Hi,

I opened the central, square-headedscrww on a central heating
drain tap to drain the CH (surprise !) Flow was a bit reluctant at
first and the movement of the screw a bit "rough". I sprayed a little
WD40 around the screw and it moved a lot easier. After draining I
tightened up the central screw but there is a slow but steady drip
from the drain pipe. I have obtained a replacement washer and have
seen on another drain tap that the whole of the central part itself
unscrews. Now the part that unscrews from the body has a small "rim"
that is milled. I have tried to unscrew this with a pair of
"electricians" pliers but this just slipped (looking for some more
meaty, bull-nosed pliers). Is there a "knack" for loosening this
central part of the drain tap without 1) stripping the milled edge
making it difficult to tighten when re-fixing, 2) applying so much
torque that the soldered joint between the tap and the pipe gets torn
apart. I don't want to risk damaging the drain pipe and have to
replace the tap - the pipe on which the drain tap is fixed projects
only a small way through the wall. It would be fiddly to replace a
damaged drain tap on a damaged pipe

Thanks for any tips.


Clive