My wife has dropped a piece of jewellery behind a radiator, and it has fallen behind the skirting board.
The radiator is what I take to be a standard thin radiator
It seems to me it must be possible to disconnect the radiator from the brackets in some way, and rotate it forward to get at the skirting board behind.
If anyone knows how to do this I would be very grateful for the information, or any other advice.
Are you quite sure you can't hook it out with a long piece of wire without removing the radiator? Poke it sideways with a long steel ruler? How well fixed is the skirting - could you take it off the wall leaving the radiator alone?
You will have to undo the nuts where the pipes go into the radiator. That joint will then stop being waterproof, so either you need to drain the system first so the radiator isn't full of water, or you need to turn off the valves at either end and be ready to catch lots of water and pour it away somewhere. (And it probably won't be very clean water, so it can stain your carpet.)
If you are going to rely on turning off the valves to try and isolate it without draining the system, try and remember how many turns the one on the right under the cap takes and open it by the same amount when you open it afterwards, so the balance stays the same. The valves might not seal perfectly, so allow for drips.
Let it cool before you undo it, so the water you are trying to catch isn't scalding.
Depending on the exact details of the bracket and the piping, you might be able to lift the whole thing up a little bit and then pivot it about the pipes without undoing them totally, but looking at the photo I think the bottom might pivot back into the skirting if you try that, so you might have to undo it totally.
If you don't take it off altogether then don't leave it pivoted with its weight supported just by the pipes, prop it securely on something or hold it yourself while your wife fishes behind the skirting. If you actually have to take the skirting off, I think you will need to take the radiator right off.
Fitting is the reverse of removal, as they say in the Haynes manual.
Really comprehensive answer but don't forget to bleed the rad to remove the air on refitting. However there will be more to do if the radiator needs to be removed and the op has a combi boiler as the system will need repressurising
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True. Another thing I forgot is that if it will pivot, you might be able to get away with slackening the pipes just enough that while they drip a bit, you don't actually have to drain all the water out of the radiator, and you can do them back up enough to stop it dripping while still pivotted while you look behind the skirting. But it will be heavier, so "don't leave it just hanging from the pipes without proper support" gets more important. (Though it looks like a relatively light radiator compared with some, so you don't have to be too paranoid about it.)
(You will probably still have to bleed it and/or repressurise it, because a little water will get in and be replaced by air. And if you do drain the whole system, you probably want to think about adding inhibitor when you refill it.)
How I've done it to wallpaper behind rads like this:
1, Suitable sized blocks on the floor to rest the rad onto, so there is no strain on the pipes. 2, Close valves (note amount needed to close lockshield valve) Place suitable containers to catch dribbles. 3, Loosen the connecting nuts onto the rad then finger tighten them again. 4, Lift and pivot rad on the pipes. It should be possible to lay the rad down (this might loosen the nut on the left pipe, and might tighten the nut on the right hand side)Never had any problems
John
Thanks very much for your comprehensive answer. You have convinced me that removing the radiator is beyond my ability. I'll see if I can cut out a piece of the skirting board, and if not I shall call on an official plumber.
You might be cheaper just buying another piece of jewellery!!
It will almost certainly be necessary to punch the nails holding the skirting(if that is how they are fixed) through the skirting before touching the radiator and sod's law decrees that there will be at least one fixing behind the radiator which will still be inaccessible with the radiator laid down
On the other hand it is worth a bit more investigation as it may be possible to remove the skirting without toching the radiator at all
Just looked a bit more closely is the skirting deeper on the right of the radiator than on the left or is it just my aging eyes?
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