Sealed system Rad - need to take out for 4 days

[B17NNS]

How do you get it off the brackets?

[Ferg]

You hope the plumber left enough pipe under the floor to come up AND that the compression nut is nice and tight...

Or do it properly.

[mechsympathy]

I've done that. Once. Redecorating the room below once the pipes were fixed was enough encouragment to do it properly the next time.

[mk1fan]

Ferg said:

WTF????

What bit don't you understand?

The radiator tails should have enough play to lift it off the brackets.

If you support the radiator as it is lying flat, then no additional pressure should be placed on the tail compression joint.

Edited by mk1fan on Tuesday 21st April 17:14

[Ferg]

mk1fan said:

Ferg said:

WTF????

What bit don't you understand?

I don't understand why you more or less repeated what the answer you were quoting said and then got even more confusing by explaining how a TRV worked to someone who by the look of his posting knew EXACTLY what he was talking about.
Did you read his post??



As for dropping radiators... it's a crap bodge which has (as can be seen from the post above your last one) led to much water damage and work for plumber's who'd much rather do the job properly.

[Gingerbread Man]

mk1fan said:

Gingerbread Man said:

Locking off the valves should in theory be okay. But if you have a TRV, this'll open if the temperatures drop too low to prevent freezing. When these were installed you should have been given a cap that screws down onto the TRV instead of the actuator head.

No it won't. You take the TRV part of the valve off. The cap you screw in in it's place closes the valve like a gate valve. That said if there's a load of gunk in the system then the valves might not close fully. Besides, TRV's work the other way round, they close when it gets too hot.

I'd loosen the valves a quarter turn, lay the rad down on the ground then tighten th valve back up. Miniumal water loss. When you've done reverse the procedure to re-hang the rad.

I meant the TRV side. Remove the head and screw the cap down. I didn't day that they didn't close when it gets hot. That's the whole of having Thermostatic Rad Valves. But if it gets too cold with the TRV head put to it's coldest setting, the frost icon, they'll open slightly.

The cap will prevent them opening and flooding the room if it gets near freezing overnight.

[mk1fan]

I completely mis-read your post. Funny afternoon

[Gingerbread Man]

mk1fan said:

I completely mis-read your post. Funny afternoon

No problem man

[The jiffle king]

Just thought I would update this as I did this last night with a firend and the radiator is now off and despite a little water leakage... our own fault for not properly turning off the TRV and the pressurised water coming out a little, all went well.
Some learnings for the amateurs amongst us.
- Think about the wieght of the radiator with water in (Mine was very large) as it's heavier than you think.
- Make sure your friend is at the TRV end as any pressurised water will splash him (Ha Ha)
- First time round took an hour (I know it seems like ages, but we were very cautious), next time will be about 20 mins per rad
- It was a good tip to put your finger in the holes to stop water coming out... make sure you have plenty of buckets/towel just in case

Thanks to all who contributed... just need to re-hang in a couple of days

T-J-K