Radiator Leaking

Jaykay7

Hi all

One of my radiators is attached to moveable bracket which I tried to remove last night as I wanted to remove wallpaper from behind. The rad seemed to move without moving the pipes too much, which are about 8/10mm.

An hour later I looked & it was leaking from just below the nut attached to the copper pipe, not a great deal but I looked this morning & it was still leaking.

Any ideas how to fix it? Do I need to just tighten the nut????
Or do I need a Plumber?
Thanks

chrissyfp1

I had the same problem last week and with a bit of help and confidence building from peeps on here, I put some welly into it and tightened the nut as much as I could without pulling the rad off the wall. Problem solved!!

Edit to add link to previous post. http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=2219313&highlight=leaking+radiator+valve

Edit to add.... ignore everything I wrote as I didn't read the post properly!! Sorry

stef73

You might want to change the olive before you tighten it up , they only cost pence from plum merchants .

Wookey

A simple tighten of the nut may solve your problem (do not overtighten), if it doesn't then replacing the olive will be the next course of action, this will require a drain down or the water stopped in such a way to allow work to be carried out on the live side of the rad valve. If you do overtighten the nut then it may well require a new piece of piping installed, a simple 1/4 turn should be enough to reseal it with the application of jointing compound.

ormus

changing the olive is not that simple. removing the old olive can be very hard, (if not impossible), without damaging the 15mm copper pipe.

keystone

Whats a tad concerning here is that everyone so far seems to have missed that the OPs pipework is microbore NOT 15mm!

8/10mm pipe is extremely maleable and very easy to disturb leading to leaks. Because its so soft its nearly nigh impossible to remove the olive to replace without damaging the pipe.

Its also more than probable that the microbore is fitted to the rad valve using a reducing set which offers other complications.

Unless you can lose the leak by just nipping it up a bit I would advise you to find a plumber. Its too easy to b..ls it up is microbore!

Cheers

keith969

ormus wrote: »

changing the olive is not that simple. removing the old olive can be very hard, (if not impossible), without damaging the 15mm copper pipe.

The way I do it (which purists might object to, but its always worked for me) is get a small hacksaw blade and very carefully saw the olive a bit. Then get a wide bladed screwdriver and twist the blade in the saw cut until the olive cracks and can be removed.

Obviously you have to be able to saw it without touching the copper pipe!

Edit: missed the bit about microbore... yep call a plumber!

keystone

On microbore Keith?

Cheers

Tucker

I've nudged my microbore pipes a few times with a hoover. No, rewind that, my misses has nudged them. I can't go admitting to hooving on an open forum like this. My jobs involve tools and power accessories!!!

My son also fell on the thermastat when he was 2 and it leaked. On each occasion tightening the nut with an adjustable solved the problem.