Leak #2 - towel rail

[MrFoolish]

Whilst I'm considering getting in a plumber...

I've a towel rail on the CH. In the past, when I've adjusted the inlet tap, it has started to drip from the tap. So I've left it turned off as it doesn't then drip. Think it's also fine when fully on but I don't want to disturb it.

Obviously this isn't ideal and I should get it fixed. Should I expect this to involve a new washer or something, or a new towel radiator?

Thanks.

[Mike4]

Whilst I'm considering getting in a plumber...

I've a towel rail on the CH. In the past, when I've adjusted the inlet tap, it has started to drip from the tap. So I've left it turned off as it doesn't then drip. Think it's also fine when fully on but I don't want to disturb it.

Obviously this isn't ideal and I should get it fixed. Should I expect this to involve a new washer or something, or a new towel radiator?

Thanks.

Older and better quality towel radiator valves made the old fashioned way have adjustable glands to fix this problem. Modern valves made with O rings instead, don't. So your leaking valve (tap) might just need 30 seconds of attention tightening the hexagon nut surrounding the leaking spindle, or if that nut is not present or just a dummy, a whole new valve. But either way a new towel rad will not be necessary.

[MrFoolish]

I suppose fitting a new valve would involve partially draining the system?

I've been considering getting some other jobs done, like fitting a bigger radiator in a bedroom and doing a system flush. It would probably make sense to get everything done together I guess. Though I can do the flush myself.

[88V8]

Though I can do the flush myself.

You'll need to fully open all the lockshield valves which will destroy the system balance, so keep a detailed written note of how many fractional turns each one was open.

V8

[Mike4]

I suppose fitting a new valve would involve partially draining the system?

Not necessarily. If you have a sealed system (expansion vessel inside the boiler) your plumber can just relieve the system pressure and change the valve, mopping up or catching the trivial amount of water that gets spilled.

If you have a header tank in the loft, there are rubber bung kits for sealing off the cold fill pipe and open vent so no air can get in, and it follows that no water can get out either. In which case the leaky valve can now be changed as above.

(Multiple spelling errors edit! )

[Howard]

I suppose fitting a new valve would involve partially draining the system?

Not necessarily. If you have a sealed system (expansion vessel inside the boiler) your plumber can just relieve the system pressure and change the valve, mopping up or catching the trivial amount of water that gets spilled.

If you have a header tank in the loft, there are rubber bung kits for sealing off the cold fill pipe and open vent so no air can get in, and it follows that no water can get out either. In which case the leaky valve can now be changed as above.

(Multiple spelling errors edit! )

British Gas engineer did that (bung in the header tank) to change a leaky thermostatic valve downstairs.

I heard him suddenly running up and downstairs in a panic asking for old towels. The partial vacuum he created collapsed a joint in our large heat store and rusty water started running down the walls and light fittings below the airing cupboard including into our (immaculate) sitting room. The heat store was only about ten years old. The contents of the airing cupboard had to be replaced, the sitting room redecorated and the carpets dry cleaned. It was a large insurance claim for BG, so much so that engineers joked about it on later visits. Luckily the house was relatively new, it was a close run thing, the ceiling did not collapse and the joint wasn't the lowest one so the gunge at the bottom of the store did not leak out. The tank and pumps etc were all replaced by BG. All this took weeks in a cold November and December. We were amazingly tolerant and got used to showering from a suspended bucket of hot water with holes in the bottom.

Happy days!

Howard

[Mike4]

Not necessarily. If you have a sealed system (expansion vessel inside the boiler) your plumber can just relieve the system pressure and change the valve, mopping up or catching the trivial amount of water that gets spilled.

If you have a header tank in the loft, there are rubber bung kits for sealing off the cold fill pipe and open vent so no air can get in, and it follows that no water can get out either. In which case the leaky valve can now be changed as above.

(Multiple spelling errors edit! )

British Gas engineer did that (bung in the header tank) to change a leaky thermostatic valve downstairs.

