Blanking off microbore pipe?

[Anna Kettle]

Tomorrow the front wall of the house is going to be removed and as a preparation for this I needed to get rid of a radiator which was sitting on it.

After some googling I decided that as my TRVs don't have an 'off' position, the quickest thing to do would be to loosen off the fittings at each end of the radiator and drop it down to the floor, then tighten them up again.

I did that and it worked OK with not too much water everywhere but hey I'll have no front wall tomorrow so who cares about a bit of water ;-) But there is a slow drip at the exit end which presumably is gradually draining down the CH system so I ought to get rid of it somehow. I've tightened the fitting as much as it will go so ...

The radiator is for the tip eventually anyhow, so how about now cos it is a not very attractive feature of the sittingroom floor.. Its fed by microbore pipe so is it possible to block that (by hammering or otherwise) and just remove the radiator?

Or is there another bodge to stop the drip?

Anna

-- ~~ Anna Kettle, Suffolk, England |""""| ~ Plaster conservation, freehand modelling in lime / ^^ \ // Overmantels, pargeting etc |____|

01359 230642

[John Rumm]

TRVs that don't have an off setting, often come with a blank plastic cap that you can replace the normal head with. This pushes down the control pin in the valve and keeps the water flow shut off.

If you don't have the cap, then a new 5p piece can often do the trick quite nicely. Unscrew the valve head completely and you should see the base of the valve with a pin sticking up, insert your 5p under the cap of the valve head (i.e. over where the pin is) and screw the valve head back onto the base of the valve tightly. That should keep the pin locked down and hence the valve shut off.

[Lurch]

On Mon, 05 Apr 2004 09:16:16 GMT, in uk.d-i-y [e-mail] (Anna Kettle) strung together this:

You could do as John said or find something that has a 1/2" thread, that would be most plumbing compression fittings designed for 15mm, and fit something that stops water onto the end of the valve, which will most probably be 1/2" also.

[Ian Stirling]

I took a radiator out below the valves, without shutting off the water. A pair of mole-grips to crush the pipe flat, then simply fold the pipes over and flatten again. If you can get the bent-over pipe against a firm surface (club-hammer) then hammering the pipe flat for absolutely no leaks works.

[Anna Kettle]

Anna's patent solution as to how to block off a microbore central heating pipe is:

Hammer the pipe flat which cuts the jet of water down to a manageable trickle. I never could get rid of the last dribble though ...

Tootle down to the plumb centre where I discover that microbore comes in 8mm and 10mm diameters. Luckily I have the more common 10mm and plastic pushfit end stops exist at the exhorbitant price of £2 each. The man in the shop said that when I refit the plumbing I should use

15mm which is much cheaper.

Back home, cut the pipe on the dribble side of the hammered bit. Pop on a plastic stop end. Job done.

Plumbing is going to be so much more fun this time around. Last time I did any amount of plumbing the only options were solder or compression joints.

Anna

-- ~~ Anna Kettle, Suffolk, England |""""| ~ Plaster conservation, freehand modelling in lime / ^^ \ // Overmantels, pargeting etc |____|

01359 230642

[G&M]

If I do your plumbing will you do me some of your pargeting ? Peak district so think sheep and flax.

[Pete C]

Hi,

My patent solution is to use mole grips, no royalties required from uk.d-i-y readers though ;)

cheers, Pete.

[Anna Kettle]

Not tempting enough I'm afraid. I'm horribly possessive about my house and I don't like letting anyone else near with a spanner if I can help it and plumbing is one of the things I can do myself. Now if you were an electrician ... :-)

Anna

-- ~~ Anna Kettle, Suffolk, England |""""| ~ Plaster conservation, freehand modelling in lime / ^^ \ // Overmantels, pargeting etc |____|

01359 230642