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Slight Leak from Bathroom Towel Rail

Hi
I wonder if you can help. I have a leak from the pipe leading into (or out of) my towel rail in my bathroom. Both pipes leading to the towel rail have a small screw midway along the pipe leading to the radiator. One of these has started to leak through the screw so I assume it's a washer that's gone ???? but I'm no expert.

Luckily we live in a house and the bathroom is upstairs so we partially drained the system yesterday evening to stop the leak but I assume we can't put the heating on as there's only half the water in it that there should be - we are not going to try though.

Can anyone help me identify what this screw thingy might be, how easy it is to replace and whether it's an easy job that possibly my OH could do or whether we need to call someone in.

Thanks
Ms C x
Thrifty Till 50 Then Spend Till the End
You can please some of the people some of the time, all of the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time but you can never please all of the people all of the time

Comments

  • Chunks
    Chunks Posts: 712 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts Combo Breaker
    Might be obvious to others but can you post a pic of the part that's leaking?
  • Ms_Chocaholic
    Ms_Chocaholic Posts: 13,167 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Aaaaaaaaaargh I don't know how to - post a pic that is
    Can anyone help?
    Thrifty Till 50 Then Spend Till the End
    You can please some of the people some of the time, all of the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time but you can never please all of the people all of the time
  • It sounds like an isolator valve... easy cheap fix.. PM if you want to know more.
  • Ms_Chocaholic
    Ms_Chocaholic Posts: 13,167 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    edited 9 December 2011 at 9:03AM
    oooh I will, give me a mo - I had tried googling this morning but because I don't know what it was called it was difficult.

    Re uploading photo - I've been on here a long time and heard people talk about Photobucket, I've just joined and uploaded pic there, hope this works
    http://s1121.photobucket.com/albums/l505/MsChocaholic/?action=view&current=IMG_2029.jpg

    it's not very clear, sorry x
    Thrifty Till 50 Then Spend Till the End
    You can please some of the people some of the time, all of the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time but you can never please all of the people all of the time
  • Ms_Chocaholic
    Ms_Chocaholic Posts: 13,167 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    neiljules - I've PM'd you x
    Thrifty Till 50 Then Spend Till the End
    You can please some of the people some of the time, all of the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time but you can never please all of the people all of the time
  • looks like the isolator is 1/2 under the floor tiles?
    You will have to dig it out to get to the other end.
  • sorry ms chocaholic but i'm a plumber and thats not an easy one, like the guy above says if u want to change the valve, u'll have to get access to both nuts (which tighten the olives to the pipes) on either side of the valve, so looks like that tile will have to come up and then dig around the valve enough to get a spanner in there. U will also have to drain the central heating system, also if that pipe continues up and goes straight into the bottom of the towel rail, u'll have to at the least loosen the brackets holding the towel rail to the wall so u can move it 2cm up to get the valve out. like i said not an easy one, probably better to get a professional in

    If it was me in my house, i'd try a quick fix, but theres a good chance it will make the leak worse, the check valve in the pic is operated by a flat head screw driver (it is in the 'shut' position at the moment) chances are that if you turn it to a different position (e.g 45 degrees anticlockwise, it may stop leaking, but like i said it is just as likely to start leaking even more

    btw dont buy valves from wickes, they are poor quality, go to a local plumbing shop
  • 27col
    27col Posts: 6,554 Forumite
    God!. There really is some rubbish plumbing in this country. But, no doubt, elsewhere too.
    I can afford anything that I want.
    Just so long as I don't want much.
This discussion has been closed.
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