I heard him suddenly running up and downstairs in a panic asking for old towels. The partial vacuum he created collapsed a joint in our large heat store and rusty water started running down the walls and light fittings below the airing cupboard including into our (immaculate) sitting room. The heat store was only about ten years old. The contents of the airing cupboard had to be replaced, the sitting room redecorated and the carpets dry cleaned. It was a large insurance claim for BG, so much so that engineers joked about it on later visits. Luckily the house was relatively new, it was a close run thing, the ceiling did not collapse and the joint wasn't the lowest one so the gunge at the bottom of the store did not leak out. The tank and pumps etc were all replaced by BG. All this took weeks in a cold November and December. We were amazingly tolerant and got used to showering from a suspended bucket of hot water with holes in the bottom.

Happy days!

Howard

I shouldn't laugh but lol, no its not something one should do when there is a thermal store instead of a hot water cylinder. It will collapse the store, as your BG bod found out.

[stewamax]

A towel rail is not necessarily within the central heating circuit. A better place for it is in the domestic hot water circuit where the rail can be kept warm during the summer to try towels without switching on the central heating.
If so, and assuming OP has motorised valves to control central heating flow, the drain-down may be quite small.

[csearle]

A towel rail is not necessarily within the central heating circuit. A better place for it is in the domestic hot water circuit where the rail can be kept warm during the summer to try towels without switching on the central heating.

Crikey, I've never heard of that. Usually towel rails have an electric element just for the summer months. So when it's on the hot water, which is often not circulated around, but rather just heated-up and released out of the taps when needed, how does the water get to flow through the towel rail? C.

[jfgw]

Such a towel rail would only get hot while the water was being heated so I wouldn't thing it would be very effective. It would be possible to plumb it into a common part of the circuit (such as between the boiler and the motorised valve(s)). It would still only get hot intermittently in the summer though.


Julian F. G. W.

[Mike4]

Such a towel rail would only get hot while the water was being heated so I wouldn't thing it would be very effective. It would be possible to plumb it into a common part of the circuit (such as between the boiler and the motorised valve(s)). It would still only get hot intermittently in the summer though.


Julian F. G. W.

Most commonly such a towel rail would be piped up to a tee after the pump and before the MV(s), so when there is call for heat on either circuit, the towel rail heats up.

But back in the day when we had proper heating systems and brass towel rails, the towel rails were in the domestic hot tap water circuit so they got hot whenever you ran your bath, heated directly by the water you filled your bath with!

[csearle]

I have a zero-fuel towel rail, which dries my towel using the heat from the flat below. It has nothing to leak. C.

[jaizan]

1 If the valve has a nut tightening up the gland, just nip it up with a spanner.
2 If it doesn't have that and the rate of leakage is slow, just leave a rag under it for a day or two to catch the drips. Some products with rubber seals stop leaking of their own accord.
3 You can often change a valve by just de-pressurizing, not draining.

#1 and #3 have been mentioned already.

[stewamax]

Most commonly such a towel rail would be piped up to a tee after the pump and before the MV(s), so when there is call for heat on either circuit, the towel rail heats up. But back in the day when we had proper heating systems and brass towel rails, the towel rails were in the domestic hot tap water circuit so they got hot whenever you ran your bath, heated directly by the water you filled your bath with!

I have had both in my various houses. Teeing it into the common boiler output / return pipes had the incidental advantage of providing a circulatory escape route when both the CH and DHW motorised valves shut but the pump was on overrun for a few minutes to cool the boiler (the towel rail was not then fitted with a TRV but was always open either end).
It is usual (and probably mandatory) these days to fit an automatic bypass valve into the CH circuit for such an event, but these are pressure-driven devices which open when the pressure in the CH circuit builds up too much, and don't work at all with the common domestic pumps (Grundfos; Wilo) that usually have three modes of operation: constant pressure, constant speed and proportional pressure.