I am feeling ever so slightly awesome after quite a disastrous night. I started wallpapering dining room at 9am (yes, it's a little late but I'm a night owl) and was getting on great. Decided to push on at midnight because it was going so well. Then, as I was trying to excavate some particularly stubborn old wallpaper from the back of the radiator with the dodgy bracket, I accidentally knocked the whole thing off the wall causing it to spring a fairly persistent leak all over the floor. Picture this.... Sweet, demure little me, trying to lift a very heavy radiator, to the tune of the sort of swearing that would make a sailor blush, as I was unable to remount it on wall. Trying not to panic, I switched off the thermostatic valve, the boiler and closed valve on other side of the radiator. With it still dripping, I propped the whole thing up with blocks of wood from the shed, more swearing. I then mopped up the water with towels and placed a baking tray under the drip, drip, drip! Panicking a little bit, I phoned a friend who is a plumber by trade and at 12.30 am, the poor sleepy soul helped me to understand of how the system worked so that I panicked less. Still concerned by the constant dripping and expecting to have to stay up all night while, I sat and watched YouTube plumbing tutorials with cup of tea whilst swapping out baking trays full of water. Managed to out exactly what the problem was but unfortunately needed pipe freezer to be able to work on it without draining system because the leak was at a live feed point. So, unable to do anything more until the morning, I got my calculator and worked out the rate of dripping and exact length of time before I would have a full tray of water to empty. Decided it was safe to go to bed (now 3.30 am) and try to sleep for a few hours.... Could not sleep!!! Phonecall from other half around 5.30 am telling me to call a plumber, by which time I already had a plan and had been sleeping soundly. Couldn't get back to sleep so after a bit I got up and went to B&Q early for supplies. Anyway, even longer story cut slightly shorter, I have now fixed the leak all by myself and it cost me just £30. I have also removed the radiator and I'm now just deciding whether to fix the brackets for the original scabby radiator or buy a nice anthracite one to match the new decor. At least now I can finish my wallpapering which was so rudely interrupted by unnatural disaster last night.
Side note : this is not my first foray into plumbing and I'm seriously thinking of taking it up for a living. I may well be more successful at that than my painting!
