How hard is it change a radiator yourself?

[User181019]

So I've been trying to get our ancient and ugly radiators replaced for ages. They work but they are just ugly and have been in place for years. I'd like to replace two medium ones in the hallway, one very small one on the stair landing and one bigger one in the hallway. I'll replace with the same size and make sure the pipes stay in the same place. No floorboards to prise etc. We are in London. I don't know what the labour cost would be as we are being ghosted by plumbers who don't return with a quote! Not even the guy we've used a couple of times now for other jobs and recommended to others. The last one seemed interested. Asking me to WhatsApp pics of all the rads to be replaced. Read the messages then just stopped responding :(

Since the pandemic, where we are trades people are doing a roaring trade. We've found it really hard to get good people in to do "smaller" jobs. E.g. tiling the hearths, replacing broken fences. Jobs too time consuming for us : both work full time with kids - and DH never gets round to doing stuff so paying someone saves a lot of arguments and gets things done. I assumed replacing radiators would be at least half a day's work but I'm thinking now maybe it's too small a job compared to much bigger jobs out there.

I've seen guides on B&Q suggesting it's easy to swap out rads for new ones. Is it really that straightforward? Or how much did you pay for labour only and whereabouts are you?

Is it hard to change the same size radiator for another - no. BUT! The prep work and resetting work after is cumbersome to do. If you have an accident with emptying/refilling the system you will swear you wish you’d never started.

it’s a job which takes a lot longer than you think and not one that can be tidied away for another day if you need heating the same day. So wait until warm weather to diy and ensure that you have two strong people to do the job or wait until spring/summer and get a plumber in.

But sometimes needs must - it is cheaper to diy (if it goes to plan) and if you cannot get a tradesman in…it might be your only option, other than radiator covers so ou don’t have to look at them.

If it is not an exact like for like swap, then things can get complicated. We have (had!) imperial sized radiators and copper piping, and could not find exact metric equivalents, so pipes etc did need to be altered.
And don't forget just how much mess a leak of clean water can make, let alone radiator sludge water. Leave it to the experts! Though I admit that finding someone good can be tricky. You will have more luck in the summer when they're usually not so busy.

Thanks everyone. We are definitely NOT going to attempt this ourselves based on the advice given here!

Unfortunately, we have been trying to get quotes from plumbers all summer (when, in theory, they may have extra bandwidth). It's only because we're now almost at the end of the year and we're still no closer to finding someone decent to give a quote that I posted this!

I often wish that DH or I, or someone in the family, was a builder/plumber/electrician. Such great and useful skills to have!!

Have you tried knocking on neighbours doors for ask for recommendations?

I really think you may have given off the wrong vibe by saying that it’s half a day etc.. and the plumbers have thought you’re gonna be a pain I the arse.

I’ve just walked away from a £45k job because I think a customer will be a pain in the arse and I don’t need it.

They are busy right now but January will be slower but ring round again and just say a bit less. Say you want 4 new rads fitted and ask them what they think.

I walk away from at least half the work offered because of the people involved. If I get the wrong vibe I don’t touch it. People telling me how long it will take / how difficult or hard etc… is a red flag.

I really admire your give it a go attitude OP!

Slightly against the grain here, but I recently had a radiator stop working and I swapped it out myself after watching some YouTube videos. It took me about 3 hours to do that one radiator, so it was relatively time consuming but it wasn't hard and I'm not particularly handy. I did make sure to get one that was the same size and spacing for the pipes so I didn't have to make any major changes to the plumbing itself.

It’s odd that it “just stopped working”..

what stopped working?

then even if you can get an identical one you still have to transfer the part of the valves that are on the radiator side, and depending on your luck you may need a hex spanner for that..

then if you don’t drain the system you’ve got to disconnect a rad which is full of water without trashing the place.

how far do you screw those valve tails into your new rad? How many turns of ptfe tape do you use? How do you gauge by feeling if you have enough or if you’ll get a leak?

is there an olive, and if so do you have the right jointing compound? If you can’t get it back together you need a whole new fitting and now you need to drain the system.

do you have a drain cock?

does it still work, or is it jammed?

how do you release it if it is jammed, then after that can you get it back together or do you need a new one of those as well? If so how do you fit it.

the list goes on.

all fine if it goes smoothly, but it almost never does so you take your chances.

