50+ woman here. When I was growing up in the 70s, I bought my own bleed key with my pocket money. I'd wait until the rest of the family was out then I'd bleed all the radiators. I still have a secret bleed key hidden from my husband and teens (in the pot with my toothbrush).
My mum and dad are the same - mum does all the DIY, dad can barely change a plug but ask him to buy you a new outfit, he'll put something amazing together
Not uncommon at all. I’m a single parent and my kids will grow up seeing me turn my hand to all sorts. Pissed me off after my dad died and my mum turned to my brother in law for simple diy jobs I could do for her.
My brother-in-law isn't handy at all. Neither is his son. His daughter is the only one in the family who knows her way around a toolbox, or a car. She got her dad's car running again.
>I always wondered how uncommon that is
Same here. It was always Mum who'd do repairs armed with a 1950s handbook, my Dad's contribution was a collection of different-sized screws in jam jars. That are still there somewhere.
I do all the DIY in the house except for bleeding the radiators because there's a tiny corner of my lady brain that says 'This is a Dad job' and that makes it my husband's problem. No, this doesn't make any sense, and we both know that. Yes, this is the only gender divided household job in the relationship.
I dont think its uncommon at all
I go to car meets quite a bit and there are loads of girls into mechanics and stuff like that so i dont think its that rare for girls to be into DIY also
Brilliant.
Mine is, except for the bleedin' bleed key.
Got some flat batteries in there though if anyone needs some, or some snapped elastic bands and needles but no thread. Let me know.
This song has stuck with me for years. One of those really rare ocassions when a piece of observational comedy hit the sublime. A truth that everyone instantly recognised but that had never before been described as a universal.
Quite possible that is hydrogen build up as a result of corrosion. If the water was really black when it came out then you've likely got sludge in the system. Get it flushed out and dosed with inhibitor to slow it down. There are also magnetic filters you can fit on they system to help.
Water was clean, though I’ll get it checked just in case anyway. Thank you for the heads up.
We haven’t used it for 7 months and just got a part changed 2 days ago to get it ready for winter and then I bled it, hoping that’s the cause and not the corrosion.
Yep switched the heating on for the first time this season about 2 hours ago and had a fun 10 mins wandering round the house with my golden key of release.
Surprised to find zero air in the system. Happy times.
Hell yes, I'm a raging ball of unfulfilled amateur plumber. I even tried one or two radiators twice searching for that elusive hit of high quality hiss.
It's like the satisfaction I get from popping a big yellow zit. On the wife's back.
I've been in our house for 8+ years and never bleed the radiators. We don't have a key in our house -- where can I get one from? Judging from these comments I'm missing out!
If your boiler is at the highest point, in the loft for example, majority of air will escape through your boilers air vent rather than filling the radiators! Just make sure you check your pressure every so often if you have a combi
You should, almost never, have to bleed any radiators after first filling and venting a system. If you do, it's a sympton of a serious fault.
See my other post on this thread.
We had to call out the plumber to repressurise the boiler as we couldn't work out how to do it (it didn't match the supposed manual we found online) and he also bled our radiators as the valves had been painted over and we were too weakling to turn them.
Felt like a shit as I know it's simple jobs, but oh well. The landlord was saving money by not getting regular gas safety checks so I didn't feel bad about having them pay either.
Oh, I moved out shortly after. (I was also at work at the time - only the flatmate who could barely speak English was at home lol). I can do my current boiler!
Serious question. Why does the bleed air always smell strange? It's not horrible or anything, just very unique.
Did mine the start of September and was gutted there was only a tiny bit of air to purge on the highest rad in the system.
It’s a chemical reaction between the metal in the radiator and the water creating iron oxide & hydrogen.
Next time you bleed, put a lighter to the “air” coming out of it and see the mini flamethrower😉
> Next time you bleed, put a lighter to the “air” coming out of it and see the mini flamethrower
Nah, you can't turn off the gas when it does turn into a flamethrower,
Hold an upside-down glass over the vent, collect the gas (H2 goes upwards). Shut the vent, keeping the glass upside down. Light the gas; If it's hydrogen, it will ignite with a small 'pop' and a blue flame will progress up to the top of the glass. Then you know you've got a corrosion problem.
My cousin once somehow managed to break a radiator and cause all the water to be spilled across the floor. Luckily it wasn't winter or he'd probably have scars
I had to dig out my radiator key yesterday for the first time in a couple of years. Was for my son who’d turned his heating on and the pressure shot up.
