Should you ever be unlucky enough to experience a fault on your central heating such as a pipe blockage, this will ultimately mean that in order to find and repair the pipe, you will have to carry out a full drain of the system. Do you have the confidence to do the job? If there are any doubts always call a professional plumber like an SW1 Plumber who is experienced.

Now, draining a system will entail losing all the water contained in the pipework and radiators. Below is a guide to carrying out the job:

a). Isolate the power completely for the whole system, as the pump usually has a permanent live feed, this should ensure complete isolation. You should check the supply is off with a tester.

b). Give the system time for all the radiators and pipework to cool sufficiently so that you can begin.

c). Turn off the main supply to your expansion tank.

d). Sit a wooden batten across the top of the tank and tie a cord around the middle, and use this cord to tie back the float valve so that once the water has gone the float will not drop and leave the fill valve open. This helps when you de-isolate the water later. Connect a rubber hose to the outlet on the tank and run it to a drain. Open the valve on the drain cock, with the correct spanner. SW1 Plumbers drain systems.

f). The water will now drain away, and you can bleed the radiators to help get rid of the water. Find and repair the blockage and then, close the drain cock and all the radiator bleed valves. Remove the hose and temporary water stop in the loft. Re-fill the system carefully.

g). When charged, bleeds the radiators in the house, starting upstairs, working down and finally bleeding the pump. Check for leaks.





“