@Palmasailor to be clear, I've never said to any plumber it would take half a day. I've explained what I'd like done and ask for a quote. Perhaps I wasn't clear enough in my OP, I was thinking in my head that perhaps it would only take half a day and that's why plumbers aren't interested as it's not a big enough job. This is based on a few jobs where we've been turned down (not big enough) and with one plumber telling me it would be an "easy job" and "definitely no more than a day". To be clear, where I am located, everyone and their nanna is doing works so good and decent trades people get to pick their jobs. I can see it makes business sense to go for bigger jobs.

Thanks but we're absolutely not giving it a go based on feedback here. We are happy to pay trades people for their knowledge and expertise to get a done job properly. Unfortunately, where we are, this does count as a "small job" for good trades people and companies who are busy being asked to quote for bigger jobs. I have asked my local FB group for more recommendations. I did get another recommendation for someone they said was excellent but said they had also been ghosted and a quote never given.

I really admire the posters who have done this themselves. Kudos to them! As I said, I'm always slightly in envy of friends who have builder husbands or family members who have knowledge and connections.

Per advice here, it's not urgent. We did try to do this over the summer but we'll now wait until spring. We understand that there will be greater priorities right now than replacing our very old but still working rads.

Thanks all!

I know you have decided not to diy (wise decision!)
But this is mil living room as plumber desperately tried to solve leak under floor and replace radiator. This is not to mention the filthy black sludge!

Perhaps I’m just getting old, but big jobs are not the holy grail.

A day or two for a fair rate has a lot going for it.

These days I get a feeling what I’m dealing with so careful what I take on, but on balance you’re a lot better off with back to back small jobs with decent people than you are on a larger job where you’re stuck in the house for weeks on end with an utter arse for a customer.

if I were you I’d hit Google and hit the phone harder and keep going. Someone will do it at a fair price.

I'm not a trade, but I totally understand your point of view. I've never had any problems with people doing work for me my advice is :

• Find local recommended trades
• Be clear about what you want doing, and put it in writing
• Never tell them how log it will take
• Be in when they are working, be chatty but leave them to get on.
• Don't ask for a quote for small jobs
• Pay the bill promptly.
• If they are good, recommend them.
• On big jobs, check their company and insurance details.

DH replaced all ours gradually as we redecorated each room. He managed without any plumbing training/special knowledge, but is quite handy. He also ended up sitting with a bowl under his cut pipe on two separate occasions when he fogot to drain the system first.

OP I have been there in london.

TBH I have ended up saving up and using Pimlico plumbers. At least they do come and then you have a way of getting in touch with them if something goes to shit in the following year (it has for me before and Pimlico remedied the issue). Tbh the joy of phoning and someone answering that phone is something else in plumber land!!

Then phrase the job as ‘replacement of all rads, check pipework upgrade as necessary, etc etc) so that you sound like you appreciate it could be a difficult job more complicated than it first seems. I think sometimes trades get put off by customers pitching it as a straightforward job as they’re already thinking ‘i bet I get there, take out 2 ancient rads and then there’ll be all sorts of other work and she’ll be like ‘that’s not what I asked for’ etc’

I would buy a couple of efficient little plug in oil rads to get you to spring and then save up so you’re doing all the radiators you ever want done in one go, plus get your system flushed (it gets the sludge out basically), any pipe work etc.

I also really recommend anyone in london to do a course at the good life centre in diy and plumbing. I did one on general diy (we have moved out of london now but I am on my 6th owned house 4 of them reno jobs)

I MORE than made the money back in a year based on not needing to call out people for lots of different odds and end jobs. Subsequent builders have actually commented on how good my work is!

It means you save money on the small jobs and so have that leeway to throw a bit more at harder jobs.

Its so difficult and frustrating I know! Absolutely none of my advice is perfect but is how I got stuff done in the end.

Also advice from neighbours as if you have anyone reasonable local and they don’t have to commute for your job, you’re more attractive. State that there is parking for their van etc. I always chat to tradespeople, I find all the trades fascinating, and over the years have picked up so many things that I wouldn’t have thought of (that parking is a big issue is a fairly obvious one!)

good luck!

I’m actually planning on going back in spring to do the basic plumbing one!