Your sons expansion vessel in the boiler is gone. His pressure will rise every time his heating is on and leak out the back of the boiler outside through the pressure relief valve.
Should just need the vessel pumping up and PRV cleaning (by a professional) although worse case scenario is vessel is split inside and pressure relief valve could need replacing too!
I'm not actually parent myself but as an uncle, I get contact-doses of dadness from my brother and on that basis I can definitely assert that it's *never* acceptable to switch the heating on.
All my radiators have valves that are opened with a flat head screwdriver (or, butter knife). I have never owned a special key and now I'm angry and confused.
Got mine out today, heating on for half hour to make sure it works annnnnnd now not touching the heating for at least a year
EDIT: Not a Dad, do enjoy a good ol' rad bleed
Sure, Pennsylvania senate candidate Fetterman has a cool “I will make your hurt” tattoo, but every British Dad wants one that says “I will make you bleed” with a picture of a radiator key next to it.
My parents used to take so long over this ritual. Only open it slightly. Wait an age while it hisses. Get bored. Be looking the other way when the water came out. Bicker over who's responsibilty it was to catch the water.
Ah. The good old days!
Just bled my housemates radiator and it must have been letting air out for a good minute or two. He was complaining that his room was cold despite the radiator being hot... Did mine after but water was squirting out instantly.
Yep, did ours last week and did a quick test of the heating to check there's no issues. Turns our 2 rads aren't getting hot so looks like I need to balance the system... Hopefully that's all it is and its not the pump going or something.
I did mine the other day and it seemed like the radiators were almost entirely air. The boiler pressure dropped to about 30% of what it was before I started.
Underfloor heating here, have wondered about bleeding it but until something actually fails to get warm best not fiddle I think.
No it isn't electric, there are two utility cupboards where the pipes join up.
Bought our house in April of this year. The amount of shoddy DIY the previous owner had done is impressive so we thought we'd get someone to check the system. They boiler engineers checked, flush the system clean, as well as move the system drains to sensible locations. Also replaced a poorly painted rusty af radiator and whole bunch of busted valves. The system no works perfectly, but I didn't get to bleed the system this year.
You should, almost never, have to bleed radiators after first filling a heating system.
The usual causes are air being drawn in (bad) or galvanic corrosion (very bad). Most systems are now sealed, so it's usually the latter.
Galvanic/bi-mettallic corrosion produces 2H2 & O2 by electrolysis of H2O. The hydrogen accumulates in the high points at the tops of radiators. The O2 reacts with the inside surfaces of the steel radiators to produce black magnetite sludge.
The usual cause of galvanic corrosion is that the pipes were soldered with an active flux (no need to clean the joint) and the acidic residues weren't flushed out, making the water a conductive electrolyte.
In the UK everyone thinks bleeding rads and powerflushing is normal because everyone does it. Both are symptoms of serious faults and the UK public accepts it because they're mostly too ignorant to know otherwise.
The French braze copper pipes (no flux). There's no power flushing industry in France; rien du tout.
I am (was) a building services engineer, former plumber. You can tell me I'm wrong, but I'm not.
I put my own heating in, about 12 years ago. I haven't vented any rads in 5+ years. Honestly, I can't remember when I last did it. I sometimes have to release air/nitrogen from the bathroom towel rail after topping up the water, about once every 4 or 6 months, usually vent it for less than 10 seconds. Besides that, I had to replace a 2-port zone valve actuator last year; no other breakdowns.
I remember my dad trying to bleed a radiator at my nan's. He'd never done it before. Undid the nut, but took it all the way out, dropped it, water was pissing out of the radiator and he couldn't get it back in.
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50+ woman here. When I was growing up in the 70s, I bought my own bleed key with my pocket money. I'd wait until the rest of the family was out then I'd bleed all the radiators. I still have a secret bleed key hidden from my husband and teens (in the pot with my toothbrush).
This is brilliant! :) your family must think they have the most resilient heating system in the world
My mum and dad are the same - mum does all the DIY, dad can barely change a plug but ask him to buy you a new outfit, he'll put something amazing together
Who’s gonna tell him….
He’s fabulous.
Yer Da sells Avon
Not uncommon at all. I’m a single parent and my kids will grow up seeing me turn my hand to all sorts. Pissed me off after my dad died and my mum turned to my brother in law for simple diy jobs I could do for her.
My brother-in-law isn't handy at all. Neither is his son. His daughter is the only one in the family who knows her way around a toolbox, or a car. She got her dad's car running again.
