A big thank-you to all that have advice over the past couple of weeks on my radiator install especially but in no particular order @polesapart, @ianmcd, @Lower, @Madrab, @Nige F and @JimCrow.
So far...so good:
I'm glad I persevered with the bends as I think it made the runs cleaner in the end. The cut pipe was a pain though so I found myself taking a hacksaw to the the pipe to make a cleaner if irregular cut that the pipe bender would fit into, then used my automatic pipe cutter after the bend was complete to make it cleaner. Those pipe cutters aren't perfect though - I bought a monument one and still got some burrs on the 15mm which needed sorting prior to solder.
I'm not so glad that I used chrome pipe to come up fomr the floor bards as that took far too long to sand down. Got the ends more or less down to the copper so I'm happy with the joint but I'm not sure I would do that again.
Notice on the above that there's a new section of 22mm pipe where the first feed to the new rad branches off. That's me screwing it up at midnight when I should have gone to bed. I didn't connect all the joins and then solder dripped into a fitting and I couldn't reposition it. Next morning flying a sortie to Screwfix for a length of 22mm. While placing an order I realised what a street elbow was for so the new tee has one. The return to the right did not but then again I managed a pipe bend that ran the reducing tee which I set at an angle.
The other thing I did was try some Pegler Yorkshire solder rings as opposed to the cheaper unbranded Screwfix ones. I seem to have had the impression that they heated faster and the soldering process was more straight forward. It could just be my imagination though.
The hole in the joist is a little tight. There's movement there but not a great deal - probably should have made a bigger hole but too late now.
The system was on over the weekend when it got cold, I turned the boiler thermostat right up and blasted the hell out of it for a few hours but have been turning all the other TRVs down and keeping the system on as much as possible. No leaks but the kitchen paper is staying under the soldered fittings for a few days at least before the floorboards go back down.
But all in all I'm proud of my efforts. Thanks again all!
So far...so good:
I'm glad I persevered with the bends as I think it made the runs cleaner in the end. The cut pipe was a pain though so I found myself taking a hacksaw to the the pipe to make a cleaner if irregular cut that the pipe bender would fit into, then used my automatic pipe cutter after the bend was complete to make it cleaner. Those pipe cutters aren't perfect though - I bought a monument one and still got some burrs on the 15mm which needed sorting prior to solder.
I'm not so glad that I used chrome pipe to come up fomr the floor bards as that took far too long to sand down. Got the ends more or less down to the copper so I'm happy with the joint but I'm not sure I would do that again.
Notice on the above that there's a new section of 22mm pipe where the first feed to the new rad branches off. That's me screwing it up at midnight when I should have gone to bed. I didn't connect all the joins and then solder dripped into a fitting and I couldn't reposition it. Next morning flying a sortie to Screwfix for a length of 22mm. While placing an order I realised what a street elbow was for so the new tee has one. The return to the right did not but then again I managed a pipe bend that ran the reducing tee which I set at an angle.
The other thing I did was try some Pegler Yorkshire solder rings as opposed to the cheaper unbranded Screwfix ones. I seem to have had the impression that they heated faster and the soldering process was more straight forward. It could just be my imagination though.
The hole in the joist is a little tight. There's movement there but not a great deal - probably should have made a bigger hole but too late now.
The system was on over the weekend when it got cold, I turned the boiler thermostat right up and blasted the hell out of it for a few hours but have been turning all the other TRVs down and keeping the system on as much as possible. No leaks but the kitchen paper is staying under the soldered fittings for a few days at least before the floorboards go back down.
But all in all I'm proud of my efforts. Thanks again all!
