RADS!

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oasis

oasis

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I was told by Chris and Church not to mess around with Rads.. but iv allways told customer i will take them off so i can get on with the job and save hassle of a plumber,

this time i took 4 old rads off and they all leaked and need 4 new thermostats as they were old.. i had to pay as i took the rads off..

not any more will i try to help the customers
 
warn them in advance..makeit out that ur doing them a favour for nothing but hold no resposibility for them or tell them they can pay £40 a rad from a plumber.
 
i charge em 20 per rad but blank off the thermostats with blanks cos they can leak through other than that its easy also you got to know how to top the system back up
 
well its easy as u say monk 2 take um off and blank um as i do but still the 8mm 20years old theros like to leak and if u dnt see that and all the pressure drops out the boiler then u could be heading for trouble.
 
ive had a few leak on me..... pain in the arse.

as some1 said on the forum before, take them off put the blanks on and get the customer to sort out the rest.

all the radiators ive fitted have leaked when i put them back on.
 
I always give the customer the choice of taking them off themselves, leave them on and ill feather in as far behind as I can or I will take them off for a fixed price.

Most of the time I feather in but I have to say I really hate doing it. Its not as good a job but I just do what the customer wants me to do.

I dont see why you would have to buy new TRV's Oasis. If a plumber was to take the rad off and the valves were faulty he would say they needed replacing and the customer would pay.

Its always best to carry some jointing compound with you to smear on the olive.
 
I just tell em that rads needs removing before we start ok.
Then they either get em off or get someone in to do it.
Then any problems after are their problems not mine.
Had to feather round loads aswell, pipe trowel & Long small paint brush(decorators fitch)come in handy.
I can take em off & have done in the past but as already said leave it to the plumbers ;D
 
Another point.
A mate took the rads of upstairs on a job & never capped off the TRV's
next morning he turned up & all the lounge ceiling & walls were soaked.
The valves kicked in at night when the temperature dropped.
He had to sort out the lounge ceiling & walls & redecorating out of his own pocket,
which he wasn't even doing in the first place.
So like i say leave it to the plumbers & any problems are their problems ;D
 
oasis said:
i no this one now lol.. never again, im fed up of learning!
Click to expand...

The whole point of people like you using this forum should be to learn quicker by using the experiences of others who are willing to share them with you. You will only learn if you listen to those who know more than you.
You have been told before don't touch rads, simples.
 
I'm sorry Andy and church and Chris i fort i new better ;-( i will leave the crappy rads alone.. 2 be fair the only reason i wanted 2 take um off 4 them is so that they would go 4 me 2 save hassle off gettin in a plumber first! some people are lazy
 
On domestic work I used to be quite definite about not getting involved with rads even though I can deal with them quickly and efficiently. Then came the recession....!

On two occasions I've lost jobs because another spread has offered to take care of it all the rads and even refill the system - whilst i was being to posh to plumb.

Also, on other occasions, where there's wallpaper behind the rad and i'm charging the punter half a day's dough to strip it, or the punter has lamely explained that they couldn't quite do it themselves, it's almost impossible to get it off properly without dropping the rad down. You can't be doing no feathering onto paper.

I now explain to the punters that I'm not really insured to be dealing with rads even though I can. I make out I'm doing them a favour by playing with them and that they'd probably have to get their own house insurance to cover any problems arising. This usually goes down favourably. I explain that they might end up having leaky valves and that I'll change them for £15 a valve which includes the cost of fetching the parts and fitting them. If the rads are old sh1tters then I offer to fit new ones for the cost of the parts (plus a secret 20%) plus half a day or a full day of my time to fit the new radiators. Frankly I'd rather not bother. I hate plumbing. Sometimes though, the punter is looking for someone to just take care of everything. I've even explained that they will probably get a plumber to do the work cheaper.... but obviously they've got to go find one and they don't usually want to if you've established a rapport with them.

If you've got so much work you're turning it down you can afford to be too posh to plumb but having been told directly that i've lost contracts from not wanting to drop the rads down or off, i've changed my view...

cheers SPREDZ
 
nice post, its a hard one, maybe i need 2 just price in a plumber and let them no i will sort it all unless they have some1 else thet no.
 
I had one mistake with a rad and that was one to many cost me £80 quid for plumber to sort out.So obviously since then the client can take the rads off or you tell them to get in a plumber - a few times now ive had to feather in around the rads as they wont pay the £50 quid the plumber wants for each rad-down to them eh !
 