It's not "odd" at all. I did not say it "just" stopped working, I said it stopped working. The problem was a build up of sludge over time (again lots of YouTube videos diagnose radiator problems), but like the OP getting trades out in my area for a small job like one radiator that is not working is impossible at any time of year.

I ran through all the possible problems (air, rad valve stuck, etc) and once I realised it was likely sludge build up and the radiator would have to come off to clean it out anyway I decided to try and fit a new radiator instead of trying to wash out the old one, as the rad itself was old and tarnished. Yes, lots of things could have gone wrong, but as I had a non working radiator anyway I decided to try it. And my experience was it wasn't that hard.

We have done several of ours over the years and it’s not too bad. I took a bunch off to spray paint outside also then back on (as they were ancient).
So I would say it’s ok for like to like ones.

We have two massive ones that we needed extra help with as really heavy, and a couple we swapped for larger ones so plumbers did those as new pipes needed in walls.

It’s definitely worth looking at how to do them even if you don’t this time. We live in a country where it’s really high labour chargers per hour, so it has saved us a lot by moving at least 1/2 ourselves. Several have been on and off to re plaster walls or paint behind for example. So it’s not like once on they stay on forever

It is odd. In their own right they don’t just stop working because intrinsically there isn’t much to go wrong with them. It’s usually a valve, air lock, balancing or sludge.

in this case it was sludge. So it’s a different problem which should have been dealt with by power flushing and didn’t need a radiator change.

You've probably still got a load of sludge everywhere else.

What is odd is how determined you are to make this seem harder than it is and not read my posts.

Power flushing is expensive and unnecessary for a single problem radiator - tons of YouTube videos explain how to clean out sludge from a single radiator. It looks messy but not hard. I identified the problem and as I already said I decided to change the radiator once it was going to have to come off anyway to clean out the sludge.

The OP asked how easy it is to change a radiator, I replied with my experience. Given difficulties getting trades out and COL surely we should be celebrating women successfully DIYing these problems?

If - and this is a big if- you're not moving the pipework, and the valves will seal shut, and the valve fittings will fit your new rads, you don't need to drain the system, just the radiator. It can be a bit awkward doing it, and getting the valves to seal again afterwards, but we've never not been able to do it. We've changed several.
But if anything goes wrong, you may have to drain it. So you need to know how.

I’m not the DIYer, but we’ve changed all of ours without ever draining the system. I’ll ask DH later what we do.. I think a combination of isolators and freezing pipes - but I’m guessing it depends on your system. Although one time we’d forgotten a step and had a 15 second fountain in the bedroom, but carpets and floorboards dry 😂

I’ve replaced a few with my wife, was fairly easy and we didn’t have to drain the system, we just use YouTube vids as a guide. We’ve done a lot of work to the house ourselves and have always just done research first and followed videos, never had any major problems.

I’m not trying to make it seem harder, anyone is welcome to DIY it.

But if you don’t do it very often there are more risks than you’ll see on YouTube.

Thats all.

It’s like any job - easy once you know how but there is a learning curve certainly. I’ve replaced numerous radiators in my house over the years and put in new column rads - weigh a ton, but I’ve done it all single handed. You just have to be creative and buy the right tools. The first one I did I flooded the downstairs as whilst I was lifting a floorboard it pulled the pipe out with with - bad solder joint a 100 litres of pressurised water came out and hit the ceiling. Fun times but it all dried out. Lesson 1 was drain the system before starting - my plan was to once I had the boards up and could see the pipe work.

Next one I did had a very tight fit for the pipes under the floor. Couldn’t get my blow torch fully under to do the solder and so had to learn about push fit couplings. Job done though and that was so years ago and no issue.

Have since put in another three column radiators in various spots and now it’s a couple of hours work each maybe.

It is very much doable as a DIY job but depends upon how steep a learning curve / what your general aptitude for DIY is. I’d have be much much more hesitant to do this work in my old flat as at least it’s my house I flooded rather than having to say sorry to the downstairs neighbours! I would say however having done this work lots, it’s saved me a lot of money and as you are finding out, time trying to get the trades in. There’s nothing complicated in draining a boiler, replacing inhibitor or running new pipe work, and with the use of pushfit systems such as John guest, you don’t even need to know how to solder anymore. Yes there is a big debate about pushfit and solder joints but that’s a whole other thread!