Changing radiator tailpiece question

[survive]

Hi,
bit of a basic question this one. I bought a new radiator to swap for an older one. I thought it would be pretty simple - disconnect old from valves, drain, hang new one and reconnect. But now that I have the new radiator I see that it's not come with any connections to screw the valves onto it. It just has plastic plugs in the four corners (but does have the top bleed valve / plugs for me to fit).

I checked the how to section here and it mentions reusing the tailpieces off the old radiator. One seems to have a nut so I could probably get it off, but the other seems smooth. Could anyone give a bit more advice on how I could get these off to re-use or point me somewhere where I can buy new ones (as a quick google has drawn a blank for me).

Thanks!

 

[Dan Robinson]

The inserts come with the valves.

If you a reusing the old valves you need to remove the originals from you old rad.

Have fun with that

 

[Agile]

The tail pieces often need a hex key to turn them from the inside.

The hex key is 12.71 mm

Tony

 

[conny]

The tail pieces often need a hex key to turn them from the inside.

The hex key is 12.71 mm

Tony

Half inch AF should also fit.

 

[Agile]

They are actually 1/2" AF !

But of course we measure everything in mm now that we are metricated!

When I joined the BBC they were already metricated as a responsible public body.

 

[conny]

Well I'm not metricated. I'm English and proud of it!

Actually its a pain in the neck at work because 95% of motors are metric so not many people have imperial spanners so mine tend to go walkabout.

 

[Dan Robinson]

Speak for yourself.

You';d be surprised where imperial measurements are still king. My missus was much to her disgust.

 

[Terry lambert]

If you bought a new pair of valves they will come with tails for the rad.

 

[Johnmelad]

 

[Charnwood]

Talking of imperial/metric, is the new rad a direct equivalent, size wise, of the old? Metric sized rads ae more often than not a different length than imperial. Your 'old' rad might be imperial.

 

[survive]

Thank you all for your replies. Yes, I am planning on keeping the old valves, they are in good condition - the TRV is only about a year old (the previous one replaced after a leak, by a proper plumber!). Also I have managed to get the same size radiator - it's double rather than single, but the pipework has a lot of free movement to change it.

I managed to buy an appropriate hex key - or "radiator spanner" as it was labelled which was probably why my googling came up blank - so I'll be able to do this work this weekend. Thanks again.