Drain Central Heating System
 

I need to drain the system down to do some pipe work to move an
upstairs radiator but i have not got any draining points. I'm told a
quick way is to remove a downstairs radiator screw on some kind of
valve to the radiator feed pipe and fix a hose to the other end.
Despite looking i have never seen such a valve, can anyone tell me if
they exist and where to get one.

Drain Central Heating System
 

On Sun, 15 Oct 2006 08:46:26 -0700, Barnsey wrote:

I need to drain the system down to do some pipe work to move an
upstairs radiator but i have not got any draining points. I'm told a
quick way is to remove a downstairs radiator screw on some kind of
valve to the radiator feed pipe and fix a hose to the other end.
Despite looking i have never seen such a valve, can anyone tell me if
they exist and where to get one.

Occasionally one comes across systems with no drain points - or
defective drain points.

The procedure is to firstly drain the lowest radiator: turn it off both
ends and empty its contents by opening the union between the radiator and
one of the valve. The the radiator is removed.

What you do next will depend on the type of radiator valve you have.
The two most likely cases are you have something which you can connect
15mm pipe to - in which case you supply one back nut and olive.
The 15mm pipe will be good to attach to a hose in some way.

Or you will have a coupling there are two ways you could go about joining
to to this:
Either a 3/4" female threaded fitting or extract the other end of the
coupling out of the radiator and then you will a 1/2" threaded connector
which a 1/2 female fitting to 15mm compression (say) will let you attach a
15mm pipe and a hose.

If you have something of a height drop on the hose you may be able to get
the hose 'syphon' or 'draw' much of the water out of the pipe work this
should make the installation of a drain point easier.

--
Ed Sirett - Property maintainer and registered gas fitter.
The FAQ for uk.diy is at http://www.diyfaq.org.uk
Gas fitting FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/GasFitting.html
Sealed CH FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/SealedCH.html
Choosing a Boiler FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/BoilerChoice.html
Gas Fitting Standards Docs he http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/GasFittingStandards

Drain Central Heating System
 

Ed Sirett wrote:

If you have something of a height drop on the hose you may be able to get
the hose 'syphon' or 'draw' much of the water out of the pipe work this
should make the installation of a drain point easier.

Or install a self cutting tap of the type used for washing machines as a
drain point.

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

Drain Central Heating System
 

On Mon, 16 Oct 2006 05:41:07 +0100, John Rumm wrote:

Ed Sirett wrote:

If you have something of a height drop on the hose you may be able to get
the hose 'syphon' or 'draw' much of the water out of the pipe work this
should make the installation of a drain point easier.

Or install a self cutting tap of the type used for washing machines as a
drain point.

.... and use an old washing machine hose to drain the system... neat.

The hole made by these taps is pretty small - OK when fed with mains
pressure but as a draining method it might be quite slow. Or are you
suggest doing this as a one off prior to installing a more effective drain?

--
Ed Sirett - Property maintainer and registered gas fitter.
The FAQ for uk.diy is at http://www.diyfaq.org.uk
Gas fitting FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/GasFitting.html
Sealed CH FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/SealedCH.html
Choosing a Boiler FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/BoilerChoice.html
Gas Fitting Standards Docs he http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/GasFittingStandards

Drain Central Heating System
 

Ed Sirett wrote:

On Mon, 16 Oct 2006 05:41:07 +0100, John Rumm wrote:


Ed Sirett wrote:


If you have something of a height drop on the hose you may be able to get
the hose 'syphon' or 'draw' much of the water out of the pipe work this
should make the installation of a drain point easier.

Or install a self cutting tap of the type used for washing machines as a
drain point.


... and use an old washing machine hose to drain the system... neat.

The hole made by these taps is pretty small - OK when fed with mains
pressure but as a draining method it might be quite slow. Or are you
suggest doing this as a one off prior to installing a more effective drain?

Just as a one off - many of them are pretty large an ugly for a
permenent fix, but they are easy to attach a hose to.

My own preference is to install a permenent hard piped drain through a
wall into a suitable gully, with a screwdriver operated service valve.
That way you can drain down cleanly and neatly without need of hoses or
leaking drain taps.

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

Drain Central Heating System
 

On Mon, 16 Oct 2006 21:01:46 +0100, John Rumm wrote:

Ed Sirett wrote:

On Mon, 16 Oct 2006 05:41:07 +0100, John Rumm wrote:


Ed Sirett wrote:


If you have something of a height drop on the hose you may be able to get
the hose 'syphon' or 'draw' much of the water out of the pipe work this
should make the installation of a drain point easier.

Or install a self cutting tap of the type used for washing machines as a
drain point.


... and use an old washing machine hose to drain the system... neat.

The hole made by these taps is pretty small - OK when fed with mains
pressure but as a draining method it might be quite slow. Or are you
suggest doing this as a one off prior to installing a more effective drain?

Just as a one off - many of them are pretty large an ugly for a
permenent fix, but they are easy to attach a hose to.

My own preference is to install a permenent hard piped drain through a
wall into a suitable gully, with a screwdriver operated service valve.
That way you can drain down cleanly and neatly without need of hoses or
leaking drain taps.

