Odd radiator bleed screw

[P.R.Brady]

I want to bleed a radiator but all I see is this:

it the remains of a broken bleed screw or is it an unconventional bleed mechanism? It doesn't budge if I try and push it in.

Phil

[fred]

In article , P.R.Brady writes

Looks like a sheared off one to me, does the (brass) end look rough and how does it compare to the other bleed valves in the house. Replacement is easy would mean a drain down.

[Rob Morley]

Looks like it's sheared off.

[Rob Morley]

Why would you need to drain anything?

[fred]

You're quite right, was prob thinking rad valve, just needs to turn off both rad valves and be prepared to catch a half pint or so when undoing the offending plug or expect a bit of hissing if it the rad needs bleeding. If a trv is fitted then setting it to zero should turn it off in this weather.

[P.R.Brady]

Thanks all. As I feared! The end of the little brass bit looked quite smooth though. Phil

[Set Square]

Like others have said, it appears to have sheared off. If you close *both* valves on the rad, you should be able to unscrew and replace the whole assembly (the big hexagon in your photo) with very little water spillage. Your assembly almost certainly has a 1/2" BSP thread.

[weekendwarrior]

The bleed screw has been snapped off but there is No Need to change i for now.

Get a spanner to fit it and undo the large nut itself to bleed th radiator

-- weekendwarrior

[Set Square]

*Not* a very good idea! You'll have to more or less remove it to get any air out - and will then have a flood when the rad is full! Besides which it will need re-sealing with PTFE tape when you've finished.

[weekendwarrior]

I have done this in the past when the bleed screw has been damaged b the previous owners, with no problems at all!

Did not have to remove the it completely to bleed it and never had flood either

-- weekendwarrior

[P.R.Brady]

Thanks for all the replies. I replaced two bleed mechanisms last night. As everyone thought, they were sheared off as was made clear once I could get them under good lighting. By closing off both radiator valves they were fitted without a single drop of water spilt.

One minor glitch - one of the fittings had no flange on the outside so I had to put a few turns of ptfe on the inside and increasingly more turns on the outside to get it to tighten. I assume that's the usual technique.

Phil

[zymurgy]

Be careful with this. I thought the same, and turned off my TRV to take off the rad to paint behind it.

Came down next morning to a minor lake [1] in the hall where the TRV had seeped overnight, not much, but enough.

Cheers

Paul.

[1] Thankfully the wood floor isn't down in there yet ;-)