Moving radiator plumbing advice.

[Sharpey]

Hi all. I have a quick question hopefully you can help with.

I have two radiators in my living room, one which I would like to move to other side of the room and the other which I would like to get rid of completely. The pipes are buried under concrete.

What I want is, the pipes that are going to stick out of the ground on the radiator being removed, I would like them so they don't stick out and are below the ground. I would imagine one would need to dig out the concrete around it, cut the pipe to below the surface, put some sort of fitting on it (stop end?) and fill it all in. Is this possible? Would a plumber do this kind of thing?

Sorry for any daft questions, plumbing isn't my strong suit.

Thank you.

 

[seco services]

Would a plumber do this kind of thing?

Yes

 

[Sharpey]

Thanks for the reply.

Is it 'do-able' though, what I'm suggesting?

 

[Burnerman]

Certainly do-able, no problem.
Copper pipes shouldn't be buried in concrete, (corrosion issues) but should be wrapped first then a soldered stop end cap fitted.
John

 

[Sharpey]

Excellent, thanks again.

OK, one final question. I'm not expecting 100% accuracy, but what would be a rough quote for such a job? It's basically, radiator 1 moved two metres right (pipes would have to be buried under concrete), radiator two removed, with the two stop ends put on and filled in.

I am going to phone around soon but would just like a rough idea.

 

[cantaloup63]

Who's digging the concrete out and making good afterwards? You or the plumber? By the way, you don't need a gassafe fella to do this sort of work, which will make it cheaper

 

[Sharpey]

I'd probably do it myself, although I don't mind either way if the difference in price isn't huge.

 

[brk1]

I'd definately do it yourself, breaking around the pipes will take you a fair while, especially if you've got to run a chase along the concrete to move that rad, won't take the plumber long to end cap the pipes or run the new lengths in and connect the rad up, if all the concrete work is already done, also when you say concrete, is it actually concrete or floor screed, believe you me, chopping through concrete won't be fun, I hope your house is a bit modern and you have floor screed and not concrete.

 

[Sharpey]

I wouldn't know the difference to be honest. I actually did the room in question when the central heating was originally installed. It wasn't overly difficult with the kangol when I got used to it.

If I remember correctly, this is how the piipes were laid out. Radiator A is being moved, radiator B is the one I want to get rid of.

I imagine that the pipes for radiator A can remain in place, and the plumber can tee off where the red circle is in to the new channel to its right? So I just dig down to where the bend is so he has access (being careful not to damage the pipes) and cut the new channel off it? The original pipes will now be redundant so just cut the tails and fill them?

As for radiator B, cut around 4-5 inches where the tails come up giving access and allow them to capped.

Sound about right?

 

[brk1]

Sounds like you've got screed then if you already had a go at it you'd have known if you'd been in concrete, screed is sharp sand and cement put in damp rather than wet and forms a hard uniform surface, as you said. fairly easy to break up, concrete is a wet mix , a lot stronger and full of aggregate,(fair sized stones basically), and a small Kango would have struggled to go through it, I think you'll find most plumbers would prefer you to go back at least 5 - 6" and clearly all round the pipes so they can cap it off level with the long runs rather than the short up-stands, what was round the pipes in the way of insulation? They should have been lagged with something, usually the foam type lagging,if they were the pipes should be nice and clean inside and easy to work on, copper needs to be clean really, to make good new joints

 

[Sharpey]

They were insulated in a sticky, greasy tape (Denso tape?). Just remembered my dad broke my kangol so I might not actually be able to do it now unless I can borrow one.

I guess I will just ring a couple of local plumbers and see what they say, ask for two quotes, there is no way I'm faffing around with a hammer and chisel. Hopefully it won't be too expensive. Anyone have a ballpark figure, assuming the plumber would cut the new channel (around two metres)?

Thanks for all the replies so far, been a great help.