Oil and Water leaking (from a non-oil based radiator)

Hi

I have oil and water leaking from a standard home radiator (didn't think radiators had oil?)

The leak is very slow for water and very (very!) slow for oil. The drop of oil and water both appear right at the bottom edge of the radiator, so it could be just the edge leaking or the drop is flowing inside of the radiator reaching the bottom.

Questions
- Is oil/water drop leaking a common issue or do I have a bigger problem with my heating system?

- Is repairing an option or do I have to replace the radiator?

Really appreciate this forum and advice from all of you good folks.

Thanks

 

Depends where the leak is. If the leak really is from the radiator then replacement is the best bet. The 'oil' component of the leak is probably years worth of gunge being washed down from the hidden surfaces by the leaking hot water.
Replacing a radiator is not a massive job, if the valves are in good nick you don't even have to drain down

 

Thanks a lot for such a quick reply, it absolutely makes sense and made things a lot clearer for me.

It could mean I have multiple leaks, because the drop of oil is appearing on the left side of the radiator and the water drop is appearing kind of right side. I'll try to attach some pictures in the morning.

The valves look good and boiler is 3 years old (the system had a chemical flush back then)

Roughly, how much would it cost me for a new radiator and labour please? Thanks

 

If you're paying someone else to do it budget for £200-£250 area. If you DIY average £50 for the rad and an hour of your life.

EDIT surface tension can create odd effects...if the areas around the valves and bleed valve are dry & water is dripping out the bottom then the rad is fubar. Odd that they weren't replaced when the boiler was swapped, usually only adds £500 to the job & thats much better value than a powerflush

 

I checked the valves, they are absolutely dry.

Took some pictures, the leak is happening in multiple places... the pictures show a bottom up view

Shall I consider the rad is fubar?

 

Yes

 

time to replace, not worth repairing

 

Thank you all good people, this forum is so useful to get advice.

Getting quotes now for the job, although I love DIY, but I'm not a gas engineer so I believe I shouldn't attempt to do it myself after seeing few YouTube videos...

 

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