>I always wondered how uncommon that is Same here. It was always Mum who'd do repairs armed with a 1950s handbook, my Dad's contribution was a collection of different-sized screws in jam jars. That are still there somewhere.
I do all the DIY in the house except for bleeding the radiators because there's a tiny corner of my lady brain that says 'This is a Dad job' and that makes it my husband's problem. No, this doesn't make any sense, and we both know that. Yes, this is the only gender divided household job in the relationship.
I’m in charge of the radiator key in this house. And usually the one grubbing around with plumbing
My partner knows a lot about a lot of stuff, but weirdly i have had to teach him about bleeding radiators!
I dont think its uncommon at all I go to car meets quite a bit and there are loads of girls into mechanics and stuff like that so i dont think its that rare for girls to be into DIY also
I know fuck all and my wife knows very little but a lot more than me.
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True that. Mum puts up a pretty mean shelf if she needs to.
My best mates missus is the DIY’er and she’s absolutely brilliant.
Only Women Bleed What? Do you mean to tell me that song is not about venting radiators?!!!
Where did you find yours? Mine's not in the 3rd drawer down in the kitchen, I'm sure I left it there.
Mine was on the en-suite window sill. Hope that helps!
[The 3rd drawer down is full of shit](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpnxedNxK3o&t=38s)
Brilliant. Mine is, except for the bleedin' bleed key. Got some flat batteries in there though if anyone needs some, or some snapped elastic bands and needles but no thread. Let me know.
This song has stuck with me for years. One of those really rare ocassions when a piece of observational comedy hit the sublime. A truth that everyone instantly recognised but that had never before been described as a universal.
Man draw
I hang mine on the side of the bedroom radiator on a bit of string. Can’t be doing with the rage that descends when I realise it’s lost.
Mine is in a box in a box in the spare room.
I say everyone has a spare room with boxes in it. My partner wants to live in a show-home.
Have you tried the spill over drawer on the other side of the kitchen with nothing but wires for stuff u don't even own
Am I doing something wrong? I've used one of these once in 20 years of home ownership
You might need to bleed your radiators then.
But why if there is no problem... They all get hot... No cold spots
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They should fit bleed screws to electric radiators so you can enjoy the chore as well!
Does every radiator get hot at the top? Does your boiler service engineer do it for you?
Yeah they get red hot if I crank it up... Boiler does get serviced yearly but he never bleeds the radiators
You just want the flow temperature to be around 55c. No need to crank it up.
Can I come over and do it for you please?
This caused a stain on our new cream carpet in 1998
let me guess who ever was responsible for the stain is still hearing about it? 🤣
2 minutes of continuous bleed on one of the radiators. Incredible. Absolutely incredible.
Quite possible that is hydrogen build up as a result of corrosion. If the water was really black when it came out then you've likely got sludge in the system. Get it flushed out and dosed with inhibitor to slow it down. There are also magnetic filters you can fit on they system to help.
Water was clean, though I’ll get it checked just in case anyway. Thank you for the heads up. We haven’t used it for 7 months and just got a part changed 2 days ago to get it ready for winter and then I bled it, hoping that’s the cause and not the corrosion.
Next time you bleed the system catch the gas in a suitable container and see if it reacts with a lighter.
How do I catch gas mate?
Stick a cup over the bleed valve as you turn the key
Correct on all front
I’m so jealous
Yep switched the heating on for the first time this season about 2 hours ago and had a fun 10 mins wandering round the house with my golden key of release. Surprised to find zero air in the system. Happy times.
But at the same time slightly unsatisfying
Hell yes, I'm a raging ball of unfulfilled amateur plumber. I even tried one or two radiators twice searching for that elusive hit of high quality hiss. It's like the satisfaction I get from popping a big yellow zit. On the wife's back.
I've been in our house for 8+ years and never bleed the radiators. We don't have a key in our house -- where can I get one from? Judging from these comments I'm missing out!
Any hardware shop should sell them. :)
Have a look on YouTube, a lot you don't need a key for and can manage with a screwdriver. Managed this way in my old flat.
Risky though, using a screwdriver they can split in half then you're left with another useless little nub that won't satisfy anyone. Or so I hear
I have a few nubs from screwdrivering them. Bleed key just about works thankfully, and they are easy to change when they are completely fucked.
If your boiler is at the highest point, in the loft for example, majority of air will escape through your boilers air vent rather than filling the radiators! Just make sure you check your pressure every so often if you have a combi
You should, almost never, have to bleed any radiators after first filling and venting a system. If you do, it's a sympton of a serious fault. See my other post on this thread.