The post from spredz is 100% right.You will lose work if you dont take rads off.
Its part of the job,no different to taking light fittings off when you have to knock stud walls down or sometimes remove the wiring from a ceiling.As much as im scared to death of electric i know if i put in the cost of an electrician to sort it for me ill be £100 dearer than the cheapest quote.
Would you call a bricklayer to brick up an airvent /or unused fireplace before reskim ??NO
Would you call an electrician to take down a light fitting / switch or chandelear b4 reskim?NO
Would you call a plumber to take a radiator off b4 reskim ??????? Now thats the f u c k i n g question?
 
It is a bit different to taking light fittings down mate,
lights don't p i s s water everywhere, leak black sludge on cream carpets or cause airlocks etc etc....

I can take rads of no probs but why should i, i ain't that desperate for £50 & a headache plus problems.
I just want to get in get my job done a get out. Last thing i wanna be doin is running round for new rad valves, pipe freeze kits etc....
It doesn't affect the price i give i just tell em the rads gotta come off before i start.
If they get another quote & spread says he'll take it off well he ain't gonna do it for free.
So the customer pays either way, wether it's a plumber or plasterer.
Last few jobs i did customers took em off thereselves & all had problems after, i walked out the door smiling ;D
Plus my public liability insurance doesn't cover me for plumbing disasters ;D ;)
 
I agree with the comments about personal preference and why bother. My personal preference is not to do rads, avoid them like the plague if at all possible and that's my default position.

Typically I'll only do it if its clear that the punters are at a loss what to do about them. I used to just refuse to get involved but like I said having lost a couple of contracts - at a time when every one counts has made me a bit more flexible.

Another big thing for me is that here in West London there are so many people advertising as Plasterers (RatedPeople.com alone has 60 registered Plasterers covering my post code)

Man you can come seriously unstuck on Rads though. What starts as loosening the nuts and just pivoting it down onto the floor and working over it can result in having to drain the entire system and fit new valves. I've got all the kit with me to fit a new valves and spare valves etc.

Avoid them if you can but if you're going to have a go at it then best you do some research on the subject and have the right tools and spares with you. You do not want to have to be trotting off to find the nearest plumbers merchants. You need to know how to remove a rad without draining the system, how to refill the system, how to replace all the valves.

cheers Spredz
 
we tend to either get the customer to take them off, or tell them that we will take them off and leave them off and the rest is to them. we've got a good plumber mate who we use if we're abit unsure about putting them back on and draining the system, he tend to do it for nowt as we do quite a bit of work on his house.
 
problems only arise through inexperience. 99% of the time a plumber wont end up with leaky rads after the event because he knows what he's doing... also 90% of the trv's I encounter wont be completely shut off anyway i always carry some sort of blanking device with either a 15mm nut and olive or a 1/2" tap connector with a rubber washer sort of thing..
leaky trv's arent really the problem, its puttin em back on when the real trouble starts..
the easy answer is to wrap plenty ptfe round the olives for the 15mm tails and use hawk white or boss green on the flages of the old 3/4 valve tails.. dont over nuke the nuts job should be fine in 90% of cases, slight leak give it a further nip.
they can leak from the pipe end too though (pays to be gentle when taking em off) and you can take your pick from pipe freezing, quick wrap some ptfe round the olive while you get a little bit damp (takes 1 to hold the valve and 1 to wrap the tape so its 2 of you getting wet really, and relieving the system pressure helps a lot here ::) ) or drain down the system...
or if its an old gravity give yourself at least half a day to bleed the system back up
risk and reward innit... if you know what youre doing the risk is minimal and it could easily be the difference between getting and losing a job?
if you dont know what youre doing then the risk is likely to be extremely high and the possible consequences dont bear thinking about... ive had the 'trv open at 5am' trick happen to me.... on a gravity fed system... luckily it werent my name on the invoice

another little tip for 'rounded off bleed valves' on real old rads - a mini cold chisel or even an old 1/2 wood chisel can be used to carve a little slot in the end and you can get a screwdriver in.. the combination of shocking it with the chisel and a screwdriver usually works.. careful though... ;)
 
now im not one for being a stick in the mud but I havnt got ins to take rads off and again to clarify the problem could be 2 months down the line when they fancy a new carpet and the rad mysteriously leaks if your ins no probs if not leave them well alone, oh and when you got your public liability did the questions ask about heat and water
 
welcome back seggsy .......swear on my kids life i had a dream about you last night ;D..............trust me it was a nice clean chat
 
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