How long is it 'safe' to leave a system drained?
I drained the sealed 12 radiator combi system down completely yesterday, isolating only the boiler, meaning to add a radiator and replace a couple of others. However, the job has taken longer than I planned, and work/drinking commitments mean I've not got that much time. I could lash it all back together this evening, but that wouldn't get the jobs finished how I'd like.
Would leaving it until Friday present a high risk of corrosion etc?
No. It would need to be some very fast corrosion if that were to occur I'd imagine, of course whether it will all actually work is a whole other question. Strange stuff pipework. I steer clear when i can! Brian
A few days will be fine. Weeks or months might cause more of a problem.
If you leave it till your great grandkid works on it, the risk of corrosion is high. Otherwise it's just metals with a bit of corrosion inhibitor.
NT
Problem for what ?. The copper pipework or the steel rads ?.
If the house is warm and dry anyway surely it wont be a problem.
If there are no thermostatic rad valves then the OP could always remove all of them, and flush outside in the garden to get rid of any crud, then just leave upright inside the house.
when I took all mine off I used my Wickes wet-n-dry vac in blow mode to force-dry them with 'hot' air. After a few minutes of operation the heat from the motor gives a nice blast of warm air for drying things.
If you stick them in a work mate at a 30 degree angle you can them add extra heat with a hot air gun. Once they are dry plugging them temporarily should allow almost infinite storage inside a dry property - surely ?.
Do empty copper pipes 'corrode' ??.
I was thinking more the rads - but thanks for the replies, all set for Friday then, I can set to it and get it done properly. Just in time for summer ;-)
The steel mostly...
The interior of the rads will stay wet for some time. With lots of extra oxygen about they will rust somewhat given time.
Which also means more free particulates to circulate about once re-filled.
Overkill for a couple of days I would have thought?
You tend to get more galvanic corrosion on copper (plus a bit of verdigris) - so its more likely to happen when there is an electrolyte in them. Air is probably less of a problem unless there is also lots of sludge that might get a chance to "set" in place.
The fresh air in steel rads may cause some corrosion, but it will be a miniscule amount - the surface area of the steel is big, the amount of available oxygen is small, and even if it were all used up, won't readily be replaced, even with the bleed valve open.
Cheers
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