cant find draincock

[tjsolo]

i am wanting to drain my central heating system (not sealed system) it is an old terraced house. the trouble is i cant find the draincock and was told that sometimes there aren't any - is it possible to drain another way - from the downstairs radiator for example.

also i have a radiator in my lounge but not in my kitchen and i was going to feed water from the pipes in my lounge to the ones in my kitchen. in this possible??

any help is appreciated, cheers


tom

 

[brumylad]

look for the drain valve on the pipework associated with each ground floor rad.

Sometimes they are placed just above the damp couse outside the house wall so have a walk arround.

With the proposed new rad. what are your floors made of in the lounge and in the kitchen.
What is the size and age of the property.
How many rads in the property at the moment
What is the rating of the boiler BTU's

 

[tjsolo]

hi thanks for the reply - it's a very small house . the lounge is about 4m square and the kitchen about 3 m square - there is just one radiator in the lounge downstairs and 3 upstairs.

 

[kevplumb]

what are the floors made of ?

what size is the boiler ?

 

[tjsolo]

the floors downstairs are concrete. the boiler has an output of 6 to 8 kw.

 

[kevplumb]

are you sure about the boiler output

 

[oilman]

Boiler output could be correct as it probably runs all day and night instead of 5 hours total here and there.

 

[kevplumb]

pushing it putting another rad on tho

 

[ChrisR]

Worth a try I think. A Double Convector rad about 2ft by 4ft is 2kW. I doubt your upstairs rads are all that big? Your options are to drop pipes down from the floor above, or as you say take them off the existing one downstairs.
Given the likely size of the property I think you won't have any problems getting the heat round, either way. A CH pump normally has a much harder job than that.

 

[ChrisR]

Oh yes the original question- no drain cock. All rather common unfortunately!

Either
1) Drain and remove downstairs rad and fix a standard garden hose connector on the radvalve union, or
2) Use a self- cutting tap intended for washing machine supply. They cut a disc out of the pipe which can get around a bit. To save that happening stop cutting as soon as water comes out. When the job's done you can replace the WM tap thing with a tee and normal drain cock.