Amateur Mistake With Radiator Drain Valve?

[Amateur]

Hi all. First post on here although ive found this forum very informative as a visitor many times in the past. Im just an amateur DIY'er that likes to have a go at jobs around the home.

Just a quick question, I fitted a new larger rad on a different wall in our kitchen diner that is currently being refurbished (by me) and am now wondering if ive put the drain off valve on the wrong side?

I put the bi-directional TRV on the more exposed to the room side of the rad and at the time it made sense to put the drain off valve on that side too as its nearer to the back door for the drain hose. Ive started questioning myself purely due to the fact that you usually see Lockshields with built in drain offs. Surely if both the TRV and Lockshield are fully open then it wouldnt matter which side the drain is on?

Obviously the pipework below the rad will not drain through the valve but they dont seem to make a 15mm inline chrome drain off valve.

Cheers.

 

[ShaunCorbs]

Honestly doesn't make a difference other than you can't get trvs with drain offs

Like the pipe work

 

[Amateur]

Honestly doesn't make a difference other than you can't get trvs with drain offs

Like the pipe work

Cheers Shaun.

Im always the same, my OCD drives me insane looking for problems that arent there!

I went for chrome piping as i didnt fancy trunking or boxing in this time around. It went through the coving nicely too.

 

[ShaunCorbs]

May take more time but looks better in my opinion

 

[Chalked]

Neat job

 

[townfanjon]

Yep I agree with both Shaun and Chalked, thats looks ok pal , well done .

 

[Old Account]

Definitely clean tidy job as well as clips on the same level. Great job thumb up

 

[Amateur]

Definitely clean tidy job as well as clips on the same level. Great job thumb up

Cheers, I look at some chrome piping in work everyday and always wonder why they staggered the clips on it, thats just my OCD though always ticking away somewhere in me!

I re-plumbed all the pipe work under my sink yesterday ready for the new cabinets going in, again, not because it needed it but just to tidy it all up and sleep better at night knowing all the joints were my own after a recent incident.

I fitted £1000 worth of LVT flooring in there 2 weeks ago and woke up one morning to find an old tap flexi had burst in the night. Initially I wanted to throw up but after i had calmed down and checked it looked like it had literally only just burst and not got under the new flooring, phew!!!

 

[ShaunCorbs]

The only reason some people stagger the clips is to get the pipes tighter together

 

[Amateur]

The only reason some people stagger the clips is to get the pipes tighter together

Thats what i thought too Shaun but the pipes in work are spaced the same as mine so would have fit in line, obviously the fitter didnt have OCD!

I havent connected the rad to the system yet, it was around 27 degrees here so there was no way I was getting in the loft (bungalow) to connect it as the pipework needs adapting up there too. Im just hoping the compression joints are good when I pressurise it as I used the supplied brass olives with jointing compound. There are real mixed opinions on brass v's copper olives on chrome pipe!

 

[Best]

Chromed soldered elbows are best and also would look better.
Harder and more time consuming job though to do.
If you had used trunking I think it doesn't look well and breaks up the wall, if you know what I mean. So bare, neat pipework sensible IMO.
Brass olives with jointing paste should be fine if you compressed them just right.

 

[ShaunCorbs]

Reason why people don't like brass olives is there a lot harder than copper ones so take more force to tighten up and harder to get right

Before you fill up just go round your compression joints and give them a nip (little extra tighten) if you can't tighten it any more that one should be ok

 

[Amateur]

Chromed soldered elbows are best and also would look better.
Harder and more time consuming job though to do.
If you had used trunking I think it doesn't look well and breaks up the wall, if you know what I mean. So bare, neat pipework sensible IMO.
Brass olives with jointing paste should be fine if you compressed them just right.

Well I've learnt something new there, I didnt even know chrome solder joints existed!!! I bet they are a pain though stripping the chrome neatly off every end of the pipe.

Ah, the old "compressed just right" another one that never seems to go well. That was before I started wrapping the olive with PTFE, I had better results after that. I dont like that sometimes the tape is visible past the nut if you dont get it right so I thought I would try the jointing compound. Fingers crossed!

 

[Amateur]

Reason why people don't like brass olives is there a lot harder than copper ones so take more force to tighten up and harder to get right

Before you fill up just go round your compression joints and give them a nip (little extra tighten) if you can't tighten it any more that one should be ok

I think I am a bit heavy handed when it comes to compression fittings to be honest Shaun. Maybe by the time I retire I will get them spot on first go with no PTFE or compound! Ive got about 30yrs to practice.

 

[ShaunCorbs]

I think I am a bit heavy handed when it comes to compression fittings to be honest Shaun. Maybe by the time I retire I will get them spot on first go with no PTFE or compound! Ive got about 30yrs to practice.

Sorry to say always use compound as sometimes fittings are out of spec and always leak if non is used

Never used ptfe on compression just looks wrong

 

[Amateur]

Sorry to say always use compound as sometimes fittings are out of spec and always leak if non is used

Never used ptfe on compression just looks wrong

I wondered why I always seemed to struggle when not using either PTFE or compound. I never even gave a thought to manufacturing defects or poor tolerances.

I agree regarding PTFE looking wrong but I didnt know about compound over the years of using tape. Hopefully if all my joints are leak free then I will convert to the compound on all compression joints in the future.

 

[billski]

You don't need to remove the chrome off chrome pipe work to solder it. Just clean and flux it as normal.
I also didn't know you could get chrome solder fittings. Don't they go blue from the blow torch?

 

[ShaunCorbs]

You don't need to remove the chrome off chrome pipe work to solder it. Just clean and flux it as normal.
I also didn't know you could get chrome solder fittings. Don't they go blue from the blow torch?

Yes you do (need to remove the chrome off)

 

[Best]

You don't need to remove the chrome off chrome pipe work to solder it. Just clean and flux it as normal.
I also didn't know you could get chrome solder fittings. Don't they go blue from the blow torch?

Where did you hear that?
You must remove all chrome from chromed copper pipe at where it is to be soldered!
Joints will not solder otherwise.
You can use compression brass (chromed or plain brass) fittings straight onto chrome though.
Soldering chrome fittings does make them slightly discolour, but they clean up again with a wipe later using a damp cloth. Shouldn't use any more heat than needed to solder them