Towel rail leaks after hot water shutoff

Why the towel rail does not warm in the bathroom

Towel rail. necessary, comfortable and handy device for your bathroom. It heats and creates a microclimate in the room and dries things. If you notice that the towel rail in the bathroom is cold, the reasons for this can be identified and eliminated by yourself.

• 1 Causes of a towel warmer cooling 1.1 Arrangement of a water supply system
• 1.2 Clogged pipes
• 1.3 Trapped air
• 1.4 The design and connection features of the towel dryer
• 1.5 Other causes

2.1 Related

The towel dryer stopped heating after a planned disconnection of the hot water supply?

Ladder towel dryers have undeniable advantages over common coils, but they are also more complex technically. If the water towel dryer has been installed for a long time and worked well before, but after the planned shutdown / turn-on of the hot water, as it happens with us in the summer, stopped heating, then most likely the installation of your ladder did not make a slope for the underwater and outlet pipes and for this reason there is an air lock, preventing the natural circulation.

We hope that watching the video below will solve your problem.

Every year our apartments turn off the hot water. This is done on purpose, so that to carry out routine repairs of plumbing equipment in the CHP (Central Heating Point).

The main reason why the towel rail is cold after a summer hot water outage is due to a reduction or cessation of the flow of the coolant through the heater. “Breakdown” can be found in several places:

The tap on the riser of the hot water or heating is blocked, while the riser itself when probing should be hot, and the communications in the towel dryer are cold. Check the location and routing of all communications for additional fittings, which can cause water circulation problems.

Leaking Radiator Valve, How To Replace or Repair DIY (Home Repair)

A common cause of a cold towel rail is old piping, the sections of which are “overgrown” with deposits of salts, rust and debris. And the problem can occur quite suddenly after a summer downtime of the heating system or during a change of heat carrier.

The lack of coolant circulation in the towel rail due to its incorrect connection to the main line. the “scourge” of the modernization of old heating systems, when they change the connection of heating devices and the whole risers on the principle of “I want so”. Pay attention to the way the pipelines of the towel dryer are connected to the riser:

The heating branch is included in the gap riser, which is poorly heated, and next is a hotter. which means that your heater is included in the “return” and it will have to be reinstalled. If you find cold risers, the cause should be sought in the basement or the neighbors on the riser, which could change the heat-carrying communications.

A frequent reason why the towel radiator is cold, when its communications are connected to two risers (parallel connection of batteries) is the unfair replacement of pipelines at the neighbors, t.е. They have deliberately changed the hydrodynamic resistance of the entire heating system by letting the main flow of hot coolant through their heater.

If we exclude all the above-mentioned reasons and find out the weak heating of a towel dryer, the cause can be hidden in a banal air lock in heat-carrying communications which can be easily removed by installation on a towel dryer of the Mayevsky faucet designed for bleeding air from the heating system. To check the presence of the coolant pressure in the heating system it is allowed to partially unscrew the coupling of the towel radiator until the air hisses and a small trickle of liquid.

The solution to the problem of why the towel rail is cold can be accomplished in three ways:

Complete replacement of all pipes and risers, t.е. Modification of the central heating system according to all requirements.

Disconnecting the towel dryer from the heating system with its connection to the DHW system.

Dismantling the old towel dryer and installing a new electric model.

Houses usually install either dead-end or stationary domestic hot water systems. Dead-end systems have a significant disadvantage. the consumer receives hot water directly from the network, and when the faucet is closed, the water in the pipes begins to cool.

Accordingly, the towel radiator loses its heating properties. while in the circulating stationary systems hot water passes through the supply riser and flows out through the return riser, eliminating the cooling of the liquid.

often than not, towel racks stop heating in bathrooms when clogs and blockages form. To clean the pipes, you must turn off the faucet, remove the equipment, put a plug on the pipe and go over the inside walls of the pipe with a wire brush on a soft wire. You need to make light knocks to remove salt deposits from the walls. At the end of the cleaning, the towel radiator is thoroughly rinsed under a head of water or a hydrochloric acid solution, which softens the hard residue. If the dryer remains cold after this procedure, it will have to be replaced.

If the towel radiator leaks directly at the joint, using towel wax and dryer wax can quickly fix the problem. If the American “sits” on silicone gaskets, it is recommended to replace them with thick rubber ones. Some experts advise to insulate over the top without disassembling the connection.

