We moved in to our new house in May, and have only just recently turned the
heating on. I have been downstairs to find it was seriously cold. Closer
inspection revealed that the radiator in the living room needed bleeding,
the one in the hall is working but rusty!

Worse case is the one in our kitchen, it was stone cold, I tried turning the
valve at the end of the radiator to turn it up. Nothing happened, it was
just turning round and round! I ended up taking th cover of and getting an
adjustabel spanner to it, i turned it and hot water immedialty filled the
pipe, passed the valve then spurted out on to the floor! The joint is
leaking, I have tightened the valve back up bu its still dripping!

1) Is there anything I can do easily to fix this, the seal seems to be in
place, can I get some magical tape/ gunk to sort it on a temporary basis?
The radiator took quite a knock when we tried to get our washing machine
past it, is it possible it just needs refitting or should i replace the
whole valve?

As it looks like the radiator in the hall needs replacing and the one in
the kitchen will need removing from the wall or the valve replacing can
anyone tell me if
http://www.diy.com/bq/product/produc...CATID=17668 1

woudl work with our current heating system. At the moment we have a
thermostat in the hall that despite always been turned up the bedroom never
gets any warmer, we were wondering while we have to drain the whole CH
system if it was worth fitting them on a few key radiators? How would this
conflict/ehance our current system.

Any advice greatfully recieved I know very little about plumbing, limit of
my knowledge has got me in this mess!! A little knowledge is dangerous.

Thee_Psycho wrote:
We moved in to our new house in May, and have only just recently
turned the heating on. I have been downstairs to find it was
seriously cold. Closer inspection revealed that the radiator in the
living room needed bleeding,
the one in the hall is working but rusty!

Worse case is the one in our kitchen, it was stone cold, I tried
turning the valve at the end of the radiator to turn it up. Nothing
happened, it was
just turning round and round! I ended up taking th cover of and
getting an adjustabel spanner to it, i turned it and hot water
immedialty filled the
pipe, passed the valve then spurted out on to the floor! The joint is
leaking, I have tightened the valve back up bu its still dripping!
Where is it leaking?
Is it where the valve connects to the feed pipe or where it connects to the
rad?
In either case you could try tightening the joint nut a little.
You should hold the body of the valve with another spanner/wrench to stop it
turning when you do this.

The big lesson here is to check out/maintain the CH in the summer when its
easier to fix.

"BillR" wrote in message
...
Thee_Psycho wrote:
We moved in to our new house in May, and have only just recently
turned the heating on. I have been downstairs to find it was
seriously cold. Closer inspection revealed that the radiator in the
living room needed bleeding,
the one in the hall is working but rusty!

Worse case is the one in our kitchen, it was stone cold, I tried
turning the valve at the end of the radiator to turn it up. Nothing
happened, it was
just turning round and round! I ended up taking th cover of and
getting an adjustabel spanner to it, i turned it and hot water
immedialty filled the
pipe, passed the valve then spurted out on to the floor! The joint is
leaking, I have tightened the valve back up bu its still dripping!
Where is it leaking?
Is it where the valve connects to the feed pipe or where it connects to
the
rad?
In either case you could try tightening the joint nut a little.
You should hold the body of the valve with another spanner/wrench to stop
it
turning when you do this.

The big lesson here is to check out/maintain the CH in the summer when its
easier to fix.

Its leaking, at both ends now where the valve meets the radiator, tried
tightening th nut but will little luck. Yes I realise now I should have
checked the heating earlier, weird thing is when we viewed the house all the
radiators worked, I made a point of checking them, and the survey didn;t
flag anything dodgy up. Ho hum!

Thee_Psycho wrote:
"BillR" wrote in message
...
Thee_Psycho wrote:
We moved in to our new house in May, and have only just recently
turned the heating on. I have been downstairs to find it was
seriously cold. Closer inspection revealed that the radiator in the
living room needed bleeding,
the one in the hall is working but rusty!

Worse case is the one in our kitchen, it was stone cold, I tried
turning the valve at the end of the radiator to turn it up. Nothing
happened, it was
just turning round and round! I ended up taking th cover of and
getting an adjustabel spanner to it, i turned it and hot water
immedialty filled the
pipe, passed the valve then spurted out on to the floor! The joint
is leaking, I have tightened the valve back up bu its still
dripping!
Where is it leaking?
Is it where the valve connects to the feed pipe or where it connects
to the rad?
In either case you could try tightening the joint nut a little.
You should hold the body of the valve with another spanner/wrench to
stop it turning when you do this.

