Had a knock on my door on Sunday evening.
My neighbour's wife was starting to have minor contractions a few days early to her due date. Unfortunately my neighbour had done all of the decorating in his master bedroom where the baby would spend it's first 6 months before moving to the baby's room.
One thing he forgot to do was change the radiator that had been leaking for 6 months due to rust.
He said he was in a bit of a rush to get it finished and asked if I would give him a hand as he had got himself into a bit of a state. I agreed to help and said if need be I would finish it off while he took his wife to hospital.
When I entered the master bedroom, I couldn't believe what I saw. It was a bomb site...
The existing radiator that had been removed was a bay window rad. The new radiator would fit in the flat part of the window bay.
He had already removed the floor boards and removed the skirting boards to allow the floor boards to come up. For some reason he had also fitted plaster board nailed to the floor boards to prevent draughts ???. Then the underlay and carpet on top.
The problem came when I looked at how much he still had to do. He had a pipe cutter in place around the inlet of the radiator and was telling me what he proposed to do. Here's what he said..
Neighbour: We'll cut these pipes here, then solder on a connector and new pipe to route the pipework to the new ends of the radiator.
I've got all the parts I need to do it.
Me: Ok first of all, have you drained the system ?
Neighbour: No, I don't need to as I've turned the radiator valves off at each end.
After a little discussion about how central heating systems work, I told him that I would take it from here. First major problem was that after turning the heating off and securing the ball valve, I found that the people who fitted his kitchen has fitted a unit in and boxed in the drain off valve. This was turning out to be a bit of a nightmare.
I made sure he had bought everything he needs for the job. Before shutting off the downstairs hall radiator and draining the system from there.
His tools and materials consisted of the following:
Self soldering joints
Chrome coated 15mm pipe (erm slight problem already)
Blow torch
No flux to be found anywhere.
A hammer
A pipe bending spring (10mm one).
It was 9:20pm so no stores were open to buy the 15mm copper pipe we needed or the correct size bending spring. Lucky enough I had a 15mm spring and a bunch of 15mm compression joints and corners.
We started draining the system and then started measurements of where the valves should be. Unfortunately his wife's waters then broke and he was off leaving me to finish off.
I thought at this stage I would double check everything to make sure I had everything I needed. It was only when I was looking at the new rad which was leaning up against the wall and then looking at the bay window that I had this really bad chill run through me. I've checked the length of the rad and it fits but I hadn't double checked to see if the height was ok. From carpet to window seal the bay measured about 2.5'. The rad was just shy of 3' in height. Bummer !!!. He's going to be coming home with his newly born child in a day or two I can’t leave him in the ****e.
After a quick call to him I told him that I would need to change the rad. In the morning.
Next day changed the rad, mounted it up did all the plumbing (even fitted a couple of isolation valves), filled the system back up and tested for leaks. Secured the floor boards, replaced the plasterboard that had come off with a few sheets of plywood (not much else I could do there). Replastered the mess he had made where he pulled the skirts off, fitting new matching skirting board and painted it the same colour as the rest, put the carpet back, hovered up bled all the rad's in all the rooms and left the house.
On Monday evening he still wasn't back so I went back in to check for leaks. I'd placed some tissue under the joints long enough to be pulled up through the gaps in the floor boards the previous day, So I pulled the carpet up and checked the tissues for leaks, all was good, house was nice and warm. So I went back home.
They returned home yesterday with their new addition to the family. He gave me a knock and presented me with a large bottle of Jack Daniels for my help. He then said to me something which almost made me want to punch his lights out…. "I really appreciate your help with that, do you think you will be able to help me change the bathroom rad as that one is leaking as well". If only he had told me that before I filled the system back up.
My neighbour's wife was starting to have minor contractions a few days early to her due date. Unfortunately my neighbour had done all of the decorating in his master bedroom where the baby would spend it's first 6 months before moving to the baby's room.
One thing he forgot to do was change the radiator that had been leaking for 6 months due to rust.
He said he was in a bit of a rush to get it finished and asked if I would give him a hand as he had got himself into a bit of a state. I agreed to help and said if need be I would finish it off while he took his wife to hospital.
When I entered the master bedroom, I couldn't believe what I saw. It was a bomb site...
The existing radiator that had been removed was a bay window rad. The new radiator would fit in the flat part of the window bay.
He had already removed the floor boards and removed the skirting boards to allow the floor boards to come up. For some reason he had also fitted plaster board nailed to the floor boards to prevent draughts ???. Then the underlay and carpet on top.
The problem came when I looked at how much he still had to do. He had a pipe cutter in place around the inlet of the radiator and was telling me what he proposed to do. Here's what he said..
Neighbour: We'll cut these pipes here, then solder on a connector and new pipe to route the pipework to the new ends of the radiator.
I've got all the parts I need to do it.
Me: Ok first of all, have you drained the system ?
Neighbour: No, I don't need to as I've turned the radiator valves off at each end.
After a little discussion about how central heating systems work, I told him that I would take it from here. First major problem was that after turning the heating off and securing the ball valve, I found that the people who fitted his kitchen has fitted a unit in and boxed in the drain off valve. This was turning out to be a bit of a nightmare.
I made sure he had bought everything he needs for the job. Before shutting off the downstairs hall radiator and draining the system from there.
His tools and materials consisted of the following:
Self soldering joints
Chrome coated 15mm pipe (erm slight problem already)
Blow torch
No flux to be found anywhere.
A hammer
A pipe bending spring (10mm one).
It was 9:20pm so no stores were open to buy the 15mm copper pipe we needed or the correct size bending spring. Lucky enough I had a 15mm spring and a bunch of 15mm compression joints and corners.
We started draining the system and then started measurements of where the valves should be. Unfortunately his wife's waters then broke and he was off leaving me to finish off.
I thought at this stage I would double check everything to make sure I had everything I needed. It was only when I was looking at the new rad which was leaning up against the wall and then looking at the bay window that I had this really bad chill run through me. I've checked the length of the rad and it fits but I hadn't double checked to see if the height was ok. From carpet to window seal the bay measured about 2.5'. The rad was just shy of 3' in height. Bummer !!!. He's going to be coming home with his newly born child in a day or two I can’t leave him in the ****e.
After a quick call to him I told him that I would need to change the rad. In the morning.
Next day changed the rad, mounted it up did all the plumbing (even fitted a couple of isolation valves), filled the system back up and tested for leaks. Secured the floor boards, replaced the plasterboard that had come off with a few sheets of plywood (not much else I could do there). Replastered the mess he had made where he pulled the skirts off, fitting new matching skirting board and painted it the same colour as the rest, put the carpet back, hovered up bled all the rad's in all the rooms and left the house.
On Monday evening he still wasn't back so I went back in to check for leaks. I'd placed some tissue under the joints long enough to be pulled up through the gaps in the floor boards the previous day, So I pulled the carpet up and checked the tissues for leaks, all was good, house was nice and warm. So I went back home.
They returned home yesterday with their new addition to the family. He gave me a knock and presented me with a large bottle of Jack Daniels for my help. He then said to me something which almost made me want to punch his lights out…. "I really appreciate your help with that, do you think you will be able to help me change the bathroom rad as that one is leaking as well". If only he had told me that before I filled the system back up.
