Radiator valves leak when turned on

[tomwalsh77]

Hi all,

I've just moved in to a rented 3 storey house which has 12 radiators run from a Baxi 80e combi boiler. When we moved in the plumber said that the boiler or the pump wasn't good enough to heat all 12 radiators so we decided to turn off all the radiators apart from those on the ground floor. Being a big house it gets quite cold upstairs so today I though I'd have a bash at turning some extra radiators on. I've turned all but one on, on the first floor and they all seemed to get nice and hot. On the second floor, I tried to turn on the rads but the valves leaked so I turned them back off. So is it likely that the boiler isn't sufficient enough to heat all 12 radiators or is it just dodgy valves?

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

Well leaking valves is not going to help the issue. But it would depend on the heat output of the radiators, to whether the boiler can cope.

 

[tomwalsh77]

Well leaking valves is not going to help the issue. But it would depend on the heat output of the radiators, to whether the boiler can cope.

Ok so is it possible to fix the valves or will they need to be replaced?

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

Where are they leaking from? If at the tails then they may nip up or require some PTFE tape.
If leaking from valve head, then best replace them.

This is the landlords responsibility!

 

[tomwalsh77]

Where are they leaking from? If at the tails then they may nip up or require some PTFE tape.
If leaking from valve head, then best replace them.

This is where they leak from:

This is the landlords responsibility!

I realise this but the landlord is a good friend of mine and if I can find out that it's only the valves which need fixing then I could save him some money as the boiler seems to work fine with the other radiators.

 

[Doggit]

The rubber in the valve body has shrunk whilst it's been turned off. Turn the rad valve back on, and then tighten the nut at the top of the valve to compress the rubber washer inside. If it doesn't work, the the valve will need replacing - landlords responsibility.

It's possible that in turning the radiators off, you may have upset the balancing of the system, and some will get hotter than others, so you may need to do some fine tweaks to get them all working together - next stage though.

 

[tomwalsh77]

Ok thanks guys.