why havn't they implemented a drain hole in the center for easy draining of them,instead of having bloody water gushing out of one end?
I know you can by a drain tap that fits on before the pipe but if you have not done the CH installation yourself its a bind trying to catch water in a receptical very low down.
As mentioned on earlier occasions, I have made a gadget which can be used to pump air into a radiator through the bleed screw hole, thus expelling the water into the F&E tank, leaving very little to drain out. It looks like this:
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mine is a vented system, it would probably also work with an unvented system if you unpressurised it first.
Turn off the lockshield & TRV/whatever, crack open the fitting & suck the water away rather than try & collect it in a tray. The suction will pull the water stream sideways, around pipes etc. Just need to judge how much water is present to avoid vac shutting off.
There's no need to get any air in the system! You pump air into the dead space at the top of the rad with both valves shut. Then you crack open one of the valves, and you can hear the water flowing out. When it stops, you close the valve again and pump some more air in. When the rad is empty, the last drop of water - accompanied by a very small amount of air - makes a rude noise as it goes through the valve. You immediately close the valve and release the air pressure. You can then safely undo the valve union nuts in the knowledge that there is very little remaining water to catch.
I cannot see why they don't implement an isolating valve on the both rad end connectors like this...
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way when it comes to take the rad off the wall you just turn them in the shut position,turn of both normal valves and hey presto no damn water on the floor or back and forth to empty the bowl.
I bought a pack of those and I've had problems with a couple of them (I'm guessing its poor build, not poor use). The main problem is that they leak after a while, and the leaking comes out around the screw that is used to work the valve. So I won't install these any more.
The other problem is that the innards reduce the (presumed) 15mm pipe to
10mm or less, which I guess can lead to flow problems as well as encourage water-flowing noise too. Much better to have a "full bore" valve instead.
In general I applaud the idea of isolation valves, but I'd recommend isolating a cluster of radiators.
In my heated conservatory I used those lockshield valves that have an additional draw-off pipe. Much easier for drain-down.
Did you see my earlier post with a picture of my gadget? It has a car-type Schrader valve at its input end, so you simply pump air in, using a car foot pump - operated by hand.
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