Tips to release tight radiator nut?

Orionaut said:
Like I said, if he manages to break that pipe trying to undo the nut and the system is still full of water he is going to be in a world of very wet hurt!

Especially if he then finds that the drain valve is also seized or inaccessible (Or header tank supply valve, or even that main one into the housie. Has any of these been turned off /checked for operation at this stage??)

(Why do "Professionals" almost always put important stuff like drain/stop cocks in utterly inaccessible locations?? :mad: )
Click to expand...

Its just a question of technique, if you break the pipe which is actually quite hard to do with this flexible stuff then you are doing something very wrong. As for drain cocks, sometimes people remove them, sometimes its just lazy work. You can drain down from any rad though if you need to with the correct adaptor.
 
200sols said:
Its just a question of technique, if you break the pipe which is actually quite hard to do with this flexible stuff then you are doing something very wrong. As for drain cocks, sometimes people remove them, sometimes its just lazy work. You can drain down from any rad though if you need to with the correct adaptor.
Click to expand...

That isn't microbore, it has a soldered right angle on it.

My point about the drain valve/stop cocks is that "If" the pipe is damaged and starts to leak. This is not the time to be trying to carry out an emergency drain down only to find that you cant do it (Or perhaps cant even turn the water supply off).

As for "Correct adaptors" I do not imagine that one of these is readily available in this particular case.

:p
 
It is microbore, probably with a plastic coating inside the wall just stripped at the end, you can still solder 10mm fitting on microbore. I mean... if you manage to break that fitting then you are doing it very wrong.
 
Orionaut said:
That isn't microbore, it has a soldered right angle on it.

My point about the drain valve/stop cocks is that "If" the pipe is damaged and starts to leak. This is not the time to be trying to carry out an emergency drain down only to find that you cant do it (Or perhaps cant even turn the water supply off).

As for "Correct adaptors" I do not imagine that one of these is readily available in this particular case.

:p
Click to expand...

You know you can solder microbore right?

I know from your posts that you have a problem with professionals in the trades, but we do make a living out of the jobs we do and I'd bet we have a lot more experience than you do.
You'd be the first to complain when a professional quoted you for a full drain down and refill to remove 1 rad, and you'd be right to in most cases.

That rad can be removed without a full drain down, and if it were to start leaking then it'd be containable for quite some time, and probably stopped with pinching the compression nut up a little.

Advice online always assumes the OP has basic knowledge in what they're trying to do and most will suggest a call to a professional if they feel they're out of their depth.

As for "correct adaptors" they're off the shelf fittings but worst case, a hose pipe and tape fits over/in a lot of fittings good enough to see most of the water outside.
 
jpaul said:
the direction you are applying force on the mole grips needs to be more vertical, rather than horizontal, to counteract undoing the nut , use longer jawed stilisons ?

edit: can put stilsons on the mole grip handles to transfer torques at vertical angle, hoping not to distort mole grips
Click to expand...

I'm not talking about the molegrips, I am talking about the nut that you undo to allow the radiator to be moved, to disconnect the radiator from the valve. Looking from the right of the picture of the picture, OP needs pop a spanner on the nut and turn it clockwise not anticlockwise. It's typical for people who haven't removed a lot of radiators to do the opposite and actually tighten the nut rather than loosen it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom