I have removed a radiator for decorating purposes and one of the valves (not TRV) leaks ever so slightly, (one drip every 10mins or so). I have bodged something up from my box of bits to screw onto the valve, but is there anything commercially available? I have in the past used a washing machine hose to connect the two valves together but these valves are too far apart. I asked at my local plumbers merchant and they looked at me like I had got two heads!!! Mind you it was 12.15 on Saturday afternoon and I was probably keeping them from the pub!
It rather depends on the actual design of the connection. Some have a
15mm/half inch spigot and use an olive and compression nut for a seal, others use a shaped 'ball and cup' union or gland arrangement. Telling which is which is probably (but unfortunately not always) easiest by looking at the size of the nut that is on the radiator side of the valve, IYSWIM. If it's about the same size as the compression nut on the 'incoming' side of the valve, then chances are it's a compression type of seal. If it's much larger, say for a 22mm compression fitting, then it's more likely to be a union type of seating.
I've had experience of both. The compression type is relatively easy to deal with. A couple of inches of 15mm pipe with soldered stop end, then a spare compression nut off a compression fitting and a spare olive, it works a treat - I keep a couple ready made in the workshop for when I'm decorating.
If it's the larger union seal, it's possible to get a relatively shallow depth brass screw-on stop end, with a rubber seating bush in the bottom. If you can't track one of those down, I use a 22mm screwed stop end with some ptfe tape wound around the threads to get a seal.
If a washing machine hose fits, it almost certainly means that the valve has a 3/4" BSP thread - in which case you need a 3/4" BSP stop cap. Have a look at
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and navigate to Item 6608.
You may need to cut a circular piece of rubber to go inside it, in order to get a good seal. Or trim a cork to fit in the valve, and use the cap to hold it in place.
[New washing machines are sometimes supplied with plastic versions of these caps, to protect the threads where the hoses connect. I have used these in the past to hold corks in place - but they tend to split if you do them up too tight!]
B&Q sell end cap nuts. Put PTFE tape round valve thread, screw on end cap. Open rad valve to test for leaks (sort out leaks) close valve and decorate room.
My neighbour removed a radiator to decorate, last winter, and found his downstairs flooded one morning as the thermostatic valve had opened in the night due to the cold !!!!
Personally I loosen the radiator from the wall lean it over, tie the radiator to my work mate (or other suitable large item), tighten nuts, decorate behind and place back. Saves all the messing around with dirty water etc.
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