The big lesson here is to check out/maintain the CH in the summer
when its easier to fix.

Its leaking, at both ends now where the valve meets the radiator,
tried tightening th nut but will little luck. Yes I realise now I
should have checked the heating earlier, weird thing is when we
viewed the house all the radiators worked, I made a point of checking
them, and the survey didn;t flag anything dodgy up. Ho hum!

What you really need to do is to drain the whole system, then replace the
faulty valves and possibly also the rusty radiator. In order to ensure
against leaks, use PTFE tape around all threads Then flush the whole system
with clean water followed by a flushing agent (eg Fernox) to clean out the
system (this may need to be left in for a few days - follow the instructions
carefully). Then drain & flush the system again and refill, incuding a good
anti-corrosion inhibitor (Fernox again?). The exercise is time consuming
because you have to bleed all radiators at every refill, but it's really not
that difficult. Make sure that you have a separate header tank for the
heating system before attempting this. It's worth it in the end. BTW, have
you considered a claim against the surveyor.

Terry D.

"Terry D" wrote in message
...
Thee_Psycho wrote:
"BillR" wrote in message
...
Thee_Psycho wrote:
We moved in to our new house in May, and have only just recently
turned the heating on. I have been downstairs to find it was
seriously cold. Closer inspection revealed that the radiator in the
living room needed bleeding,
the one in the hall is working but rusty!

Worse case is the one in our kitchen, it was stone cold, I tried
turning the valve at the end of the radiator to turn it up. Nothing
happened, it was
just turning round and round! I ended up taking th cover of and
getting an adjustabel spanner to it, i turned it and hot water
immedialty filled the
pipe, passed the valve then spurted out on to the floor! The joint
is leaking, I have tightened the valve back up bu its still
dripping!
Where is it leaking?
Is it where the valve connects to the feed pipe or where it connects
to the rad?
In either case you could try tightening the joint nut a little.
You should hold the body of the valve with another spanner/wrench to
stop it turning when you do this.

The big lesson here is to check out/maintain the CH in the summer
when its easier to fix.

Its leaking, at both ends now where the valve meets the radiator,
tried tightening th nut but will little luck. Yes I realise now I
should have checked the heating earlier, weird thing is when we
viewed the house all the radiators worked, I made a point of checking
them, and the survey didn;t flag anything dodgy up. Ho hum!

What you really need to do is to drain the whole system, then replace the
faulty valves and possibly also the rusty radiator. In order to ensure
against leaks, use PTFE tape around all threads Then flush the whole
system
with clean water followed by a flushing agent (eg Fernox) to clean out the
system (this may need to be left in for a few days - follow the
instructions
carefully). Then drain & flush the system again and refill, incuding a
good
anti-corrosion inhibitor (Fernox again?). The exercise is time consuming
because you have to bleed all radiators at every refill, but it's really
not
that difficult. Make sure that you have a separate header tank for the
heating system before attempting this. It's worth it in the end. BTW,
have
you considered a claim against the surveyor.

Terry D.

Tempting to moan at the Surveyor, but I didn;t go for a full survey as the
property was only 9 years old and is housing association property too, so
something I should have checked myself. Think its looking like I will have
to drain the whole system to replace the radiator and valve, but what is a
header tank? I have my boiler in the kitchen, a hot water tank in the airing
cupboard and a cold water tank in the loft. Or is my Cold water tank split
in to two, wither seperate feeds for the heating and ho****er. I haven't
paid much attention to it, since moving in. Sorry for the lack of detail!

Terry D wrote:

snip

What you really need to do is to drain the whole system, then replace the
faulty valves and possibly also the rusty radiator. In order to ensure
against leaks, use PTFE tape around all threads Then flush the whole system
with clean water followed by a flushing agent (eg Fernox) to clean out the
system (this may need to be left in for a few days - follow the instructions
carefully). Then drain & flush the system again and refill, incuding a good
anti-corrosion inhibitor (Fernox again?).

snip

However, if one rad is rusty the rest might not be too clever either, so
be prepared that flushing might find more leaks
Which I suppose is a good thing, if you are ready to deal with them.

