Radiator leaking through ceiling light

Lady_K

I might have a go at tightening the pipe bolt, if I do it a tiny bit so not to overtighten it should be worth a try. I want to have a shower first though just in case anything drastic happens.

It must be a dummy cap its more pointed than the one in the picture but its not under that bit that seems to be leaking its the bolt below it. I watched the video I am right to turn it clockwise arnt I to try and tighten? I dont have the pft tape at the mo so I'll have to try without first.

EliteHeat

There is no point turning the valves off. If the leak is on the pipework, it will still leak. If the leak is either on the radiator side union then it will still leak. If the leak is on the radiator connector it will still leak.

Be aware that the video posted is extremely misleading if not incorrect. It misleads a watcher into thinking that a valve can be replaced using the existing nut / olive which is most definitely not always the case. You could also be forgiven for thinking that you can remove a valve body without draining a system and finally, they make no mention of the fact that you need to undo the radiator bleed valves to successfully drain a heating system.

The bit about using grips to remove a radiator connector was also a complete nonsense.

Be a bit careful. Sunday is no time to start doing stuff like this and things sometimes have a habit of getting much worse very, very quickly.

P.S. Your pointy cap is covering a lockshield valve which you need a small spanner, grips or pliers to turn off - not that you need to anyway.

Lady_K

I tried to tighten the nut with the spanner, I knew I had to be very careful so aimed to do it a millimeter at a time but when I put the spanner on and put next to no pressure on it turned very quickly asthough it wasnt tightened at all, it didn't turn too far as I was very surprised by this so stopped straight away as I hadn't even started to apply pressure really. When I did this it appeared to me to turn the whole thing, the top of that white cover turned with it it probably turn a quarter turn in all but I had not intended this much. it did make the water come out faster so much that I could then visibly see the droplets coming out of the nut and running down.

I have now turned it back again and its gone back to about the same speed of leak before so I'm not sure if I am turning it the right way. I did go clockwise as I looked at the pipe from above the white cover should I be going the other way in this case?

EliteHeat

Lady_K wrote: »

I tried to tighten the nut with the spanner, I knew I had to be very careful so aimed to do it a millimeter at a time but when I put the spanner on and put next to no pressure on it turned very quickly asthough it wasnt tightened at all, it didn't turn too far as I was very surprised by this so stopped straight away as I hadn't even started to apply pressure really. When I did this it appeared to me to turn the whole thing, the top of that white cover turned with it it probably turn a quarter turn in all but I had not intended this much. it did make the water come out faster so much that I could then visibly see the droplets coming out of the nut and running down.

I have now turned it back again and its gone back to about the same speed of leak before so I'm not sure if I am turning it the right way. I did go clockwise as I looked at the pipe from above the white cover should I be going the other way in this case?

Other way. You are now 'in front' of the nut, as it were.

Lady_K

Thanx again I did try to turn it the other way anti clockwise and it was hard to move and actually didnt feel like it had moved at all, a miniscule amount. It must have moved though because it was enough to stop the leak. I've put the heating on now to see if its enough to keep it stopped with that on seeing as it leaked faster beforewith it on. So far so good but I'm going to leave the tissue around for a while to make realy sure. If it does get a bit wet while the heatings on I'll just turn it a teeny bit more.

I hope this has been the reason I've needed to top up so much. I just don't think the installers were very good at tightening things up because as soon as they left the house after installation I had water pouring through my lounge ceiling from a radiator connection in the bedroom plus another untightened one in the hall rotted the floor under the carpet and this radiator in question now was one they have had to come back 3 times for problems with connections below the floorboards and other stuff too ridiculous to go into here but as it was still needing topping up so much I knew there was something else.

If this doesnt stop the need for topping up I just dread to think whats going on above my kitchen ceiling as I know they did a lot of pipework above there as the boiler was moved from loft to kitchen and there is a crack on the ceiling above where the boiler is on the wall.

Is there any easy way to find out where leaks could be on a sealed system without ripping up floorboards? its a combination condensing boiler

EliteHeat

Lady_K wrote: »

Is there any easy way to find out where leaks could be on a sealed system without ripping up floorboards? its a combination condensing boiler

Not really no. The underfloor connections should ideally be soldered and these tend not to give any trouble at all.

It doesn't sound like your installers were very good.

Hope this is the last of your problems.

Browntoa

glad you turned up later , was doing my best to help her out in the meantime