How to drain your heating system | Includes plumbing hacks

[@virgil7100]

Very informative. I drained my 18 month-old Baxi 400 via the Sentinel Vortex 300 today. The 5 downstairs rads were still full of water! There is a drain valve on one of the pipes coming out of the boiler, but it's stuck. Anyway, I've carried out the Fernox F3 and F1 treatment so I'll leave it 'til next year now. You should have seen the crud I got out of the Sentinel!!!

[@kh2945]

Comprehensive explanation on how to drain , brilliant. However could you further explain how to then ensure all the radiators are drained, i.e, bleed valves, So now after you’ve drained, you want to get the boiler and central heating back on?

[@kdoherty1000]

Brilliant video, thank you for sharing this. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[@timenow5312]

Excellent video Andrew,, thank you so much. Could I ask a question please. My pressurised boiler is downstairs, after I have bled the radiators from the one by the back door, and I've resealed the valve, how does the system fill with water again,.

[@ashvanbro9329]

Amazing work mate

[@ianbetts4435]

Sould you not turn the water off at the header tank first?

[@RecklessRcuk]

Hose pipe connector fits on most radiator valves which makes it a lot easier too

[@Spicymuffin]

Hi, great video and thank you. Is it safe to dump glycols/biocide/molybdate etc straight out onto the ground or drains? Wont this leach into the surrounding soils and eventually into the water course?

[@kevind7150]

Think about, parts per million.

[@arahant69]

10mm (3/8") Clear Braided PVC Hose Pipe - 10m Length - Heavy Duty, Water, Airline, Compressor, Food Grade for £8.97 of amazon also good no need for clip.I am on 1st floor block flats,just added a stoptap/turn tap combi (comes eith stoptap plastic head or turn plastic head) with drain valve to radiator (Chrome Angled Radiator Valve with Drain-Off 15mm x ½" = screwfix) £5.09. can then just chuck hose out window as believe gravity drives it and it has to be lower than the pipes under the floorboards to totaly drain unless you can get a cheap fish tank pump and pump it out to the bath.just tips for those in flats.

[@evieemaya88]

Great video andrew. Can I ask a couple questions , when draining via drain valve 1) Do you have the lock shield and the thermostatic rad valves open all the radiators in the house? 2) My 2015 newbuild house has drain point on all the downstairs radiators, does it matter which one I use? 3) Do you need to open all the bleed screws on the radiators?

[@711honved]

1) Yes, the water needs to run from the header tank without restriction. 2) use the nearest drain to an outside door. 3) Yes, open upstairs bleed valves first & then move downstairs as the air pressure forces water out.

[@kasenronin7009]

sorry to be offtopic but does someone know of a tool to log back into an Instagram account?? I was dumb lost the login password. I appreciate any tricks you can offer me.

[@kasenronin7009]

@Braden Roy thanks so much for your reply. I found the site through google and I'm trying it out atm. Looks like it's gonna take a while so I will get back to you later with my results.

[@kasenronin7009]

@Braden Roy it did the trick and I actually got access to my account again. Im so happy! Thank you so much you saved my account!

[@bradenroy2617]

@Kasen Ronin No problem xD

[@Raj-ul9my]

U did not mention about cutting off mains water supply

[@crashthecat]

Haha a vital tip. I'm gonna look for the comment "it's been draining for 4 days and my garden is 5 inches underwater...how long does it take?"

[@ultimatekangokeane8379]

Thank you

[@HomeglowLtd]

You're welcome

[@MrMedicalUK]

When removing a rad knowing you are using a new rad with new lock shield and trv....couldn't i just iso the exsiting TRV and lockshield undo the drop down to the copper tails and remove a rad withte fittings still on that way without spilling the shit inside? After emptying the system of course

[@dennishumphries9406]

How does the drain off work when the hose is fitted to the bleed valve?

[@HomeglowLtd]

Hi Dennis, you would first need to remove the bleed from the side of the rad. the video explains how to do this in detail. please bare in mind that you would only drain to the height of that radiator but is useful for a quick diy drain off when working on anything above the level.

[@dennishumphries9406]

Andrew Mitchell thanks for your quick response Andrew, I live in a bungalow, one level.

[@myobs]

@@HomeglowLtd So it's no use if you have a leak below the bleed then is it?! You can't just show that method of partly draining the system via the bleed and then skip the video to show the radiator removed because you couldn't actually do that in practice. In fact, all the methods you have shown will only empty the system to their respective levels, even the drain valve shown in the video wouldn't drain the entire system. The main drain valve should be positioned at 'the' lowest point on the radiator system in order to properly and fully drain it, especially if, as already mentioned, the leak is on a low section of pipework or joint.

[@HomeglowLtd]

@@myobs I would say that you haven’t watched the full video. Since starting my plumbing career back in 1996 it is very rare you get a drain point on the lowest point. As with all my videos I like to show my diy videos in the real world. Like life, nothing is perfect so you have to work with what you have and adapt. 👍😉

[@arc6fire]

how does the drain off from the trv drain the entire system? i tried this on the final ground floor radiator but still had water remaining upstairs

[@HomeglowLtd]

hiya, I can only say you had done something really wrong. if you had isolated the water correctly so no more water was entering the system whilst draining then it's impossible to not drain!!

[@danielianjames]

O-en all bleed valves on all radiators

[@arahant69]

lockshield i meant not stoptap

[@stewarttallon5798]

All the gear and no idea. That’s a neoprene hose. Righty tighty and you turn it to the left. That will not drain the system your only running it off and the rest of the system is still full of water. So you don’t turn off the spur to kill the boiler. You don’t open up the motorised valves if fitted to drain the water and you don’t start at the top and start to open the rest of the rads to drain? Well good luck filling it back up. The reason to shut the spur off rather than just the boiler if the temperature drops the frost stat will kick in and switch the boiler on. Bye bye boiler. If your going to do it? Do it right and use a socket or a box key for plugs and vents.

[@twiglet2214]

Yes i was going to add that so you've got it covered.Also turn off cold water valve to header tank or tie up the float valve in the header tanki n a F+E system.

[@narinders510]

Your the salt of the earth

[@dannyfnwanny]

Your accent is nails on a chalkboard