Leaking lockshield - no idea...

[Jamie123]

Hi all -

First post so hello! I'm having some problems with a radiator in my new house and none of the other posts i've read through seem to answer the question!

We've just tried to remove our first radiator... the valve(?) end has undone and drained fine but the lockshield end seems to be leaking. The water seems to be dripping out of where the copper pipe meets the very bottom of the valve...

Can someone give me a very, very, very simple explanation for how serious this is? Do I need to get a plumber in? Can I fix it myself? Will water start blasting out if I start trying to tighten things up?!?!

Any help would be really good....

Thanks in advance!

 

[kevplumb]

try tightening it up carefully

and next time put a spanner or pair of grips on the valve when you turn it off

 

[Jamie123]

Hmm it seems pretty tight - it also seems like the water is coming out of where the pipe connects to the underside of the valve.... Would tightening sort that out? Presumably if it's loose water will leak out of further up where the threads are?!

I'm clueless though so I'll take your advice!

 

[bengasman]

Be careful with what you are doing if you are not that savvy on plumbing. tightening the joint could solve it, but could also make it worse. If it starts leaking worse, you will get the contents of the entire system out of it.
Safest is to turn the boiler off and unplug it, drain the system and then solve the problem at your leisure.
FAQ and wiki will tell you all about this.

 

[swbjackson]

I think most of us have been there at some point. Called in to leaking rad valve, just nip the nut up a bit and it flies off the pipe where the previous numpty let the pipe drop before tightening the nut. Either that or they've had the 2 foot stilsons out to tighten it andcrushed the pipe.