Rad off for plastering?

[ColJack]

I'm having the kitchen plastered and think I may have to take the rad off the wall so they can do behind it..

it's only a small rad ( single sided, 500 wide )..

can I drain it without draining the rest of the system?

turn the TS valve all the way down and turn the locksheild off?
should that work and be ok for a few days?
would you recommend fitting blanks to the valves just in case? ( presumably the TS valve would open if it dropped to cold? )

 

[dextrous]

I'm having the kitchen plastered and think I may have to take the rad off the wall so they can do behind it..

it's only a small rad ( single sided, 500 wide )..

can I drain it without draining the rest of the system?

Yes

turn the TS valve all the way down and turn the locksheild off?
should that work and be ok for a few days?
would you recommend fitting blanks to the valves just in case? ( presumably the TS valve would open if it dropped to cold? )

Lockshield is ok to do this. By TS, do you mean TRV - in which case ideally you'd use a decorator's cap to screw it down fully, as TRV's have been known to weep even when turned off. If it's a combi boiler, I'd be tempted to turn it off and drain off any pressure from the system until you can get the cap or blanking plug for it. Wish I lived closer CJ or I'd be round to help as I owe you a favour or two from the help you've given me on here.

 

[holty]

would definetly cap the trv end.have used the cap end thats on the filling loop or used a nut olive and piece of pipe then a stop end.basically what i could get my hands on. piece of mind.

 

[ColJack]

think I might drain it all anyway..

heating is off for the summer, and the pressure gage is off the bottom anyway.. I've a leaky ball valve to remove and replace the pipe it's on.. so draining down sounds like a good idea..

will pull the fuse for the combi to stop any misshaps.. the only worry I have there is the hot water taps..will the water still run ( obviously it won't be hot ) ?

 

[dextrous]

think I might drain it all anyway..

heating is off for the summer, and the pressure gage is off the bottom anyway.. I've a leaky ball valve to remove and replace the pipe it's on.. so draining down sounds like a good idea..

will pull the fuse for the combi to stop any misshaps.. the only worry I have there is the hot water taps..will the water still run ( obviously it won't be hot ) ?

Water should run anyway. While the rad is off, take it to the garden and flush it through with hosepipe. Usual advice follows with regard to refilling - flushing system clean with chemicals for a couple of weeks, then drain then remember inhibitor. Fit an easy drainoff point etc etc etc....

 

[Agile]

If your boiler isolating valves are in good condition then you could pressurise to 1.5 Bar and close them.

That would give you hot water while the system may leak or become depressurised.

Tony

 

[JohnD]

If you're going to drain it, you might consider giving it a chemical clean first - take advantage of the work you're doing.

 

[ColJack]

what's an easy drainoff point?
if that the thing on the tee under the lockshield valve? connect a hose to it and turn the square bit on the end?

as for flushing and re-filling, can I get my plumber to do this when he comes to fix the valve on the boiler ( heating works, not hot water )
uncle advised I fit a water softner for the hot water.. good idea?

 

[Bahco]

what's an easy drainoff point?
if that the thing on the tee under the lockshield valve? connect a hose to it and turn the square bit on the end?

Thats the one and you will need to undo the end cap on the top end of the rad to vent it so that it will all drain out.

Read this

As for flushing and re-filling, can I get my plumber to do this?

Flush the rad out yourself in the garden and refill to 1 bar. Central Heating Faqs cover all this.

uncle advised I fit a water softner for the hot water.. good idea?

If you are feeling flush go ahead but they have minimal benefit IMHO

 

[ColJack]

can I just drain this water onto my path? I have no drains outside ( first floor flat ), and since it dips down from the road to the GF flat, draining into street is a no go..

 

[dextrous]

can I just drain this water onto my path? I have no drains outside ( first floor flat ), and since it dips down from the road to the GF flat, draining into street is a no go..

You can, but it's quite dirty!

 

[ColJack]

planting bed that's full of weeds? ( don't care if they die.. ) about 2 foot x 3 foot and surrounded on 3 sides by path, and the house on the fourth..

 

[dextrous]

planting bed that's full of weeds? ( don't care if they die.. ) about 2 foot x 3 foot and surrounded on 3 sides by path, and the house on the fourth..

Murderer. No problem doing this. Would be handy if you had a hose handy though.

 

[ColJack]

Job done... not as hard as I thought it would be, no major flooding just a little puddle that dribbled out of the rad..

I bought a hose specially for this purpouse at 07:00 this morning... hoping to get the thing off by the time the plasterer came but he was there for 09:00 and I'd spent the time tidying up a bit..
hose is 15m and that route goes across a 1.5m landing, down 7 steps, across another 1.5m landing and out the front door, then down another 6 steps and another 1m to the small flower bed.. ( yes that's right, my front door is halfway between floor.. !! )

put bags over valves to keep the plaster off.. and re-tightened the plug on the end of the 2 rads ( teed off the same pipe ), and re-closed the drain valve..

do I need to flush the system? the water was clear and the only black water came out of the rad when I tipped it over the loo to get the rest of the water out..
I had some rads moved about 2 years ago so they probably flushed it then?

 

[dextrous]

Probably ok, but who's to know. I wouldn't do any harm to attach that nice new hose to the drain-off valve (with the square peg to open it ), run this pipe to the flower bed, and turn on the filling loop near the boiler for a while until the water runs clear. Every little helps!

Take it you connected the hose to a tap and flushed out the radiator - this gets quite a lot of gunk out.