Getting behind rads: "tilting down"?

[no spam here, thanks]

From some years ago I seem to remember a plumber showing me a neat trick to remove (or maybe just tilt down) a radiator ....

I need to get behind three rads to strip off existing wallpaper, allow a plasterer to skim behind two and me to put lining paper behind one.

Is it just a matter of shutting off lockshield valves and TRVs and loosening connections to tilt/remove (using bungs if necessary, but air pressure holds the water in if the rad is kept level, I seem to remember).

As an aside: I assume I'll have to keep the rads off for some time after the plaster skim has been put on?

Thanks for any tips

Lewis

[TheScullster]

"no spam here, thanks" wrote

Pretty much - but you will need to be able to lift the rad a little to disengage from the brackets. If you have concrete floors (or wooden floors with rigid pipe work), there is unlikely to be enough "play" in the feed piping to allow this.

Yes - give the plaster plenty of drying time. I've fallen foul of this plastering around a boiler and had to hack it all off and start again. Just a skim coat shouldn't take too long to dry. Personally I'd give it a week if the rest of the house is going to be heated, or two if it's not.

HTH

Phil

[John]

What about the brackets? Won't you be removing them and re-fitting them when the plaster is dry?

[Stuart Noble]

Bugger that. Who looks down the back of a radiator anyway? I tile/paper down as far as I can get (usually the brackets). Cans of worms can be opened when you start messing with rads.

[Stuart B]

Agreed...If the Op is bothered about folk looking down he can put a shelf up above the rad...is that allowed/recommended ?

I do recall an idea years ago whereby you used special brackets to fit the rads and they had a chain connecting them to the rad so when you wanted to dec behind them you loosened the connections to the valves slightly and moved the rad forward so it was held on the chain .I guess the setup had a pin or something that you removed to allow this to be done .

[John]

This sad git takes the brackets off to decorate. I never get wall paper lifting due to the heat!

[Andrew Gabriel]

Now where the hell were those bracket screw holes?

[John]

If there's enough movement in the pipes you can do this. Place some blocks on the floor to receive the rad. Turn off the valves and loosen the conections slightly. You can now lift the rad off it's brackets and swivel it on the connections to lie horizontally on the blocks you placed earlier. Tighten up the connections to prvent leaks. Moan to your wife about all the dust and muck on the back of the rad. Doesn't she do ANY housework? (Note: this step is optional) You can even turn the rad back on if you're cold while working.

As they say, reassembly is the reverse procedure.

John