8mm pipe bending

[slangivar]

the older sections of my heating system use 8mm microbore pipework. the piperuns are all above the ground floor and drop down walls where required. In one place it used to run along the top of the skirting board but the skirting has been replaced with taller wood and so the original bend in the pipe is now half way down the skirting.

I plan to move the pipework up the wall and run it behind the radiator clipping it to the wall. However to do this I need to change the route. Ideally I would like to avoid draining or freezing the system and hence can't use a pipe spring.

Could someone please advise me if using a pipe bender would be feasible while there is water in the pipe? Also am I right to assume that heating the pipe to anneal it would be a bad idea?

How much of a constriction would a kinked bend put on the pipe? there is a kink in the pipe but I don't know if this was caused by the builders who replaced the skirting this year or if it was always there. Another option I could use is to freeze the pipe and add a 90 degree elbow although I am reluctant to do this, it may be better.

Finally how far does heat travel when you anneal a pipe? I could freeze it but the furthest I could realistically get the plug from the bend would be about 1.5m.

Thanks for your help and patience in reading my description.

 

[bengasman]

Drain it, it probably needs cleaning anyway, why make it so difficult?

 

[doitall]

All microbore pipe is soft copper or plastic so wouldn't need annealing.

 

[TicklyT]

All microbore pipe is soft copper or plastic so wouldn't need annealing.

....unless the copper has age hardened, or been work hardened during installation.

 

[gas4you]

If it is really old it could be 1/4" and not 8mm. This will give problems when joining to it.

 

[BingoBongo]

drain it

cut out section with kink if its bad as working on it may break it

use these to bend microbore http://www.hygienesuppliesdirect.com/products/prod102589


or you could always get a bit crazy and pay sum1 to do it

 

[dextrous]

Or you could replace it with 15mm!

 

[slangivar]

Thanks for the replies. It was extended recently so no need to clean it. It's not so old that it's imperial (The house supply is 22mm from the 70s and the heating is 80s) I suspect it isn't but how do I tell if it's hardened?

Replacing it with 15mm isn't an option as I would need to lift upstairs floors.

The kink looks like it will still let water flow, what is the bore through a lockshield valve like and is it likely to be less that a partially kinked pipe?

Thanks again
Slang

 

[Agile]

Generally, you can squeeze it across the "sides" in a controlled way to widen the cross sectional area.

Thats better done with a screw thread tool like a mini vice or similar.

Tony

 

[dextrous]

Thanks for the replies. It was extended recently so no need to clean it. It's not so old that it's imperial (The house supply is 22mm from the 70s and the heating is 80s) I suspect it isn't but how do I tell if it's hardened?

you'll find out when you try to bend it

Replacing it with 15mm isn't an option as I would need to lift upstairs floors.

the simplest solution isn't always the best one

The kink looks like it will still let water flow, what is the bore through a lockshield valve like and is it likely to be less that a partially kinked pipe?

Top tip here - never thought of using a kink instead of a lockshield to balance a system. This could save literally pennies in installation costs Joking apart, it doesn't sound too serious and can often be corrected satisfactorily as Agile says.