Radiator Maintenance - leaks

[StephenH]

I have a number of radiators that need some general attention - nothing drastic (I hope) just a few leaks at joints here and there. It's a microbore system - at least the part I'm interested in at the moment. I'm inclined to take my adjustable spanner to each nut and tighten if I can but I'm loathe to do this without some advice/hints, 'beware of', etc. - I'm particularly concerned about stripping threads etc - does this need to be a real concern? Should I have any particular contigency standing by - I've got some of that white tape somewhere.

I have some minor experience messing about with water pipes in the past.

Thanks for any input you'd care to give.

 

[Simon F]

yes try giving the leaky joints a slight tighten,
use another spanner/set of grips to hold the valve as you tighten the nut, otherwise you could twist the fitting, kink the pipe and course more problems.
you only want to apply the right amount of pressure
( how do you quantify that? you just have a feel for what is enough, or not )
sometimes joints are leaking because of previously being overtightened and the olive crushed.
ptfe tape might help, but you would probably be looking to drain down for that

 

[kay-jay]

before you go round tightening nuts make sure 100% that you know the origin of the leak. quite often it can be leaking from the gland nut under the head of the valve and running down onto the nut creating the impression that it is the nut leaking.

check this first.

 

[StephenH]

Thanks for your advice - much appreciated - I've got myself a second adjustable spanner to help

 

[StephenH]

The bleed valve/blank at the top of the radiators - I'm confident I can do my thing with those. Supplementary question regarding lockshield(?) valve. As far as I can make out there's a bit of a leak from under the nut that joins onto microbore piping. now I guess I could try tightening it but I'm concious that the microbore is likely to be 'delicate' and may fracture/split? I need to have some sort of contingency in place, i think. IF I chose to drain and undo the nut, what would be the chances that I would be able to reconnect without making a new end (which would probably mean the pipe wouldn't be long enough)? At the worst I suppose I could create some sort of compression joint extender - it would look naf but would be functional? Any thoughts?
Cheers

 

[kay-jay]

It won't split. If pipe has been strangled then tightening it Will just make it drip a bit quicker. Just try pinch it up by a fraction of a turn. Dry with bog roll then reassess. If worse then drain and renew a connection. Its quite likely on microbore that when uncoupled that you Will have enough play to cut it pull it up through floor and reconnect with new olive

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

 

[StephenH]

Thanks kau-jay, your advice gives me a little more confidence.