Replacing Radiators before boiler replacement

savings37

Thought id have a test of the drain valve and the valve turns but nothing comes out. I'll have to drain the system from a rad valve and then try and service that valve with as little as possible water in the system...oh what fun

BUFF

savings37 said:

Thought id have a test of the drain valve and the valve turns but nothing comes out.

You probably did but just checking - did you open the air vent on that rad at the same time?

savings37

BUFF said:

savings37 said:

Thought id have a test of the drain valve and the valve turns but nothing comes out.

You probably did but just checking - did you open the air vent on that rad at the same time?

Yes, I did open the air vent a little. 

The drain valve at the lowest part of the system is I'd imagine bunged up.

If I can drain the system from the radiator lock shield valve that should drain enough out of the system. It's a job for the weekend now though as I haven't enough time if I have any problems 🫣

ThisIsWeird

Ah, the learning curve begins

ThisIsWeird

Is yours a sealed system, S37? If so, once it's depressurised - and that will likely take an unexpectedly small amount of water - you'll be surprised at how little additional water comes out any disconnected pipe. (Rads excepted - they have tons...)

The annoying aspect, tho', is that it will continue to trickle, and often 'glug'...

A 'vented' system, on the other hand, will tend to completely empty its pipe contents, F&E tank and al'.

The last wee jobbie I did on mine - replacing a couple of 2-port valves - didn't require any 'draining' at all. Once depressurised, the remaining trickle coming out the pipe ends was slowly collected in a basin as I casually swapped the valves. A short top-up, and all up and running.

savings37

ThisIsWeird said:

Is yours a sealed system, S37? If so, once it's depressurised - and that will likely take an unexpectedly small amount of water - you'll be surprised at how little additional water comes out any disconnected pipe. (Rads excepted - they have tons...)

The annoying aspect, tho', is that it will continue to trickle, and often 'glug'...

A 'vented' system, on the other hand, will tend to completely empty its pipe contents, F&E tank and al'.

The last wee jobbie I did on mine - replacing a couple of 2-port valves - didn't require any 'draining' at all. Once depressurised, the remaining trickle coming out the pipe ends was slowly collected in a basin as I casually swapped the valves. A short top-up, and all up and running.

My system has the header tank in the loft, it's not a sealed system

ThisIsWeird

Ok, it'll all empty then.

You could - if you wanted - plug the outlet inside the F&E tank near its bottom. If the water is scuzzy, tho', might as well let it all drain.

The F&E will soon be history

plumb1_2

savings37 said:

BUFF said:

savings37 said:

Thought id have a test of the drain valve and the valve turns but nothing comes out.

You probably did but just checking - did you open the air vent on that rad at the same time?

Yes, I did open the air vent a little. 

The drain valve at the lowest part of the system is I'd imagine bunged up.

It’ll bunged up with the washer, happens all the time 

markin

Did you you give it a good bang?

Fitting a magna clean is easy and may as well be done now, I would also drain and refill to get it a little cleaner before doing the rads.

savings37

Well I had a go today and fitted a small rad, drained through the rad lock shield. Had a bit of an air lock when I refilled, managed to do enough bleeding to get it sorted. 

I'm going to do my bathroom rad as I want to fit a towel rail with it, the rest maybe have fitted by the plumber.

One thing I noticed when I drained the system, I was working on the lowest rad but the other downstairs rads all had water trying to come out of the bleed valve when I opened them. Almost as if the system wasn't fully empty 😕