So under normal circumstances we would say that the responsibility for this towel dryer is the responsibility of the managing organization, as the person responsible for the proper common property.

What to do if the towel radiator is leaking, does it need to be replaced?

Bathroom Towel Dryer

• The diameter of the strand should be approximately equal to the depth of the thread;
• the length of the strand should provide winding on the required number of coils in 1.5. 2 layers;
• At first the hemp should be twisted, but not from the beginning, and with an indent of 5 cm;
• the thread is wrapped clockwise (in the direction of turns) with a twisted piece of oakum;
• then the winding continues with a second layer, but in the opposite direction;
• in the last step, the remaining, not twisted, beginning of the strand is wound onto the thread from the middle to the end of the pipe.

The threaded joint can drip because of a flattened gasket. defects in the ends of the mating parts of the thread connection. a sharp edge, cutting the gasket, jammed threads;

Defects in the threads can cause leaks. Electrochemical corrosion that eats away at the heater body.

Where to shut off the water

• the socket is screwed on the long connector welded to the pipe;
• on the short connector welded to the towel radiator, wind a linen or hemp lining;
• The ends of the nipples are aligned on a spatial axis, the coupling is screwed on the short nipple;
• on the reverse side (long thread) coupling is clamped with a lock nut.

At the present time builders have risers of towel dryers with the rest of the risers of HTW, HTW. They are cut into two lines. supply and return, mounted ball valves, two water outlets in the bath.

In all other cases, an intermediate variant is used. self-installed bypass. offset, slimed, open or concealed distribution of pipes, shut-off valves.

Instead of steel pipes, standpipes, polypropylene pipes, American-style or fittings with gaskets, coupling nuts are used more often.

Faucets in the apartment

• In the system remains pressure;
• Water from the riser will have to drain completely or partially, depending on the floor and the scheme of supply (from below, above), which is the repair.

If there is no such a clamp in the apartment, the stores are closed, the waiting time for emergency services is delayed, it is difficult or impossible to collect hot water in any container, it makes sense to go down into the basement of the house and shut off the valve by your own efforts. For this you need to have an idea of where exactly the shut-off valve is located.

Faucets in the basement

• The towel rail riser can be part of your home’s DHW or heating system;
• connection diagrams and location of shut-off valves, respectively, will be different;
• it is strictly forbidden to drain the water from any of the above systems on your own.

Elevator connection of the heating system.The pressure is regulated in the narrowed section of the elevator pipe. The principle of operation here is as follows:

• on the risers, the heat carrier is taken before the elevator from the supply line (always located at the top;
• then in the attic of the building or on the top floor, a horizontal line is drawn from which a maximum of six risers are fed;
• the direction of circulation in them, respectively, will be from top to bottom;
• The bottom part of all these risers connects to a common pipe, and connects to the return of the elevator pump (always from the bottom).

The valve of the PS riser for 1. 2 turns the drain plug is unscrewed;

Leaky connection threads

• this sealing element is placed inside the packing nut;
• with the gasket already resting on the end of one fitting, pressing against it with its entire side surface;
• When screwing the same union nut on the second connector the gasket is pressed to its end by its other surface.
• Edge of one or both connectors too sharp. be blunted with a file on the spot;
• jammed thread. run a die of the required size, on the pipe or water socket in place, on the mating connector in a vise.

Fluoroplastic gaskets.Non-repairable defects are sheared threads or the short threaded part of the socket, on which the cap nut will be screwed. In this case the shaped product can only be replaced as a whole, or the threads can be cut to a smaller size. In the second option, you have to use a smaller diameter union nut, respectively.New heating, DHW and towel dryer systems default to couplings with sleeved nuts. However, in the apartments of secondary housing, still in a fairly large number, operated dryers, connected to the risers in the old way.

• The pipes to be connected do not necessarily touch the ends;
• water penetrates in this gap in the inner space between the socket and the pipes;
• tightness is ensured by filling the hollows between the threads with FUM tape or caulk.
• if less than the required amount is wrapped, water will flow through the thread;
• if the tape on the thread is more than the required amount, it, simply, will be cut off when screwing.
• the diameter of the strand should be approximately equal to the depth of the thread;
• strand length should provide winding on the required number of turns in 1.5. 2 layers;
• at the beginning you have to twist the oakum, but not from the beginning, but with an indentation of 5 cm;
• the thread is wrapped clockwise (in the direction of the coils) with a twisted piece of oakum;
• Then the winding continues with the second layer, but in the opposite direction;
• In the last step, the remaining, un-twisted beginning of the strand is wound onto the thread from the middle to the end of the pipe.

