Leaking radiator! Help!

[ShamefulPlaceMarker]

Hi!

I've been taking the skirting boards off, and must have applied a bit too mich pressure on the one behind the radiator as the pipe leading up from the ground, the one with the thermo attached, now had a cery slight leak!

It's a very small slow drip of about 5 seconds between each small drip.

I've found some radiator crack sealant online called Fernox LS X, which I was going to go and buy from b&q tomorrow. But my neighbour (who popped round) seems to think that it needs a plumber to sort it due to the pressures involved?

What do you think?

[Cedar03]

I'd get a plumber to look at it. We had a leak in a similar place in our bathroom and had to get the pipe leading up to the radiator replaced. This actually didn't cost as much as I'd feared - about £100 or so I think and most of that was the plumber's labour costs.

My feeling is that it is your heating system and it is piping water throughout your house. You don't want a tiny leak to turn into a huge leak.

[PigletJohn]

LSX might work for a bit, but you need to find out where the fault is, and repair it. For example it might be where the pipe goes up into the radiator valve and is retained by a chrome nut. Perhaps you have disturbed, cracked or bent it.

A competent plumber can do it, because it does not involve any work on the boiler or any gas part. You will probably need to relieve, then top up, the pressure at the boiler. If you and the plumber can't, or don't know how, consult whoever usually maintains your boiler. There is no need to drain down the system for this job. If your boiler is open-vented (no pressure gauge) it is still easy but the small tank in the loft has to be temporarily bunged while the joint is open.