Mystery of the missing bleed screw...

[trotter]

I have lived in my house 4 months now, we are renovating it. First job we did on moving in was blitz the living room, ripped it all out and started again, so we took the 2 rads off on day one and cracked on.

The room is nearly done now, and we fitted skirting the other day, and then put the rads back on...

However, at this point we noticed one of the rads has no bleed screw. It DOES have the plastic rotating thing on the valve that the air/water comes out of but where normally it has a bleed screw to open the valve (and it does have this screw on the other rads in the house) this one has...just a slightly dirty hole in the middle of the plastic bit !!! Looks like someone srewed it right out when they bled it and lost it.

We've not opened the valves on the rad yet, obviously.

I noticed in B&Q you can buy a new bleed valve, is it just a case of taking the old one off (including the hexagonal nut thing) and screwing a new one in, complete with new allan-key valve?

 

[kevplumb]

I noticed in B&Q you can buy a new bleed valve, is it just a case of taking the old one off (including the hexagonal nut thing) and screwing a new one

yes

 

[Agile]

Its possible the bleed screw was sheared off in the hole and it is in fact still sealed.

I once went to mend a boiler and found the pressure very low so I repressurised it but found the pressure falling as I watched the gauge.

A few minutes later the son came down to say water was shooting out of the rad in his room!

The mother sheepishly admitted she had been bleeding the rads and had lost one of the screws!!! She had not wanted to admit that in front of her husband!

 

[trotter]

Its possible the bleed screw was sheared off in the hole and it is in fact still sealed.

I once went to mend a boiler and found the pressure very low so I repressurised it but found the pressure falling as I watched the gauge.

A few minutes later the son came down to say water was shooting out of the rad in his room!

The mother sheepishly admitted she had been bleeding the rads and had lost one of the screws!!! She had not wanted to admit that in front of her husband!

Cheers for the replies people, this is a great place.

It wouldn't matter if there was one sheared off in mine would it, as I'm removing the whole thing?

I suspect that there could be one in there because on the other rads the bleed screws won't come out...


Oh - and what do I use to unscrew the nut???

 

[EliteHeat]

Oh - and what do I use to unscrew the nut???

A spanner

 

[gas4you]

Try local plumbers merchants. They usually have loads laying around for spares etc. May not even charge you if you ask nicely