DIY plumbing

Seeing as our central heating has never worked in the entire time we've been here, I want it gone. At the very least I want the radiators out so we can redecorate without having to do it again after I've had a plumber round.

I can watch YouTube videos to see how to do it but the question is, how hard is it really? YouTube videos usually feature a skilled plumber demonstrating in nice perfect conditions. I'm not a plumber, and I doubt I'll find nice brand new valves and pipes and things.

Oh I don't need to worry about gas. We had the gas supply cut off and capped. I only need to worry about flooding the house or cutting off our water supply.

 

Removing radiators to decorate is no problem. Just turn down the thermostatic valve and shut off the bottom valve. Stick a shallow baking tray under the bottom fitting, crack open the bleed valve then slacken the bottom pipe fitting taking care not to bend the pipe (two spanners required). Once drained remove the top fitting (slacken the fittings between the valves and the radiator. NOT between the valves and the supply pipes). I had to remove five radiators last year that had been installed for years. Then refit and bleed the system, topping up the boiler as I went along.

 

If your getting rid of the whole system might be worth just trying to drain it all down.
There will still be some water left but you can get rid of that as you remove each radiator.

Presume you just want to cut off the pipes as you go as well.

 

I would like to drain it down.

Ideally, I'd like to drain it down, then get rid of any pipes that are visible, ie the ones that supply the radiators.

At some point I will have to get a plumber because there's an ancient back boiler to get rid of. I presume I can't do that myself? Or is it that once drained down, the boiler will have no water supply?

Does draining the central heating system require me to turn the water off to the whole house, or would I expect to find a separate valve somewhere?

 

Sorry dont know much about back boiler systems but I would think there must be a mains feed to the system somewhere, you just need to turn the house supply off then cut through the pipe and cap it off.

I know it sounds easy but the capping off is, you just need know what pipes do what and go where.
Once that is done you can drain the system down, letting the air in via the bleed valves on rads and probably a few others elsewhere like on the boiler.

 

Somewhere in your property there may be a feeder tank for the system, usually in the loft. There should be an isolation valve on it so that the system can be drained.

 

I might just remove the radiators for now the way @Jocko said. I think I'll entrust the big job to a plumber. Sounds like too much risk of me either flooding the house or destroying the water supply or both.

 

Do you want to refit the original radiators ?

If they are very old ? it might be worth fitting new ones as the old ones are bound to be corroded and sludged up to some degree.

 

Often, I find, valves drip and dont turn things off completely.

 

No, the whole central heating system is going, never to be replaced.

 

As said, if you turn off the cold feed to or from the central heating header tank, usually in the loft, you can drain each radiator in turn, but it would help if you could find the Drain point and open its tap to take out most of the water from the whole system first.

Often something looking like this on its own of as part of a radiator valve somewhere on the ground floor or lower.

 

I know where the drain tap is. I've found it on a radiator in the passage, conveniently near the front door. But I think this is beyond my confidence level so I'll just remove the radiators the way Jocko said, and at a later date, get a plumber to do the complicated bits.

 

You don't want to use my method if you are going to leave the radiators off for a protracted period. if it got really cold the thermostatic valves could open and flood the house. Shut the supply to the header tank then drain down the system from the drain valve then disconnect as I suggested.
Removing the back boiler is a bar steward of a job. It took our builders two days of chiselling and hammering to get ours out and what a mess it made. I think if we knew what was involved we would have left the fire in place! If the builder knew how bad it was going to be he would have quoted considerably more!!

 

That's useful to know.

Re the valves opening and flooding the house, i can't see how that could happen in my house. The central heating pump has been switched off for about 10 years, and there are no thermostatic valves. It is literally about the most ancient central heating system ever. I think if some archeologists stopped by for a cuppa, there'd be tape round my house for weeks and the whole of history would be rewritten.

As a reassurance, I've seen that Screwfix sell special plug bolt things purpose made to seal off radiator pipes. They're only a couple of quid or so. I'd get some of them.

For removing the back boiler, if it's going to be a nightmare to extract, I'd just have the plumber leave it there, as long as the necessary pipework is done to take it out of the equation. It is set far enough back in the fireplace that I'll be able to board over it while still staying flush to the wall.

EDIT. I've just had a look and I'm sadly wrong. The back boiler is quite far back, but it does protrude a couple of inches, which is annoying, so unless I keep the fireplace as a showpiece, which I didn't want to do, it does have to come out.

 

That was exactly the same as mine.