wet floor

My TRV's had a plastic cap that took the place of the head for shutting the valve for radiator removal.


Nick.

Yup they're called decorator caps.

Rather than use a cooking tray & then have to deal with the wrath of "she who must never be upset" what I use is an old paint roller tray.

They fit most places very well & are often thrown away after painting (just wash it).