Temporarily removing a Victorian-style radiator

[Rouleur]

We could do with moving two of the below rads out of the way to allow the room to be carpeted. This may be a silly question but would closing the valves on either side allow me to unbolt them from the pipes without having to drain the system? In my head doing so would isolate the rads.

Or is it not a major problem for a carpet fitter to work around them?

[Dave_ST220]

It will isolate it from the rest of the system, the radiator will still be full of water though (& probably quite heavy). Even draining the system down does not drain all the water out of the rads (or at least it didn't when I did it on Sunday). I would isolate using the valves then get some bowls & buckets ready. Re-installing is much easier.

[richatnort]

Dave_ST220 said:

It will isolate it from the rest of the system, the radiator will still be full of water though (& probably quite heavy). Even draining the system down does not drain all the water out of the rads (or at least it didn't when I did it on Sunday). I would isolate using the valves then get some bowls & buckets ready. Re-installing is much easier.

Agree here. Turn the valves off, get a bucket or container under the one nearest the floor board, then use the air vent with the key to control the flow of water so the more you open it the quicker the flow of water will come out. Then once your done, connect it back up, close the air vent, open the values, check for leaks, then if all good and it's not a gravity fed system (tank in the roof) top the pressure up on your boiler to around 1bar.

[nyt]

As above: Isolate and remove as much water as you can.
Then remove the top pipe first and seal opening with clingfilm & duct tape. If the seal is airtight it'll slow down the water loss when you remove the lower pipe *and* you'll be able to turn the radiator on the side with the sealed opening as soon as you get the lower pipe off.

Other than that, lots of towels and a waterproof layer.

[Dave_ST220]

Oh, & just to add, the water will be filthy! My system has only ben running a 10 months and it was black, although I do wonder if that was because they didn't stick the inhibitor in...

[Rouleur]

Thanks very much for the advice.

One further question - will the heating system still work with the rads disconnected?

[V8RX7]

Rouleur said:

Thanks very much for the advice.

One further question - will the heating system still work with the rads disconnected?

Yes (unless you have a weird, old, one pipe system)

[Rouleur]

Cheers

[Kermit power]

I wouldn't worry too much about water spillage. Yes, it probably will be foul black water coming out, but if you're removing the radiators to re-carpet underneath them, who cares??

If you want real fun, wait until you have to change a leaking valve on a radiator, so you can't just turn the valves off and isolate the radiator, then wait until you discover that whoever fitted your central heating system fitted it without a drain valve anywhere in the system!

I was reading the reviews for the pipe freezing kits on Screwfix, just preying that I'd be one of the majority who said they work perfectly, and not the minority who had water spraying everywhere after it blew the ice plug out! As it happened, mine did work perfectly, but I started to get particularly nervous when the instructions said to spray in half the aerosol can. How on earth am I supposed to know how much half an aerosol can is????

[Dave_ST220]

Kermit power said:

I wouldn't worry too much about water spillage. Yes, it probably will be foul black water coming out, but if you're removing the radiators to re-carpet underneath them, who cares??

Depends what the floor is, if chipboard for example you don't want a radiator full of black stinking water soaking into it

[Kermit power]

Dave_ST220 said:

Depends what the floor is, if chipboard for example you don't want a radiator full of black stinking water soaking into it

This is true! Why do people use chipboard for flooring? Horrible, creaky stuff!

We have it in our loft conversion. When I asked the builder how much more expensive it would be to lay proper floorboards in our extension, he charged us no more, and said they actually preferred laying boards, so why not do them by default?

[Dave_ST220]

OT but I think you are more likely to get noises with floor boards (planks) than chipboard. If chipboard is glued & screwed as it should be no problems. The modern stuff is wax coated too so the above issue doesn't happen Builders prob. prefer planks as easier to lift up to attics for example??

[Gingerbread Man]

That rad is a two person lift when empty. often you can flip a rad full of water and carry it out, but that'll require draining on site. I like to use a few towels and a baking tin as they typically fit under the valves.

[FlipFlopGriff]

When I flushed mine through prior to fitting the amount of water that comes out is unbelievable so make sure your containers are big and you have more than one. You could rig up an 1/2 male fitment attached to a hose pipe to get the bulk outside?
FFG