I have a ladder style radiator in my bathroom. The pipes to the radiator come up vertically from the floor - one has a lockshield valve and the other has a TRV.
I need to remove the radiator in order to tile behind it.
I cannot see how to remove it without flooding the room as the pipes and connections are in-line going vertically into the ladder and hence I cannot put anything underneath them to catch the water.
Any advice or pointers gratefully received !
Andrew.
wrote
If this is a "standard style" ladder, then at the top of each vertical you will find blanking plug (on one side) and bleed point (on other side). Isolate ladder rad by turning off both lockshield and handwheel/trv valves. Remove blanking plug at top. Feed decent bore size (6mm min) nylon tube into one leg of rad from top. Make sure that your tube is long enough to reach the bottom of the rad leg. Syphon out contents into nearby bog! (don't swallow any though). Follow others' advice about catching any remaining water when undoing valves/removing rad.
Phil
Phil - This is interesting... how does one syphon out the contents ? Do you mean suck on the end (without swallowing!) and drain it all out ?
If so... does this get *everything* out bar a few drips or am I going to still have a substantial amount remaining inside ? It doesn't matter either way, but would be good to be prepared...
Andrew
wrote
Get the liquid well down the tube, but not in your mouth, then hold the end of the tube below the bottom of the radiator and let gravity do the rest. Depending on the height of your rad, you may be able to discharge into the bog and save filling and emptying bowls, I broggled about with the submerged end of the tube on the bottom of the rad leg to lift as much crud as possible with the water. I also taped some fine net curtain over the discharge end of the tube to catch any crud for inspection.
Once the syphon has broken (assuming you had the tube right to the bottom of the rad leg) then there should only be a cup full of water remaining - always assume the worst though to avoid nasty situations. Check by cleaning the free end of the tube and sucking again with the tube right at the bottom of the rad. This will tell you a) if you have emptied it completely and b) if you try leaving it for a short while and it fills up you'll know if one of the valves is passing.
Phil
Funnily enough I had to do this job myself yesterday... I came up with the same idea, but as I didn't have any suitable tubing (or plasticine, for that matter!) and needed to get on with it, so I just had to go for it. Tube solution mentally filed away for next time though.
I just used a combination of a bit of cloth wrapped round rhe pipe and leading into a bowl in the hope of conducting the effluent in that direction, with a sponge below that as second-line defence (regularly squeezed out into the bowl), and finally a dry bath towel below that (which barely got wet at all in fact).
David
Wet/Dry vacuum cleaner hel next to the valve will produce enough suction to divert the water. Worked for me anyway.
Andrew
Thanks all for the replies. I need to look into the options further and we'll attempt something this weekend !
Thanks once again - Andrew....
If you haven't yet done it, I use a wet/dry vacuum cleaner from the top. Ducttape a bit of plastic conduit (or anything else that comes to hand and is suitable) to the hose. Close both valves. Remove blanking plate. Suck out all water. Remove radiator. There will very little water left in it which you can soak up with cloths or suck up as it appears...
William.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.