Lee
--
Never summon Anything you can't banish.
-
To reply use lee.blaver and ntlworld com

Thee_Psycho wrote:
"Terry D" wrote in message
...
Thee_Psycho wrote:
"BillR" wrote in message
...
Thee_Psycho wrote:
We moved in to our new house in May, and have only just recently
turned the heating on. I have been downstairs to find it was
seriously cold. Closer inspection revealed that the radiator in
the living room needed bleeding,
the one in the hall is working but rusty!

Worse case is the one in our kitchen, it was stone cold, I tried
turning the valve at the end of the radiator to turn it up.
Nothing happened, it was
just turning round and round! I ended up taking th cover of and
getting an adjustabel spanner to it, i turned it and hot water
immedialty filled the
pipe, passed the valve then spurted out on to the floor! The joint
is leaking, I have tightened the valve back up bu its still
dripping!
Where is it leaking?
Is it where the valve connects to the feed pipe or where it
connects to the rad?
In either case you could try tightening the joint nut a little.
You should hold the body of the valve with another spanner/wrench
to stop it turning when you do this.

The big lesson here is to check out/maintain the CH in the summer
when its easier to fix.

Its leaking, at both ends now where the valve meets the radiator,
tried tightening th nut but will little luck. Yes I realise now I
should have checked the heating earlier, weird thing is when we
viewed the house all the radiators worked, I made a point of
checking them, and the survey didn;t flag anything dodgy up. Ho hum!

What you really need to do is to drain the whole system, then
replace the faulty valves and possibly also the rusty radiator. In
order to ensure against leaks, use PTFE tape around all threads
Then flush the whole system with clean water followed by a flushing
agent (eg Fernox) to clean out the system (this may need to be left
in for a few days - follow the instructions carefully). Then drain
& flush the system again and refill, incuding a good anti-corrosion
inhibitor (Fernox again?). The exercise is time consuming because
you have to bleed all radiators at every refill, but it's really not
that difficult. Make sure that you have a separate header tank for
the heating system before attempting this. It's worth it in the
end. BTW, have you considered a claim against the surveyor.

Terry D.

Tempting to moan at the Surveyor, but I didn;t go for a full survey
as the property was only 9 years old and is housing association
property too, so something I should have checked myself. Think its
looking like I will have to drain the whole system to replace the
radiator and valve, but what is a header tank? I have my boiler in
the kitchen, a hot water tank in the airing cupboard and a cold water
tank in the loft. Or is my Cold water tank split in to two, wither
seperate feeds for the heating and ho****er. I haven't paid much
attention to it, since moving in. Sorry for the lack of detail!

Its poss. you have a sealed system type boiler with no small header tank for
the CH.
This could be determined from the make & model of your boiler.
Its seems the previous owner did look after the system very well as air
seems to have got into it to cause corrosion. It ought not to cost very much
to get it working ok but its a problem when the weather is getting colder
and you need the heating on.
Many modern boilers exercise the pump etc even in the summer to stop things
seizing up.

Thee_Psycho wrote:

snip

Think its looking like I will have
to drain the whole system to replace the radiator and valve, but what is a
header tank? I have my boiler in the kitchen, a hot water tank in the
airing
cupboard and a cold water tank in the loft. Or is my Cold water tank split
in to two, wither seperate feeds for the heating and ho****er. I haven't
paid much attention to it, since moving in. Sorry for the lack of detail!


The header tank provides feed/expansion for the primary (radiator circuit).
You could possibly have a primatic hot water cistern, where the primary &
secondary (hot water) circuits are separated by air pressure. Because of
the risk of contamination, you can't use any chemicals with this type of
system. 'Primatic' is a trade name of IMI - have a look to see if the
cistern is marked.

Terry D

On Sat, 18 Oct 2003 22:59:42 +0100, Lee Blaver
wrote:

However, if one rad is rusty the rest might not be too clever either, so
be prepared that flushing might find more leaks
Which I suppose is a good thing, if you are ready to deal with them.

You mean "Never summon Anything you can't banish", I guess...

Thomas Prufer