Radiator replacement

neilmcl

alice60 said:

Dear All, would you advise me to replace TRVs or  not? Many thanks.

No, not at all. Why would you want to?

alice60

Because my old are 20 years old. If I am replacing radiators should I replace the valves?

Jeepers_Creepers

Not worth getting someone out now to swap the valves. Best to wait until one fails - it might never do - and then swap all the old ones at the same time since the system will be drained down.

The guy who swapped your rads clearly wanted to avoid draining down, so he went for a cosmetic compromise instead. He now has a somewhat dissatisfied customer.

It's a shame he didn't give you the various options from the start, but he didn't. I guess I'd be personally inclined to not use him again.

You aren't meant to know what all the options are beforehand - you are a laypeep. That's why tradespeeps should be more thoughtful and not just say to themselves "This'll do...".

But, it's done now. Move on with your life :-)

neilmcl

alice60 said:

Because my old are 20 years old. If I am replacing radiators should I replace the valves?

But you've already replaced the radiators , no?

If you still have some to do then yes, it's generally a good idea to replace the TRVs as well f they're as old but there's little point changing a working valve on a radiator that's now been installed.

alice60

I only paid a deposit. Should I ask him to replace the valves. Was it a part of the job? The valves which came free with the radiators  I gave to him as I thought the old ones were ok. Thank you.

Jeepers_Creepers

alice60 said:

I only paid a deposit. Should I ask him to replace the valves. Was it a part of the job? The valves which came free with the radiators  I gave to him as I thought the old ones were ok. Thank you.

I have to say, for him to not fit the valves that actually came with the rads seems a pretty poor move. Unless he explained something like "Your old valves are fine, and are actually better quality than these new ones"? Even so, he should have given you an informed choice.

Coupled with the cosmetic compromise on the pipe mods, it's not impressive all round.

All-in-all, he is not a top-notch plumber. It's your call on what to do about it, if anything. I cannot comment on the amount charged for the job - I just don't know.

alice60

Also there are holes behind the radiator left from previous brackets. Should he fix it? Thank you

Jeepers_Creepers

How many has he fitted, and how many still to go?

What's the TOTAL labour charge?

alice60

The wall scratched a bit by the radiator. I am not worried about this as I have some more scratches and will paint it.

Jeepers_Creepers

I think you need an actual plumber to reply and advise on these issues.

There's some good specific forums such as 'ultimate handyman' and similar.