Leakage at a welded joint

If there is leakage in these places immediately after installation, the product is replaced in the store under warranty. However, during the operation of the towel radiator ladder such defects can be observed, not only in the places of welding, but also on straight and curved sections.Electrochemical corrosion is the reason. Users and plumbers at the utility company usually refer to this as exposure to stray current, which is not exactly true. In fact, any part of the PS can rust, and collapse under the pressure of water, due to the lack of grounding:

• All risers of the apartment building are connected to the ground loop by default;
• the building codes here use steel pipes;
• during the replacement of individual sections of risers with dielectric pipes, this loop is interrupted;
• The water used as a coolant is a conductor of electricity.

Repair of a towel dryer

A special wire is used for this, which is sold in stores.

Stainless steel soldering wire.Damaged area is locally scraped with sandpaper, degreased with acetone. Then heat with a hand-held gas torch.

A manual gas burner.The flame is moved slightly to the side, the hard solder is leaned against the red-hot spot.

The hole is filled with molten metal, the excess flows on the outer surface of the pipe, is removed with a brush.

Eliminating the cause

Conducting a concealed earth connection in the water supply system. Clamps with a wire can be hidden under decorative plugs of fastening of a heating device to a wall if the scheme of their arrangement allows it.

The towel dryer stopped heating after a planned disconnection of hot water?

Ladder towel heaters have undeniable advantages over conventional coils, but at the same time they are technically more complicated. If the water towel dryer has been installed for a long time and worked well before, but after the planned turn off / turn on the hot water, as it happens with us in the summer, it stopped heating, most likely the installation of your ladder has not made the slope for the underwater and outlet pipes and for this reason an air lock is formed, preventing the natural circulation.

We hope that watching the video below will solve your problem.

Any technique can break down, and the towel radiator in this case is no exception. It happens that there is hot water in the tap, but the device in question remains cold. Usually you can fix the situation without calling a handyman. The main thing is to determine the cause of the breakage correctly.

As is known, there are two types of towel dryers. electric and water. To begin with, let’s try to deal with the water ones, which are more popular and in demand. In addition to low cost, such units are highly reliable, so technical failures are very rare. But if you notice that the towel dryer in the bathroom does not warm, in most cases it is connected with the air shortage in the device.

To eliminate the problem you will need a special air vent, which is designed to remove air s. This device even has a special name. the Maevsky tap. So, let’s try to remove excess air from the system. For this purpose we perform the actions according to the following algorithm

• Completely unscrew the Maevsky faucet;
• we open the stop valve which is located on a water towel dryer;
• Wait until the excess air is completely blown out of the faucet. The signal to the fact that the air ran out, is the appearance of a small trickle of water;
• firmly screw the Mayevsky faucet back on.

As a rule, the removal of air contributes to the resumption of normal operation of the towel radiator. Because air is an insurmountable barrier to water in a confined space. As we know, the water flow chooses the path of motion with the least resistance. Therefore, in the presence of air corks hot water is not fed into the system of the towel dryer, which leads to its cooling.

However, the towel radiator in the bathroom can not heat for other reasons, sometimes even the removal of air plugs does not help. This occurs when the device is directly connected to the heating system of your apartment or house. The cause can again be air, but the only difference is that the plugs appear throughout the circuit, not specifically in the device itself. The only difference. the device will not be cold, it will be rather warm, at room temperature.

To correct the situation in this case will help a complex of measures. It is necessary to remove air, only from the whole circuit, where the hot water passes. Maevsky cocks on all available heat exchangers, including radiators, are unscrewed, resulting in the natural pushing of excess air to the outlet under water pressure. You can open the cocks at the same time, but experts still recommend doing it one by one, especially if you are acting alone. If the problem happened in a private home, which is equipped with a boiler, then it is best to start removing airlocks from it.

You removed all the plugs, but the towel dryer in the bathroom still does not work? Proceed to the following methods of solving the problem. It is quite possible that there is no hot water circulation in the appliance. The cause of this unpleasant phenomenon can be a variety of factors, including:

• 1. The pipe outlets are of unsuitable diameter;
• 2. The transfer of the hot water circuit in the open summer mode;
• 3. The neighbors blocked the common riser.

