FITTING NEW WORK TOPS NEED ADVICE ABOUT ....

[shaun54]

Hi i am new here and have searched the forum but still could do with some advice....

I live in a ground floor flat ,i want to change my work tops in the kitchen and then refit the kitchen sink back as the sink is fine...

I have a boiler in the kitchen inside an airing cupboard which has a red gate valve (i think thats what it's called lol) just below the boiler ....Also i have noticed under neath the sink there is what looks like 2 service valves one for the hot water and 1 for the cold water...


Can i just turn these 2 valves off to shut the the water off so i can undo the sink, or do i need to turn off the gate valve as well ...do i need to drain anything off ...you see once i get the sink out and fit the work tops the original sink will be going back in..Any advice would really be appreciated as i am a novice at this but want to have ago at doing it myself...I know i am competent enough to do it with the right guidance ..Thanks for your time (if anyone reply's to me ).

P.s Forgot to say the service valves are the screw type..

 

[Goldspoon]

Sounds like you have 2 service valves - one for hot water to hot tap and one for cold water to cold tap. So switch these off and you are okay. Easy way to test is to switch the service valves off and then check if the two taps stop running. If they do then you have your answer - the service valves are switching off the water to the taps.

I would make sure I know where to switch off the mains water (stop cock) coming into the house as it is possible, when disconnecting pipework from the downstream side of the valves to disturb the valves so they start to drip. If you really want to be 100% sure then switch off the incoming mains, switch off your boiler and run the two taps until they stop running water - then you know you can work in a relaxed manner

 

[shaun54]

Thanks for the advice i will find the main stop cock turn it of and then turn off the boiler and run the water down,just another quick question once i have refitted the sink turn the stop cock back on and turn the boiler on ..will the water just refill the boiler with out causing any air locks..Thanks again for the quick reply ...if you were me would you not bother turning that big red valve off just under the boiler ? Cheers .

 

[Goldspoon]

If you switch the service valves off then you are not emptying anything except the distance between the service valve and the tap so no chance of airlocks on this tiny distance. If you think you might disturb the service valves (I always assume this might happen) or need to replace them then you need to stop the flow TO the service valves by switching off the mains... or being ready to run to the stop cock if all goes pear shaped. If you have a cylinder of stored hot water and it all goes pear shaped when working on the hot is there a tap to turn off the hot coming from the cylinder? If not then this may be flooding your kitchen if your service valve comes off in your hand even if the mains is off. And don't forget it might be very hot indeed.

If you switch off mains and boiler and drain all water out of taps then you can get an airlock on re-filling but only if your system is gravity fed (tank in loft and cylinder somewhere else, usually in airing cupboard). Unvented cylinders and combi boilers have plenty of pressure to sort out air locks on re-fill. If you have a cylinder and the tap is on the 22mm copper pipe that comes from the top of the cylinder then that's what will stop your cylinder draining away when you run your taps to drain down. If not then a pic is needed.

At the end of the day I would switch off mains, switch off boiler, run hot and cold taps until no water runs (if you have a cylinder then this will have to empty itself so it may take time to run hot away - unless there is a tap on the cylinder, often red, to help prevent this waste). You can now work knowing water is not flowing to taps concerned. Switch off service valves as well and you are fully covered. If you get an air lock then deal with it.

Without a pic the red gate valve is "unidentified" in my book. Are you sure it's a boiler in your airing cupboard? Is it a cylinder (lagged water storage vessel) or boiler (thing that heats water)?

 

[shaun54]

Hi thanks again for your quick response,i will try and post a pic as soon as i can then you will have an idea what s what.

Thanks.

 

[londonboy123]

AIRLOCKS ARE A BUGGER!!!! I drained my central heating system and got one and it took a while-i had the hot taps on for 1/2 hour and it finally got better!!!