Where to find the Drain Valve on a Central Heating System

ronan45

Ok Im FLUMUXED i tell ya.

I need to find the drain valve for the Central Heating System....

Checked the rads no drain valve on them top floor or bottom floor....
Checked the Storage room the Boiler is located in again nothing....
Checked the outside of the house nothing...
Checked the hot press located on second floor no drain valve
The draining valve HAS to be down stairs right?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wn008wmHr_A

Its just a standard system in a standard house where is it hiding.. Please someone come to my rescue my head is wrecked lol
Standard Vokera gas boiler, I have tried to check everywhere the central heating pipes would go to but can find nothing like a drain valve.

slavetothegrind

there may not be one fitted i am sorry to say!
you may have to undo a rad at the lowest point in the system and work from that
when you have it drained you can install one yourself for the future

ronan45

Thanks Slave, Its a fairly new house (2005) i thought building regs would have stipulated a drain valve would be standard. Darn it. So basically hold up the cock valve in the attic that supplies the heating system and cut the pipe downstairs attach a hose and drain from there.

slavetothegrind

yeah you can do that
http://www.bes.co.uk/products/098.asp
is an option, i don't like them much but they do a job, better fit an inline drain cock if you have a spot for it.

are you sure it's not a sealed system?
you have a small tank in the attic beside the big one?

if its a sealed system check the fill loop is off, or if there's one of those autofil valves there should be an isolating valve behind it
otherwise you may be draining forever;)

ronan45

slavetothegrind wrote: »

yeah you can do that
http://www.bes.co.uk/products/098.asp
is an option, i don't like them much but they do a job, better fit an inline drain cock if you have a spot for it.

are you sure it's not a sealed system?
you have a small tank in the attic beside the big one?

if its a sealed system check the fill loop is off, or if there's one of those autofil valves there should be an isolating valve behind it
otherwise you may be draining forever;)

Slave, I have 2 tanks in the attic that actually look the same size. Its a VOKERA MYNUTE 14SE. I notice under the boiler there is a yellow valve maybe just a water feed is this the filling loop

slavetothegrind

NO!
that is the gas shut off for the boiler.
Stay away from the boiler altogether, dangerous and illegal

try the hotpress, take a picture and post it

you may well be better off getting someone in who knows as you are scaring me now:(

ronan45

Slave all is cool still alive pics of hotpress attached. didnt think it was anyway !:)

Merch

As someone said, there may not be a drain, mine doesnt have one as I found out when I went looking for it. The valve to shut off the fill should also have an inline fitting ( a one way valve, called a non return valve).

The two tanks in the attic seem like your storage tanks, connected together, just to make one big one. Mine fills into one and drains through the other, connected by a short pipe.

If I was to hazard a guess, I'd say it might be the valve on the right, the one on the left is/looks like a shut off for filling the tank, the middle looks like a cutoff for cold to a shower on the other side of that wall (does your shower have a thermostatic mixer on it?) If the one on the right connects by a pipe to the bottom of the (boiler circuit/heating circuit) coil through the tank (near a balance valve) then that MAY be the one, there should be a non return valve on that pipe if its the one, I always thought the valve handle was a different type to distinguish it from other circuits. It should be usually left open.

Make note of any valves you turn, by how much,whether they were fully open or closed and return them to how they were when you started, assuming they were in the correct position when you started.

Why do you need to drain the system? what are you doing?

ronan45

slavetothegrind wrote: »

NO!
that is the gas shut off for the boiler.
Stay away from the boiler altogether, dangerous and illegal

try the hotpress, take a picture and post it

you may well be better off getting someone in who knows as you are scaring me now:(

I didnt think so was just throwin it out there here is hot press, im still alive

aujopimur

Get one of those self tapping washing machine valves and fit it as low down on the heating system as you can, when its drained fit a good quality drain valve in its place.

ronan45

Thanks for all your tips lads

Well Im alive and dont have an indoor swimming pool lol

I have the 2 pipes tapped off that supplied the rads that i am removing permanently then it occured to me rad water runs on a loop.
Does one normally have to reconnect the 2 water pipes together. They dont supply anything else and are in the extension.
If i just the blank the 2 of them ( i Assume one is a feed and 1 is a return)
will this in effect possibly cut the flow elsewhere affecting other rads?
I have the heating on at the moment to check this see if any rads are affected

Thanks for your help guys.

PS those Qualpex push fit blanking grommits are great.
TIP The first PLumbing shop NEVER gave me the plastic pipe inserts and he even said that all i needed was the copper grommit piece. Which wont work obviously. I was saved by a friend who advised me on this.:cool:


Thus Far all downstairs rads heating as per normal And upstairs rads also i think im Sucking diesel

slavetothegrind

fair play to you ronan!

you're grand blanking the two pipes.

now turn that heating off it must be boiling in that house!!:p