MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
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It's 2 days till Christmas and I've ignored the leaking TRV for long enough.
I've established it's a pressurised system. I've looked at the YouTube tutorials.
Seriously, what am I missing here?
Switch off heating, drain system, replace valve, refill system. Is that it? Are there any short cuts that are actually worth taking? Is Christmas at risk?
Any plumbers on board today??
Can be a messy job esp if you have rust in the system and the water is brown - it stains carpets very well. Use lots of towels around the pipes when changing it!
You also need to add back a rust inhibitor into the system when you refill and the bleed the whole system, which might take a while if you get any airlocks - ours can take a few hours to settle down after a re-fill - some bits take ages for the air to work its way out, I have to whack the pump on max speed and leave it running till it sorts itself out.
A tip for the radiator you're changing the valve on, remove the bleed valve at the top as it helps it drain fully and reduces the chance of it pouring our water when you take the valve off. But do remember to put the bleed valve back in before refilling!!!!
Its a doddle... photos please.
Oh chances of getting a plumber before Christmas....
Mine (unpressurized) was drained 3 times while the bathroom was being done, by professionals not me. Thing I'd never noticed before is the radiator near the front door has a tap to drain from, so they attached a hose and drained it there, you may/may not have similar?
I am not a plumber should that need saying, and if you are anything like me, something can and will go wrong, so avoid risk at Christmas!
Can't it wait until the spring when you won't be under massive pressure to get it done and the heating back on? I'd certainly not be doing it just before Xmax just because I'd want to be able to pop to the shops if I need a tool or part.
You might not need to drain the whole system, just back off the system pressure to atmospheric.
Turn off the lockshield valve opposite the TRV (this will limit the amount of water escaping from the radiator to almost nothing) and have your new TRV to hand. Ensure it's in the closed position.
[ PLASTIC SHEETING OVER CARPET. OLD TOWELS TO STANDBY ]
Remove old TRV from radiator. Some water will escape but not a huge flow. Stuff rag or rubber bung in hole to stop completely.
Remove old TRV from pipe. Some water will escape, but you can stop it with your thumb. Swiftly put the new TRV over the end of the pipe. Water should now be a trickle at most, and nothing when you tighten up the nut. I reuse olives without a problem, but add a smear of Fernox LS-X to the mating surfaces.
Now you can attach the TRV to the radiator at your leisure.
Not a chance I'd be touching that.
You can shortcut with a freeze kit. I've used them very successfully* but really its not difficult for me as i can walk around under the floor.
*Except for that one time when the frozen plug and the contents of the system flowed down my dads jumper sleeve.
Tools wise an olive puller is really handy.
You might not need to drain the whole system, just back off the system pressure to atmospheric.
If it's a downstairs radiator you could end up with the entire upstairs system emptying out via the TRV feed pipe. The Go and return pipes connect in a loop via the pump...
lol
ive done this on a gravity fed system. When you remove the old and install the new valve if you havent drained the system you will spray rusty water up your walls / across the floor.
Leave it till after christmas would be my advice. The reasoning of this is our fill loop was full of crud. To the point where the plumber upped tools and left and said sorry mate i ont know how to fix it. I ended up using an old fire extinguisher to blast water through it at 100 psi.
It wasnt a good day.
I had a leaking valve which was cured by removing the TRV and leaving the radiator fully on. No idea why, but I won't be touching it until the spring.
Its a doddle. Be done in under an hour.
Drain the system, there will be a connection for a hose and valve on the radiator by the front/back door.
Remember to open the bleed valve on the tallest radiator (towel rail?) first, then once the flow drops to a trickle open the one on the radiator your taking the TRV off.
If youre carefull you can get the olive off with with normal tools (or hold a soldering iron to it to heat it up and pop it off), but an olive puller is a lot easier.
You will need a bottle of corrosion inhibitor, the filler dooda pipe addapter, and the big square key to take the cap off a radiator (although you can get it in a sealent gun cartridge now and inject via a bleed screw).
Whilst its empty you may as well spend the extra time cleaning the system (add chemical, fill, run for an hour or two, drain, refill with inhibitor).
It's really not a difficult job.
Cheers all. We're moving house next month so yes, it could be left till spring or indefinitely, but I'd feel rude handing the house over in the knowledge there's a leak.
Sounds like I'll be pushing my luck to do it before Christmas though. It can wait a bit longer.
I've done this loads of times. There's a quick way and a slow way. The slow way is to fully drain the system and change everything at your leisure. The quick way is piss easy, but it's also piss easy to get wrong and cause a big mess. Depending on where the radiator is (as in what floor) you might get away with just depressurising the system. If it's ground floor you're going to have to drain it. Or have quicker hands than most.
1. I'd at the very least be depressurising the system.
2. Get some loo roll to hand to plug open pipe ends and put lots of towels that you don't want anymore around the pipe stub poking out the floor. Get hold of some Boss White jointing compound.
3. Get the new TRV out the box, make sure it's closed and smear a thin layer of Boss White inside the fittings at each end.
4. Close the TRV and lockshield valves, and ALL the radiator vents that you opened earlier to depressurise.
5. Disconnect TRV from radiator and plug the radiator hole with loo roll.
6. Get ready.
7. Disconnect TRV from pipe stub coming up from floor - as soon as TRV is off plug the open end with your thumb.
8. With your spare hand smear a reasonable amount of Boss White over and around the olive on the pipe stub.
9. In one smooth movement quickly remove your thumb and put the TRV onto the pipe, pressing the TRV down tight - think Indiana Jones stealing that gold idol at the beginning of Raiders of the Lost Ark.
10. Tighten up the nut on the bottom of the TRV.
11. Smear the olive on the radiator with Boss White and get ready.
12. Align the TRV with the radiator and then in one smooth movement quickly remove the toilet paper plug, push the TRV onto the fitting and tighten up.
13. Tidy up and pat yourself on the back.
I usually pour the corrosion inhibitor into the magnetic filter housing instead of faffing about with radiator dosing systems.