10mm radiator feeds. Help required

[BobbyBrown]

My lovely new forever house has hideous 10mm piping to all radiators:

The radiators are all basic and 20 years old, a lot of them are siezed onto the radiator tails and are all imperial sizes. As every room has to be decorated (and all cielings skimmed) I'm going in to replace the lot.

My questions are:

I would like column radiators and corner thermostatic valves, would there be any issue running these with 10mm feeder pipes?
What work would this entail for a plumber that has to move the piping for a different sized radiator? Is it a big hole in the plasterboard and then reskim job? (all floors are chipboard)

 

[Dan Robinson]

Yes.

What do you mean by column rads?

 

[BobbyBrown]

something like this

http://www.bestheating.com/milano-w...tor-cast-iron-style-white-300mm-x-1193mm.html

 

[Dan Robinson]

Cool. I was caught out the other day on a discussion where I was thinking of something like your link, and the customer had some ponsy fancy looking vertical thing.

 

[BobbyBrown]

So am I in the ballpark with a plumber doing the following:

Cut out sections of plasterboard and install new piping.
Batten out area and affix new plasterboard
Wait for plasterer to reskim and wall to be painted
Come back and fit radiator
Collect cash

 

[Dan Robinson]

Pretty much, but I'd get him to up as much as he can to 15mm.

 

[BobbyBrown]

And a rough price for cash, labour only?

 

[Dan Robinson]

Whatever you think it is, triple it.

 

[BobbyBrown]

You must have done this before... it was exactly 3 times what I thought!! (£300). As this is ridiculous to move a bit of pipework i'm going to do it myself but could do with a bit of advice on the wall fixings.

Ive got thermalite inner blocks which the plasterboard is dot and dabbed to (so i can't batten out a frame). This means i've got the block, approx 15mm cavity then 9mm plasterboard. The radiators are going to be quite heavy (upwards of 30kg when full), so I need a suitable fixing for the thermalite blocks.

I've been reading that these might be suitable
https://www.screwfix.com/p/rawlplug-lx-masonry-bolts-12-x-140mm-10-pack/1223f

The problem i'm envisaging is that each wall bracket only has a 17mm gap between fixing holes, are these too close together for using in thermalite??

 

[Phill Peck]

£300 is t ridiculous for minimum 2 visits
Drain heating
remove radiator
Cut out plasterboard
Fit new radiator
Pipe up radiator
Remove radiator.
Refill system
Test for leaks

Return rehang radiator
Connect
Fill and test.

£300 seems reasonable to me.

No I wouldn’t use those fittings.
I’d use expanding real bolts

 

[BobbyBrown]

The pipes need to be moved approx 20mm either side. There's no need for two visits. How long would you honestly say something like this would take for a professional:

Drain system
Remove radiator
Adjust pipes 20mm each side and add new TRV
Fit new radiator
Fill system

 

[Dan Robinson]

How much do you think it should be?

 

[Dan Robinson]

Hhhmmmm :

Cut out sections of plasterboard and install new piping.
Batten out area and affix new plasterboard
Wait for plasterer to reskim and wall to be painted
Come back and fit radiator
Collect cash

Drain system
Remove radiator
Adjust pipes 20mm each side and add new TRV
Fit new radiator
Fill system

 

[Dan Robinson]

 

[BobbyBrown]

I would say less than half a days work for a competent plumber so 100 cash. 2 rads, 1 day, £200.