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Morning - came home last night to find that one of radiators had been leaking. When I scraped the paint back could see it was a small pin hole leak near the top of the radiator. Looking online advice seems to be replacing the radiator, flushing the system etc.... but what does the interweb know?
I'm more interested in real advice, from a bike forum.
I had a radiator welded up 20 years ago by a car garage. its still fine now. turn off the valve at each end to isolate it then it can be removed without a full draindown of the system.
Most folk would just replace the rad tho.
Yep, change it. Not too difficult.
As above - but if one valve is a TRV don't leave the windows open and the heating off!
New radiators are very cheap, I wouldn’t bother repairing one. Have a look at screwfix, it’s where we bought all our new ones.
Avoid that by removing the trv head
-unwind the locking collar under neath then pull.
Avoid that by removing the trv head
Valve will be fully OPEN if you do that!
Haha right you are of course doh.
But temperature won't change its function 🙂
I had a pin hole in our hot water tank that was only about a year old. A plumber mate got some sort of epoxy putty that sets like stone in minutes once it's mixed and put that over it. 9 months later it's still fine.
crack an egg in it, while wearing stockings
Oh, no, that's a car radiator (I assume yours doesn't therefore have a fan belt for the stockings either)
Plumbers putty as above - I've still got some on one of mine, from about 10 years ago.
http://www.sylglas.com/products/plumberfix.htm
Thanks all - I'll buy a new radiator and in the meantime have a go with some plumbers putty. What's the worst that could happen?
You find an egg in your stockings?
How about some [s]chewing gum duct tape[/s] sugru?
Well, went to the local Plumb Centre earlier and told my tale of woe. The yoof at the desk disappeared for 2 mins to talk to someone and then came back with some Fernox F4 ( https://www.screwfix.com/p/fernox-f4-express-leak-sealer-265ml/61837). I've bitten the bullet and put the stuff in via the radiator bleed valve. I reckon it is either going to work or the whole system is going to burst.
Avoid that by removing the trv head
Valve will be fully OPEN if you do that!
Buy a couple of 3/4 blanking caps/nuts (same thing, different name) to stick in your toolbox. They have a rubber seal inside, perfect for rad valves, showers, washing machine valves, etc. Hand tighten and a gentle nip up with a spanner will do it
Fibrefix
Buy a couple of 3/4 blanking caps/nuts (same thing, different name) to stick in your toolbox. They have a rubber seal inside, perfect for rad valves, showers, washing machine valves, etc. Hand tighten and a gentle nip up with a spanner will do it
1/2" blanking caps for modern TRV's. Old Danfoss valves will be 3/4.
I have about 30 of each in my fittings box.
15mm compression blanks can be used on radiator tails also for ease of removal, obviously not flange type lockshield though, they would require 22mm.
1/2" blanking caps for modern TRV's
🙂 Everything's old here
@trail rat You might have some plastic caps to replace the TRV head. They come in the box but don't always get passed on to the householder/get binned coz nobody can remember what they're for
I had a leak appear on a freshly installs system, just the bathroom floor had been tiled and the ceiling underneath it plastered. I took a chance with fernox leak sealer and it actually worked to my surprise! That was on copper though not steel so may be different
Well, so far so good. The Fernox F4 seems to have done the trick. No more leak from the rad and the system all seems to be working fine. No idea how it works but it seems to work very well.
Whats the consensus with using something like Fernox F4...any issues with it going through a complex modern boiler with their intricate heat exchangers etc? Mine has a slow leak, needs re-pressurising every couple of months.
How does/can the Fernox stuff handle leaks at the actual connections? Got our rads off just now for some plastering (which is fun in November 😐 ) and, as I took them off and will be putting them back on myself, I'm a bit paranoid that stuff is going to leak. Got plumbers tape and whatnot, just wondering if it might be worth chucking some off this in along with the inhibitor when I re-fill the system 😆