Can this Cosmos rad valve be repacked?

[LargePig]

Evening. First time house owner, first time radiator owner...

I have two radiators that leak at the valve when they're turned fully off. I've read that you can repack the spindle with PTFE tape and have watched a couple of youtube videos but the valves in the video don't look the same.

Is it possible to repack this valve without draining the system? It looks to me that there's only one nut holding it together and I don't want to shoot water all over the place trying...

Untitled

• LargePig
• 19 Nov 2013
• 1

Untitled

• LargePig
• 19 Nov 2013
• 1

The other option is replacement, thinking about replacing them with thermostatic valves at some point anyway, but as a total noob I was hoping to fix them temporarily in the meantime while I research that.

Cheers for your help

 

[Whitespirit66]

Try tightening the gland nut that's at the bottom of the spindle first.

 

[LargePig]

Thanks for the reply, I did try that, doesn't seem to have made any difference.

 

[Burnerman]

I think that nut removes the complete insert, therefore tightening it wont help as the seal is an 'o' ring......really time for a replacement I'm afraid.
John

 

[LargePig]

I think that nut removes the complete insert...

Thanks John, this is what I feared

As for the thermostatic valves, they all appear to have and arbitrary numeric scale rather than an actual temperature, have I got that right or am I looking at the wrong things?

 

[Burnerman]

I've never actually considered that one, but as far as I'm aware the numerals on the valves don't refer to any exact temperature......these things look at the air temperature around the valve, and restrict the water flow through the radiator, but there should be some relationship between the numbers and the air temp if you think about it!
Apparently there are digital valves available now which give a visual temperature read out - but I have no experience of them at all.
John

 

[Charnwood]

TRV instructions normally have a rough guide to what temperature each numeric increment equates to.