"John Rumm" wrote in message
...
Dave Plowman wrote:

You know the things with the little square brass peg sticking out of the
end and a hose connector. Having found a suitable bit of hose and
attached it, draped it through the house (needing to leave a door open
in the soon to be unheated kitchen), managed to unstick the valve where
some monkey has mangled the peg with pliers in the past and then painted
over it, and then found a low enough profile container to stick under
the valve where it is now leaking a mixture of water, sludge and
inhibitor over the carpet I was thinking there ought to be a better way!


You can get ones which have a gland seal - more like a tap - and don't
leak, at at least if in good nick.

I was aware they are not all as crap as the ones used on my system (just
most), but I would guess that the person who fitted/had fitted the
things in the first place went for the cheapest and nastiest (the fact
the most of the radiators are all different styles and brands might also
suggest there was some economising going on!)

If retro fitting I might as well go for the full monty as outlined since
IIRC the gland seal drain cocks actually cost more than an inline
service valve anyway.

Both cost only pennies (well, half a quid-ish) but the traditional drain-off
cock has the advantage that you can turn it off positively whereas the
ball-type service valve has to be carefully set to its off position.