I need to take a radiator down for decoration. I've looked into the procedure & I'm not worried about that (especially since the carpet currently under it is going to be thrown out in the near future), but I wonder if there is some suitable closed thing that I can attach to the thermostatic valve, in place of the radiator tailpipe, for peace of mind (in case the valve gets bumped, since it is close to the floor)?
Thanks, Adam
When you buy thermostatic valves they usually come with a plastic cap that you fit in place of the valve head and it shuts the valve completely off. If you haven't got (or can't borrow) one of those you can usually get away with taking the valve head off, putting a 1 or 2p coin on the pin then screwing the valve head back on, then turning it fully off.
Unscrew the TRV head from the valve part, insert 5p, re-affix the head and hand tighten. That will keep the pin pushed in, and the valve locked off.
+1
If you believe in belt and braces, and if the tail to valve connection is the compression type, get a short length of 15mm copper pipe, put a compression nut and olive at one end and a copper push fit end stop at the other end - and temporarily screw that onto the valve when the radiator has been removed.
You may be able to just loosen the rad and fold it down onto the floor then retighten the connections. That may not give you access for the decorating you're doing, but it might.
Put a stop-end or blanking plug on the end.
Problem now: the first valve I tried to loosen is so tight that trying to turn the nut caused water to seep out of the compression fitting pointing down towards the floor.
I've texted our plumber, but like all good builders now he's extremely busy. If he doesn't get here before plastering starts, I'll pack some wooden blocks & wedges behind the pipe & valve to immobilize it & try again.
I usually put a washing machine hose between the tails. They fit the ones in my house, anyway.
Bill.
Unless you are unlucky, nipping up the nut will normally reseal a small leak from a compression joint. Hold the body, a large adjustable spanner and a rag normally just the job, and give the nut a small nip of a turn.
As for you original query, you?ve had some good idea but I keep a mix of fittings collected over years of DIY and generally something will blank off almost any fitting. My son in law used a hose fitting for a tap with a home made rubber blanking disk. You don?t need much here, it shouldn?t leak- it is just a back up.
It is worth keeping old fittings for jobs like this.
That's it, thanks.
I managed to get both ends of the radiator loose & reseal the leaks. Fortunately the carpet in that room is going to be thrown out soon, & there is just a crawl space under the floor.
Yes, thanks.
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