The scheme of connection of a towel dryer provides its installation on a pipe of a return flow of hot water. Hot water must constantly be in motion, otherwise it will stagnate in the risers and cool. The consequence of such stagnation is cold water, which flows even when you turn on the tap with hot water. Only after lowering the cooled water begins the flow of warm water.

Naturally, the meters at this time show that hot water is used, for which you have to pay extra money. This is a reason to complain to the housing and utilities department, whose specialists should fix the situation as soon as possible. There is another reason for the lack of heat in the towel rail. Often, utilities turn off the return flow in the circuit of hot water, motivating their actions by the transfer to the summer mode, while saving on heating water flow. And since towel dryers are usually connected to the return, they are instantly cooled, even if the hot water is in the taps. Again, without complaints in the direction of the housing and utilities such a problem will be very difficult to solve.

Device

Because of its characteristic shape, the towel radiators have another name. the coil. Plumbing stores offer such devices in a variety of sizes, configurations, they are made of many materials. There are copper, steel, aluminum, enameled, brass models. In addition, you can choose the thickness of the material. readily buy copper coils, but many other types have also earned the right to be called high-quality and convenient.

Each towel dryer, regardless of type and configuration, is equipped with mandatory details. This is a manifold (32 millimeters), a gasket for it, a sleeve, a coupling nut, an angle valve, a hexagonal cap, a deflector, a water socket. Any of these parts if installed incorrectly, a manufacturing defect or other causes can cause leaks.

Which of the permanent problems can be eliminated with their own hands and what to do if the American leaks

In case of metal corrosion, hydraulic shock, improper installation of the battery or factory defect, you should contact a master. But the majority of problems of water leakage in the joints of the main pipe and the towel dryer are solved independently, having previously switched off water supply. For example:

• If there is a small amount of leakage at the joints under the cap nut it may be caused by loosening of the flare nut. use a suitable wrench to gently tighten the nut (but do not overtighten it so as not to damage the threads).
• If you can not stop the leakage. unscrew the American pipe and check the rubber seal. If necessary replace the worn part with a new one.
• If there is no gasket or a piece of rubber at hand, from which you can cut a suitable part. wrap a piece of linen cloth around the thread, apply sealant on top and let it dry. Then screw the clamping nut back on.
• If the cause of water leakage is steel deterioration (at the joints of towel dryer or in the pipe itself). a temporary solution to such a problem is a “clamp” made of a suitable piece of metal. After installing the “clamp” it must be welded.

Important! Before you start the work, you need to warn your neighbors from below about possible unforeseen situations (an unsuccessful attempt to fix the leak with your own hands can tear the thread of the nut or damage the pipe) and turn off the water supply in the apartment

Improper installation of supply pipes can create the conditions for the emergence of leaks. This kind of failure is difficult to fix on your own. If the hot water supply pipes are installed incorrectly, there is an increased risk of leaks. Carrying out repair work can give a short-term positive effect. In this case it is advisable to install a device for closing the pipes tightly and install an electric towel rail.

To eliminate the existing leak, it is important to understand how to install plumbing. If a person has not previously had similar experience, it is better to leave the work to professionals. There are a number of rules that must be considered when performing repairs.

The coil circulates hot water. It should be shut off beforehand. If the liquid supply is shut off, do not immediately start repairing. Wait until the appliance has cooled down. Need to prepare in advance a bucket and a rag to drain the water. Only after that can you begin to fix the existing defect.

The necessary knowledge for self-repair

Improper installation of supply pipes can create the conditions for leaks. Such a malfunction is difficult to fix on your own. If the hot water supply pipes are installed crookedly, the risk of leaks increases. Repair work can have a short-term positive effect. In this case it is advisable to install a fixture to close the pipes tightly and install an electric towel rail.

In order to fix a leak, it is important to understand how plumbing is installed. If a person has not had this kind of experience before, it is better to leave the work to professionals. There are a number of rules to consider when making repairs.

Hot water circulates in the coil. It should be covered beforehand. If the fluid supply is shut off, you should not immediately begin repairing. It is necessary to wait for the device to cool down. Prepare a bucket and a cloth in advance to drain the water. Only after that can you begin to eliminate the existing defect.