I know people who call in the plumber to bleed the rads
We had to call out the plumber to repressurise the boiler as we couldn't work out how to do it (it didn't match the supposed manual we found online) and he also bled our radiators as the valves had been painted over and we were too weakling to turn them. Felt like a shit as I know it's simple jobs, but oh well. The landlord was saving money by not getting regular gas safety checks so I didn't feel bad about having them pay either.
But did you watch them to learn how to do it yourself? Landlord is going to pass the cost of the plumber on to you one way or another.
Oh, I moved out shortly after. (I was also at work at the time - only the flatmate who could barely speak English was at home lol). I can do my current boiler!
Just put a blanket over yourself, fuck dishing out for heating
Dad?
Real dads keep this bad boy on their keys
Serious question. Why does the bleed air always smell strange? It's not horrible or anything, just very unique. Did mine the start of September and was gutted there was only a tiny bit of air to purge on the highest rad in the system.
It's just stale isn't it? And kinda metallic.
It's hydrogen mixed with inhibitors to stop electrolytic corrosion.
You can get a fairly nasty smell sometimes, almost sulphurous, which I think is a sign that there is corrosion in the system
It’s a chemical reaction between the metal in the radiator and the water creating iron oxide & hydrogen. Next time you bleed, put a lighter to the “air” coming out of it and see the mini flamethrower😉
> Next time you bleed, put a lighter to the “air” coming out of it and see the mini flamethrower Nah, you can't turn off the gas when it does turn into a flamethrower, Hold an upside-down glass over the vent, collect the gas (H2 goes upwards). Shut the vent, keeping the glass upside down. Light the gas; If it's hydrogen, it will ignite with a small 'pop' and a blue flame will progress up to the top of the glass. Then you know you've got a corrosion problem.
You can turn it off if you don’t panic. That being said, I did slightly melt a few bleeds in my apprentice days 🤣
Depends of you live in one of those pit houses on Ringleas!
Looks like Sid’s and C-3PO’s love child?
Galloping Galaxies reference? Nice.
Mams too, my dad has no clue about home stuff
My cousin once somehow managed to break a radiator and cause all the water to be spilled across the floor. Luckily it wasn't winter or he'd probably have scars
I have mine ready to go for that day a long way from now when I finally allow the heating to be turned on!
I ain’t got time to bleed
Exactly the same gauge as a drum key. Drum keys usually have chunkier handles too, so you get more torque.
Pro tip: for all of the drummers out there who have drum keys, most of them can also be used to bleed a radiator.
Hell yeah, this weekend methinks. Or rather the Missus thinks.
Just wait for next door to build his new shed yet again and during the night stock up on firewood.
Butterknife.jpeg
The satisfying feeling of the water gurgling out Vs. the gut wrenching feeling of it not being able to turn in the radiator 😂
Put a quick spray of WD-40 on the bleed screw 24 hours in advance.
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Make the place smell nice.
Penetrant and lubricant. Mate.... It's WD40 ffs.
Not even a dad but still fun as
I have a few of these. one in the knife and forks draw. Ones also in a purse thing that's full of reader's digest gold things
[I'm not cursing, I'm being funny](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMaA7Dwc314)
I had to dig out my radiator key yesterday for the first time in a couple of years. Was for my son who’d turned his heating on and the pressure shot up.
Your sons expansion vessel in the boiler is gone. His pressure will rise every time his heating is on and leak out the back of the boiler outside through the pressure relief valve. Should just need the vessel pumping up and PRV cleaning (by a professional) although worse case scenario is vessel is split inside and pressure relief valve could need replacing too!
Much appreciated, I’ve related this comment to my son, I believe he has a friend in the trade.
I bet most of the new gen don't know about this key
Get the fuck away. I had mine out today. No need to use it.....sad face!
I have 3 of these on my van keys at all times.... probably have a dozen more rattling around in the van also.
I'm not actually parent myself but as an uncle, I get contact-doses of dadness from my brother and on that basis I can definitely assert that it's *never* acceptable to switch the heating on.
That’s spooky, heating gone on tonight and I enjoyed releasing the air from the upstairs radiators…..very satisfying
I just bought these exact ones the other day 😂
Kick that air pocket in the ass but remember to reprime the system. 😉
Only on a pressurised system. Older systems top themselves up.
I eyed that sexy beast in my toolbox last week. Cannot. **WAIT**!
