Leaking microbore joint at TRV

HI,

I've got a thermostatic radiator valve with a 10mm pipe going into it. It's leaking slowly at this junction.

I invested in some nice new 10mm olives, but on draining the system down and attempting to replace it, I discovered that the valve is a standard

15mm fitting with a conical insert fitted to reduce the diameter, and a corresponding hat-shaped ring around the pipe. I cleaned the corrosion off the surfaces, applied PTFE tape and did it back up, which seems to have improved things somewhat, but not cured the leak entirely.

Presumably the hat-shaped bit functions like an olive, and I need to fit a whole new reducing thingy?

(Ideally, I'd rip the lot out and fit proper pipes, or at least fit a new TRV, but that's the domain of the landlord. I was hoping for something I could do quickly and easily myself that didn't mean hanging around all day waiting for contractors to not turn up.)

Kim.

Reply to
kimble
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Those reducers are often provided in the box with new TRVs, so they are sold as suitable for use with either 10mm or 15mm tube. They can also be bought separately. I've used them myself occasionally but I understand that they are notoriously unreliable (as you seem to have found).

The proper answer can be found here:

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...ie, a soldered-on reducer is needed.

Without doing that, it sounds like you've done all the right things. Did you clean all the surfaces really thoroughly, ie with wire wool? If not that would be worth a go.

Actually in my book you've already entered well into the landlord's domain by draining down the system. Do you know about central heating inhibitor chemicals - there ought to have been some in there to protect the system from corrosion, and if there was some in there before, it sounds like there isn't any more! As a landlord myself I'd take a dim view of a tenant draining down the CH without letting me know, and exposing the whole system to very expensive long-term damage. Much better to report the problem to him.

Reply to
Lobster

Good thinking. I gave it a good scrape with a screwdriver (there was a solid ring of crud that flaked off, but that won't necessarily have got all the crud in the crevices.

Although it may now have responded to another quarter turn of the nut... Will see if the tissue I've tied round the pipe is damp in the morning.

But if it's still leaking, sounds like I'm better off letting it be Somebody Else's Problem.

Yes. Unlike the contractors who replaced the boiler (wrecking half the kitchen in the process) last year... *facepalm*

Kim.

Reply to
kimble

Kim.

Reply to
kimble

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