This is the old radiator that we are going to remove and replace with a chrome towel rail.

Firstly ensure that the central heating is switched off. If you have a conventional heating system you will have to either isolate the cold water feeding the header tank or else tie up the ball valve so that the system cannot refill.

If you have a conventional vented system it may be necessary to drain a large amount of water from the system, before the radiator can be removed.

Before removing the old radiator we need to drain off some water from the system so that water does not leak from the radiator when we remove it.

Find the drain off valve on a downstairs radiator and open the square using a spanner, ensuring that you have a suitable container to catch the water.

If you are draining down a conventional vented system then you can connect an hosepipe and clamp it on with a jubilee clip and then point the other end of the hosepipe to an outside drain, or you can use a waterproof large rubble sack to collect the water- check there are no holes in it first!

Remove enough water from the sytem so that the radiator that you want to remove will be empty.

To empty the radiator you can go back upstairs and undo the bleed valve, this will let air into the system and empty the radiator.

When you are confident that the radiator is empty you can slowly undo one of the valves at the bottom of the radiator. If water leaks from the joints then there may be some water left in the radiator and so go and drain off more water downstairs. It may be necessary to completely drain down the central heating system!

Remove the fittings for the radiator and then lift it upwards and it should lift away from the brackets.

If you are going to fit a new radiator or a towel rail at a later date you can cap off the feed and return pipes using compression stop ends.

How to use compression fittings