Agreed. And you can fill the system without bleeding. Then open the
valve(s) to do a pretty good "poor man's powerflush" using the air
pressure stored in each radiator to drive the crap out of the circuit with
attitude.


--
Ed Sirett - Property maintainer and registered gas fitter.
The FAQ for uk.diy is at http://www.diyfaq.org.uk
Gas fitting FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/GasFitting.html
Sealed CH FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/SealedCH.html
Choosing a Boiler FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/BoilerChoice.html
Gas Fitting Standards Docs he http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/GasFittingStandards

Drain Central Heating System
 

Barnsey wrote:
I need to drain the system down to do some pipe work to move an
upstairs radiator but i have not got any draining points. I'm told a
quick way is to remove a downstairs radiator screw on some kind of
valve to the radiator feed pipe and fix a hose to the other end.
Despite looking i have never seen such a valve, can anyone tell me if
they exist and where to get one.

close the feed valve first, then close off all the rad valves including
the one you want to work on so the rads dont drain out, then perpare to
open the line with a five gallon plastic drum ready to stick into the
pipe to take the water. Find a spot high enough off the floor to do
this and you wont have much of a mess. Have a supply of rags in place
to mop up.
finally open the rad you want to remove and it will drain out the same
way and dont forget to instal a drain valve before you connect up
again. Its only a pound or two.

Drain Central Heating System
 

On Oct 16, 9:46 pm, Ed Sirett wrote:
On Mon, 16 Oct 2006 21:01:46 +0100, John Rumm wrote:
Ed Sirett wrote:

On Mon, 16 Oct 2006 05:41:07 +0100, John Rumm wrote:

Ed Sirett wrote:

If you have something of a height drop on the hose you may be able to get
the hose 'syphon' or 'draw' much of the water out of the pipe work this
should make the installation of a drain point easier.

Or install a self cutting tap of the type used for washing machines as a
drain point.

... and use an old washing machine hose to drain the system... neat.

The hole made by these taps is pretty small - OK when fed with mains
pressure but as a draining method it might be quite slow. Or are you
suggest doing this as a one off prior to installing a more effective drain?

Just as a one off - many of them are pretty large an ugly for a
permenent fix, but they are easy to attach a hose to.

My own preference is to install a permenent hard piped drain through a
wall into a suitable gully, with a screwdriver operated service valve.
That way you can drain down cleanly and neatly without need of hoses or
leaking drain taps.

Agreed. And you can fill the system without bleeding. Then open the
valve(s) to do a pretty good "poor man's powerflush" using the air
pressure stored in each radiator to drive the crap out of the circuit with
attitude.

Please tell us more! How do you get enough air pressure in the
radiators.

MBQ

Drain Central Heating System
 

wrote:

Please tell us more! How do you get enough air pressure in the
radiators.

MBQ

dont mind him. he is talking through his hat.

Drain Central Heating System
 

On Tue, 17 Oct 2006 06:35:41 -0700, noelogara wrote:


wrote:

Please tell us more! How do you get enough air pressure in the
radiators.

MBQ

dont mind him. he is talking through his hat.

Simply fill the system but don't bleed the rads.
The open the valve and get a lot debris out along with a lot of water.
Works best if you use full bore valves connected to the 22mm part of the
circuit.




--
Ed Sirett - Property maintainer and registered gas fitter.
The FAQ for uk.diy is at http://www.diyfaq.org.uk
Gas fitting FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/GasFitting.html
Sealed CH FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/SealedCH.html
Choosing a Boiler FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/BoilerChoice.html
Gas Fitting Standards Docs he http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/GasFittingStandards

Drain Central Heating System
 

On 15 Oct 2006 08:46:26 -0700, in uk.d-i-y "Barnsey"
wrote:

I need to drain the system down to do some pipe work to move an
upstairs radiator but i have not got any draining points. I'm told a
quick way is to remove a downstairs radiator screw on some kind of
valve to the radiator feed pipe and fix a hose to the other end.
Despite looking i have never seen such a valve, can anyone tell me if
they exist and where to get one.


If you have an open vented system you can do a surprising amount of work
on the pipes without draining at all, if you get a pair of "Drayton
Drain Easy" plugs (or make up your own equivalent). These are used to
block the vent pipe and the feed out from the header tank, then you can
cut into a 15mm pipe low down in the system and install a drain valve.
Only a cup full or two of water has escaped when I have done this, the
natural vacuum holding back the rest in the system contents.

Same principle for disconnecting 'live' radiator valves. Maybe you
should try it on one of those first, then if there is something about
your system that prevents the vacuum from developing, you can just
tighten up the valve again and use Ed and John's advice.

Drayton Drain Easy Kit http://tinyurl.com/y3kp96

or in full
http://www.invensyscontrolseurope.co...AINEASYKIT.htm

Note, these will not work on a presurised/sealed system.

If you decide to close off both radiator valves, do make a note of the
LSV settings so you can restore the balance setting after, just in case
your system is actually balanced. If not, see
http://www.diyfaq.org.uk/plumbing/rad-balance.html

Phil
The uk.d-i-y FAQ is at http://www.diyfaq.org.uk/
The Google uk.d-i-y archive is at http://tinyurl.com/65kwq
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