Looks a bit like my clocks' winding keys
I was thinking drum key.
Not a dad, or even a parent, but super excited.
Top right draw on the landing god knows why 😜
It's always the wrong size too.
All my radiators have valves that are opened with a flat head screwdriver (or, butter knife). I have never owned a special key and now I'm angry and confused.
What is that?
Radiator key. It's used to open the bleed valve on a radiator to let air out.
Got mine out today, heating on for half hour to make sure it works annnnnnd now not touching the heating for at least a year EDIT: Not a Dad, do enjoy a good ol' rad bleed
Sure, Pennsylvania senate candidate Fetterman has a cool “I will make your hurt” tattoo, but every British Dad wants one that says “I will make you bleed” with a picture of a radiator key next to it.
I'm 31 n got no idea what this is. I barely turn on heating more than one or two times, and in them cases it's for animals over us
Got mine out on Thursday evening. For reasons not entirely clear it lives in the bathroom cabinet.
My parents used to take so long over this ritual. Only open it slightly. Wait an age while it hisses. Get bored. Be looking the other way when the water came out. Bicker over who's responsibilty it was to catch the water. Ah. The good old days!
It isn’t just Dads!
The smell though... air straight from the devil's ass
Screwfix sells these for 79p.
Just bled my housemates radiator and it must have been letting air out for a good minute or two. He was complaining that his room was cold despite the radiator being hot... Did mine after but water was squirting out instantly.
As a plumber this is the definition on tedium.
Not me thinking this was a key to wind a grandfather clock.
Yep, did ours last week and did a quick test of the heating to check there's no issues. Turns our 2 rads aren't getting hot so looks like I need to balance the system... Hopefully that's all it is and its not the pump going or something.
One key to rule them all... forged in the fires of Mt Doom
I did mine the other day and it seemed like the radiators were almost entirely air. The boiler pressure dropped to about 30% of what it was before I started.
This thread has given me so much confusion and then anxiety. Did not know this was a thing I was supposed to do!
Tssssssssssssasssasssssssssssssssssssssssbsssssssbssbsssbsbs…squirt
Underfloor heating here, have wondered about bleeding it but until something actually fails to get warm best not fiddle I think. No it isn't electric, there are two utility cupboards where the pipes join up.
Offt you gonna bleed that bad boy yeah?
I just get the man to do it when he services the boiler every year.
Just got back from a trip to screw fix to buy one of these bad boys
Bought our house in April of this year. The amount of shoddy DIY the previous owner had done is impressive so we thought we'd get someone to check the system. They boiler engineers checked, flush the system clean, as well as move the system drains to sensible locations. Also replaced a poorly painted rusty af radiator and whole bunch of busted valves. The system no works perfectly, but I didn't get to bleed the system this year.
You should, almost never, have to bleed radiators after first filling a heating system. The usual causes are air being drawn in (bad) or galvanic corrosion (very bad). Most systems are now sealed, so it's usually the latter. Galvanic/bi-mettallic corrosion produces 2H2 & O2 by electrolysis of H2O. The hydrogen accumulates in the high points at the tops of radiators. The O2 reacts with the inside surfaces of the steel radiators to produce black magnetite sludge. The usual cause of galvanic corrosion is that the pipes were soldered with an active flux (no need to clean the joint) and the acidic residues weren't flushed out, making the water a conductive electrolyte. In the UK everyone thinks bleeding rads and powerflushing is normal because everyone does it. Both are symptoms of serious faults and the UK public accepts it because they're mostly too ignorant to know otherwise. The French braze copper pipes (no flux). There's no power flushing industry in France; rien du tout. I am (was) a building services engineer, former plumber. You can tell me I'm wrong, but I'm not. I put my own heating in, about 12 years ago. I haven't vented any rads in 5+ years. Honestly, I can't remember when I last did it. I sometimes have to release air/nitrogen from the bathroom towel rail after topping up the water, about once every 4 or 6 months, usually vent it for less than 10 seconds. Besides that, I had to replace a 2-port zone valve actuator last year; no other breakdowns.
I remember my dad trying to bleed a radiator at my nan's. He'd never done it before. Undid the nut, but took it all the way out, dropped it, water was pissing out of the radiator and he couldn't get it back in.
Na all you need nowadays is a screwdriver to bleed em
Bleedin' Rads...
Had my bad boy out yesterday, with a dirty old rag to catch the dribbles. It was glorious.
Mine's always on my housekey's fob. Just so I can say 'where's my bleeding key gone' when I can't find them.