I Love Plumbing, Me.

Lazarus

Lazarus

Retired Moderator
My Satellite Setup
80cm Motorised.
Several small Dishes.
Much else.
My Location
North York Moors
Had a sticking 3 Port Valve on my Central Heating system for months.

After nursing it along over winter, it got so stiff that the Synchron Motor failed yesterday, forcing positive action on my part.

Well, having replaced the valve about twelve years ago and having fitted a new motor to the recently failed one about six years ago, I thought it best to follow good practice and actually replace the 22mm Olives.

Two came off fairly easily with Stilsons. but the third was so bound on that I distorted the pipe.

No biggie, I thought. Chop a foot off and fit a new section.

Whoa ..... no 22mm pipe in the magic store.

Local B&Q closed last month.

Hmm.

Carefully hacksawed through the recalcitrant Olive then did a recovery job by repeatedly rotating a 22mm nut around the pipe until it eased.

Bongo. Time to fit new Valve.

Did the joints up finger tight plus half a turn. Refilled slowly.

Water pi**ing out of the two undistorted joints, but easily stopped by gentle tweaking.

The dicky one, however, weeped. Relentlessly.

Tweak, leak, tweak, leak, tweak, leak .... Just about to resort to a slathering of Plumbers' Blue when one last heave stopped it.

All sorted now.

Must remember next time it comes off to replace the pipe section!
 
Gosh it's warm today ......
 
I hate plumbing. Give me electricals any day. My plumbing always leaks after I am done with it.

House pipes too.
 
Lazarus said:
Gosh it's warm today ......
Click to expand...
Yes, 25 degrees C and not a bit off 22mm pipe or an errant olive in sight, just a nice juicy green one stuffed with garlic!
( did I mention the local Brico Depot is open til 22:00, part of the Kingfisher group )
 
Just a mention well it could be a tip I suppose, but when I have been forced to re-use olives on another pipe I discovered that the easiest way to remove one was to gently tap all the way round for a good couple of minutes, this minutely flattens and stretches the copper sufficient to rotate the olive after that it is just patience to remove, you just have to remember to extra tighten when re-assembling to allow the olive to reform to the correct shape and diameter.
 
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Captain Jack said:
I hate plumbing. Give me electricals any day. My plumbing always leaks after I am done with it.

House pipes too.
Click to expand...


Yes, I was being a wee bit ironic claiming to love it ......


..... 'tis but an occasionally necessary evil.

But I reckon if I'd got a person in to do it, they'd have charged £70 for the Valve and spun it out to two hours labour, plus travelling. Say £150-200 all in.

I did it for £30.
 
I charge the Wife full beans and spend the balance on Chocolate Raisins :lol:
 
Some good news.

Dismantled the old valve just now and the goosed element is the Synchron Motor, not the actuator or valve body.

And my magic box contained a spare Motor, so I've fitted that and put the repaired assembly back in the magic box as an emergency spare.
 
Nothing specific to be seen, so I've given the camera the day off.

Apart from anything, I've tidied up and cleared away, having tested the repaired unit.
 
Did I mention how warm it is?


Just as well as we have a 100% likelihood of snow tonight, apparently.
 
Lazarus said:
Did I mention how warm it is?


Just as well as we have a100% likelihood of snow tonight, apparently.
Click to expand...
Ho! Ho! Ho!, sorry wrong time of year for that.
Still 25 C and the only olives insight are the juicy green ones with garlic, and the ones with peppers and anchovies :-rofl2
 
Doh ...what have you started G ..
My boiler acting up again ..
It works ok ..but appears not to reignite the burners once its been on a while ...
Possibly overheating ...and sensors on the pipes internal to the boiler ..preventing reignition till it cools down..
Oddly no warning lights to tell me there is a problem ..
Could even be I 'spose that there is a pump issue and the heated water not being cycled round the system fast enough ?

Plus ...flushed the bog this morning only to notice the mains water inlet on the side of resevoir/tank ...had been dripping overnight ..
Bloody plastic fittings....where they meet brass/copper ..
So another job to do ..as nipping up the nut just seemed to make it worse..

Doh!!
Always happens at weekend when my local plumb centre is shut..
dammit.
 
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Oh dear, Evan. At least the cold season is in its final hurrah. We hope.


You have a local Plumb Center (sic)?

There's lucky.

Our B&Q closed down and the nearest is 22 miles away.

Wickes is rumoured to be the new kid on the block, on the old B&Q site, but still 8 miles away.
 
Is the pump modulated by the boiler, or can you manually select from a choice of three speeds?

Either way, Boiler cutting out on overheat due to possible lack of circulation is likely to stem from long term build up of shite somewhere, occluding the pipework.

IIRC you said the water ran clear last time you intervened, but that means nothing if the shite is sludgy, viscous and settled.

Time for a power flush?
 
Lazarus said:
Is the pump modulated by the boiler, or can you manually select from a choice of three speeds?

Either way, Boiler cutting out on overheat due to possible lack of circulation is likely to stem from long term build up of shite somewhere, occluding the pipework.

IIRC you said the water ran clear last time you intervened, but that means nothing if the shite is sludgy, viscous and settled.

Time for a power flush?
Click to expand...
Well tbh Gordon ..it is perhaps time to drop the water in the closed loop ....and flush it through ....
then a healthy quantity of Fernox ..
cheers
 
Had monsoon, hail, snow and bright sun just this morning.

'tis indeed a last hurrah.


Apart from the next one.
 
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