Blocking off a radiator

[tgm1974]

Anyone know how I can block a radiator off when the values wont lock off ... tried to take the radiator off the wall the other day, due to plastering work, and the water started to drain out ----- for some reason the value is not closing off the pipe.

If I call a plumber I will end up paying �100's for something simple!!

Cheers

[magicmerlin]

Isolate and drain system completely , remove radiator, repair plasterwork and paint etc, replace radiator, fill and bleed system of trapped air. Check for leaks. Voila, job done.

[tgm1974]

I think you have read that wrong

The room is about to be plastered - the radiator will be off the wall for at least 2 days if not more. The radiator will not lock off for some reason so if we have to drain the system completely then there will be no water in the house AT ALL!!

With a 2 yr old this is not good!! The locking values are broken or not working for some reason so Im trying to find an alternative way to block the pipe without bleeding the entire system!

[carrust]

Go to a plumbers merchants & tell them your problem, they should supply you with some caps that will over the valve thread. Also ask for some PTFE tape to put on the thread before fitting the cap. Btw, is one of the valves thermostatic?

[magicmerlin]

The radiator system should be independent of the water to the sinks etc so isolating should not be a problem. Unless of course you still want the radiators on in this warm weather..

[woolleysheep]

has the central heating got its own header tank in the loft if so tie up the ballcock arm and this will stop the tank from refillingso isolating the heating from the domestic water supply

[Malagabob333]

Have you considered buying a freezer kit and new valves from a plumbers merchants?Make sure heating has had time to cool completly and power to pump is turned off.

[gucciman]

if you do have an old style system with tanks and cylinder then completely draining the system is not a good idea as any dirt that is in the header tank can get down into the cold feed and then if left for a while it solidifies and you end up having to chop out the cold feed and repiping. you may also find you have a lot of problems with airlocks when you re-fill which can be an absolute nightmare.

my advice would be that if your valves wont shut off then they do need replacing anyway so call out a heating engineer and get them changed.(shouldn't cost a fortune) if you want to try it yourself to save money then you can either buy a plumbers "bung kit" which you use to create a vacumn in the header tank so you can take the valves off without draining the system or has mentioned already you can get a freezing kit (but this only gives you about 15 mins to do the job so you need to be competent in what your doing. you will also find that you may need to take the old olive off the pipework which can be difficult unless you have the special tool.

the other option has already said is to buy some caps from the plumbers merchants and use them to seal the valves if yu dont want to change them.