Non-motoring > Draining a towel rail? Miscellaneous
Thread Author: Bigtee Replies: 14
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New Tue 15 May 12 19:55 
 Draining a towel rail? - Bigtee
Decorated the bathroom and plumbed in a towel rail bleed all ok and it works just fine, However just had a thought how do i drain it for next time i paint?

There is no bleed screw like the radiator i removed had it in the fittings.

This has the taps going up vertical and at the top of the radiator has the bleed and a threaded cap on the other side, my thought was to stuff a tube down there and syphon some out or bleed from boiler to release upstairs water?

If i crack off a pipe at the bottom of this the bathroom will be flooded!!

Any ideas lads?

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New Tue 15 May 12 20:09 
 Draining a towel rail? - Zero
you don't need to remove it to paint behind it, its a towel rail! Easy to get a radiator roller brush behind all of it.
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New Tue 15 May 12 20:11 
 Draining a towel rail? - Bigtee
Thats not the answer i was looking for Zero, us proffesionals want it off to paint. :-)
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New Tue 15 May 12 20:17 
 Draining a towel rail? - Zero
A professional would have plumbed in a drain cock..... ;P
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New Tue 15 May 12 20:20 
 Draining a towel rail? - Bigtee
You know id have thought the flippin thing would have had one, but they don't!!

It's off to Plumb Centre to see what they say.
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New Tue 15 May 12 20:24 
 Draining a towel rail? - Zero
No they don't. Mine doesn't have one.
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New Tue 15 May 12 22:05 
 Draining a towel rail? - Roger.
Mine doesn't either - it's wood!
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New Wed 16 May 12 08:11 
 Draining a towel rail? - RichardW
Something which has exercised my mine whilst on the throne looking at it.... When I refitted the central heating I had trouble getting the water out of this without flooding the place, and it would be more difficult without a full system drain. My thought is as yours that I would isolate, and then syphon the water out of the drain plug at the top.
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New Wed 16 May 12 09:19 
 Draining a towel rail? - -
I've got to know, how can you syphon water or any liguid from a bleed screw at the top of any vessel?

Does it mean feeding an unbelievably thin pipe of extraordianry length into the bleed hole and somehow guide it to the bottom of the rad blind, then run the syphon pipe in my case approximately 35 metres through our bungalow to lower ground?

I can't think of any other way.

Meself i'd just drain the whole system with all bleed valves open, obviously more than one story you'd empty the top rads first before opening the lower story bleeders, or more likely isolate the rad in question, cover the floor in towels and simply let it go..

Or have i got this all wrong, again.

Last edited by: gordonbennet on Wed 16 May 12 at 09:20
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New Wed 16 May 12 09:24 
 Draining a towel rail? - Zero

>> Or have i got this all wrong, again.

Fraid so. On mine at least, the bleed screw on top can be screwed out to reveal a hole the same size as the feed fittings, in which a 10mm pipe can be dropped all the way down the side of the radiator to the bottom.

Its a useful feature in fact. When I drain down my system, I use the hole in the top of the towel rail to feed it with inhibiter. In effect its put right into the heart of the system right away.
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New Wed 16 May 12 09:29 
 Draining a towel rail? - -
>> Fraid so. On mine at least, the bleed screw on top can be screwed out
>> to reveal a hole the same size as the feed fittings, in which a 10mm
>> pipe can be dropped all the way down the side of the radiator to the
>> bottom.

Ah, thats fair enough, and i suppose if you are replacing a rad no harm in drilling a hole in the top of the rad to allow a straight pipe drop, however unless you are able to pressurish the rad, by drilling another hole and pumping air in how do you get the last 3 or 4 " of water out if you at ground level.
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New Wed 16 May 12 09:38 
 Draining a towel rail? - Dog
>>Or have i got this all wrong, again<<

S'me that's got it wrong - I re red the OP and it does have a bleedin bleed screw :)

If I had to remove the critter for deco I'd treat it like any other rad and close the valves, drain it, then remove it.
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New Wed 16 May 12 08:44 
 Draining a towel rail? - Dog
>>There is no bleed screw like the radiator i removed had it in the fittings<<

Are you absolutely and categorically 100% sure there is no bleedin bleed screw??
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New Wed 16 May 12 12:38 
 Draining a towel rail? - Mapmaker
Presumably it has iso valves on both legs.

1. Turn them off.

2. Go into the loft (assuming you don't have a pressurised system) and put a bung in both pipe s - the feed from the tank and the return.

3. Remove the towel rail, complete with water inside it.

4. Paint.

5. Refitting is the reverse of removal.
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New Wed 16 May 12 23:46 
 Draining a towel rail? - Bigtee
Deffo no bleed valve or screw at the bottom.

At the top is a blank plug on one side and the bleed screw on the other side as said id either shove a pipe in where the blank plug was and syphon out most then crack off the lower pipe and catch what i can or bleed at the boiler which will drain all the upstairs radiators which is a bit of a pain then all have to be bleed.

Not something i have to do for 3yrs till i decorate but it's there to do, better to know now how to!!
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