How to turn off towel radiator

[Michael1234]

Good evening all,

I have two towel radiators that are part of the central heating system that I cannot for the life of me figure out how to turn off/on.

There are two white caps at the base of the radiator on either sides of the radiator as followed:

and...

When I remove these two white caps I see two of these:

Is this where I turn it off/on, and if so what do I use to do so?

Many thanks in advance for any assistance.

 

[ShaunCorbs]

yes and either a adjustable spanner or worst case a pair of pliers

 

[king of pipes]

A small ajustable spanner . kop

 

[Harvest Fields]

Clockwise on the spindle only mate.

 

[Michael1234]

Thank you all, will give it a try.

 

[Michael1234]

Sorry, forgot to ask. Do I need to do this on both of the valves?

 

[Harvest Fields]

If you want to remove the towel rail, then yes. But if you just want to stop it getting hot, then no.

 

[SimonG]

Hope they're not the system bypass.

 

[Harvest Fields]

Hope they're not the system bypass.

Forgot about that.

 

[Michael1234]

If you want to remove the towel rail, then yes. But if you just want to stop it getting hot, then no.

Then which out of the two valves do I turn?

 

[Harvest Fields]

Then which out of the two valves do I turn?

What SimonG is saying is do you have another radiator on the system that has valves that look like the ones on the towel rail?

 

[Michael1234]

What SimonG is saying is do you have another radiator on the system that has valves that look like the ones on the towel rail?

Yes, an identical towel rail in another bathroom. No other radiator other than these two have these sort of valves as far as I can tell. Sorry, I'm not understanding the relevance? (You may have gathered I don't really know much about this sort of thing...)

 

[Harvest Fields]

Yes, an identical towel rail in another bathroom. No other radiator other than these two have these sort of valves as far as I can tell. Sorry, I'm not understanding the relevance? (You may have gathered I don't really know much about this sort of thing...)

You have to have at least one radiator in the circuit without a Thermostatic radiator valve on and it has to be open all the time. This acts as a bypass for the system. But as you have another rad with the same type of valves on, make sure that one is open then turn both valves off on the one pictured above .

 

[king of pipes]

Close one end, on the towel rail but leave other towel rail working it will be fine your heating needs to have a open loop through either a radiator or towel rail usually this would be where you thermostat is but often it a towel rail aswell , cheers kop

 

[Stigster]

You should be able to use that head in the second pic as a handle to close that valve. Being plastic it may be worn though and just spin on the spindle rather than properly closing the valve. If not then use an adjustable as Shaun says.

 

[Ric2013]

Yes, that second picture plastic bit is definitely designed to be used to turn it on and off in my opinion (as it has the arrow and plus/minus signs) so obviously not the system bypass, unless the installer was in too much of a hurry to fit lockshield covers (as picture 1) to both valves.

You may find there isn't a system bypass radiator and that the boiler has an internal bypass, or there is a dedicated bypass valve elsewhere, so it doesn't always follow that every system will have a bypass radiator.

But it may be best to use the spanner on the flat bit under the plastic head first, as likely to be stiff and damage the plastic bit if you just force the plastic bit if it's stiff.