Tried to take a radiator off today. Ended in minor disater

Tagged · 21 Jan 2022

Good advice on waiting until summer.

Really all I wanted to do here was clean out 2 or 3 radiators that are not working sufficiently. I didn't expect this to break and as another poster mentioned I think I've just been very unlucky. I did hold against when taking the radiator nut off.

Im not sure how to actually drain my tank and how it refills. Is this something I should be learning for the future?

What's the chances of being able to change it over without draining the system and do it quickly and try to plug the hole Inbetween taking it off and on lol? Out of interest

terryplumb · 21 Jan 2022

Tagged said:
On replacing the valve? I need to get it fixed ASAP it's wrapped in towels leaking but would like advice for future as I have more radiators to do

Fair enough. Start by answering the question I asked yesterday..

terryplumb said:
Is your central heating pressurised/ sealed ,or fed from a small loft tank ?

Exedon · 21 Jan 2022

BlueLoo said:
I don't know.

Every time sealed systems come up, the pros go nuts demanding the work be done by a "G3" certified installer.
Either way, the OP should be doing his research and making sure he is ok with what he is doing.

(Sealed ~ pressurized for the pedants)

The G3 requirement is for pressurised cylinders only G3 registered installer's can touch them.
Sealed systems with a gas boiler if its a combi or system boiler expansion vessel and pump will be within boiler casing so for most boilers need to be GS registered to take front off .

BlueLoo · 21 Jan 2022

Exedon said:
The G3 requirement is for pressurised cylinders only G3 registered installer's can touch them.
Sealed systems with a gas boiler if its a combi or system boiler expansion vessel and pump will be within boiler casing so for most boilers need to be GS registered to take front off .

Just for my education,
Sealed HW system and pressurized cylinder normally go hand in hand (to remove Head tanks) no?

What are the boundaries for the G3 requirements? Is it CW side/HW side or does it also include the indirect heating side as well?
Can you work on the boiler (heating coil) side of a pressurized cylinder?

As for pressurized systems,(CH) you are ok to work on these until you get to the boiler boundary, specifically the combustion zone?
(Eg, no issues working with a pressurized system boiler)?

Tagged · 21 Jan 2022

terryplumb said:
Fair enough. Start by answering the question I asked yesterday..

Apologies didn't realise...

So it's an oil heating system, not sure how it's fed. I did have the plumber check out the system when we moved in and I got him to replace the tank in the attic a few months back to a PVC one as he checked it out the system and said it was rusting pretty bad inside due to being old.

So I'm assuming that is for the heating or could that be for something else? I'm really a beginner here and only live in the house for a year so still learning.

terryplumb · 21 Jan 2022

The loft tank may be supplying a hot water cylinder ,that provides hot water to your taps. That would be quite a large tank ,holding enough water to virtually fill a bath.
An F&E tank( feed & expansion ) would be quite small ( and more correctly described as a cistern). It would hold a bit more than a large bucket full of water ,and would feed your boiler / central heating system.
You may have two loft tanks ,one of each.
Has your plumber arrived yet ,ask him to tell you ? Save you getting into the loft .

Tagged · 21 Jan 2022

The plumber was round today, froze the pipe with a machine and replaced the nut. £70 all together. So tried to save myself some money and ended up spending what I could have paid to get a magna cleanse fitted FML!!

He said we are lucky it was split quite badly and could have been shooting water out fairly soon lol.

Kind of kicking myself a little a friend suggested for future I can buy a type of aerosol to spray on the pipe and freeze it but not sure how good it is. Any ideas?

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Tried to take a radiator off today. Ended in minor disater

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