A small job done properly: dust sheets down before a spanner came out, the radiator drained, and a corroded valve replaced on the same visit.
A radiator valve in a Sutton Coldfield home had corroded through and was leaking onto the floor. We put dust sheets down before touching anything, drained the radiator, took the old valve off, fitted a new valve and tail from van stock, then refilled and checked it under normal running pressure. Dry floor, working radiator, one visit.
Put a towel under it and leave a number. We will ring you back — usually within the hour during office hours — and it is normally a one-visit job.
A homeowner in Sutton Coldfield had noticed water on the floor beneath one of the radiators. The valve at the pipe end was the culprit: it had corroded and was weeping from the body. Not a flood, but a steady leak in a carpeted room does damage over time, and it only gets worse.
You can see the state of the old valve in the first photo. Green and rust-coloured deposits around the body and the union are the sign that water has been getting past the seals for a while. A valve like this is not worth trying to re-seat or re-pack. It is a cheap part, and once corrosion has got into the body the only proper repair is a new one.
The first job on any radiator valve change in a carpeted room is protection, not plumbing. Dust sheets went down over the carpet and around the pipe before a spanner came out. Then we isolated the radiator, drained it down through a hose into a container so nothing went on the floor, and took the old valve off.
A new valve and a new tail went in, made up to the radiator and to the existing pipework, and the radiator was refilled and bled. We brought the system back up to pressure, ran it, and checked the new joints dry before we picked the sheets up. One visit, no mess, and the customer was very happy.
On a single radiator it is quicker and cleaner to isolate and drain it than to freeze the pipe, and draining lets us check the water that comes out. Dirty black water tells us the system has sludge in it, which is worth knowing before it takes a pump or a heat exchanger with it. On this job we also replaced the tail, the short threaded piece that screws into the radiator, because an old tail with a new valve is a leak waiting to happen.
If you spot any of these, put something under the valve to catch drips and give us a ring. Do not try to tighten the nuts hard; on an old corroded valve that often makes the leak worse.
A leak repair in office hours is £99, which covers attendance, diagnosis and the first hour of labour. A single valve change normally fits inside that hour. The valve and any other materials are charged on top and quoted before we fit them. We carry radiator valves and tails as van stock, so there is no second visit to collect one. If you are changing valves anyway, it is worth talking about thermostatic radiator valves at the same time, which we cover on our radiators and valves page. Our fixed prices are on the price list.
Sometimes a leak at the gland nut can be cured by tightening it a quarter turn or repacking it, and a leak at a compression nut can occasionally be fixed by remaking the joint. But once the valve body itself has corroded, as it had here, a new valve is the only repair that lasts. It is an inexpensive part that we carry on the van, and a short job, so it is rarely worth fighting an old one.
No. For a single valve we isolate and drain just that radiator, which is a few litres of water into a container through a hose. The rest of the system stays full. Where the radiator cannot be isolated we can freeze the pipe or, on an older system, drain down and refill with fresh inhibitor.
Yes. On this job dust sheets went down before any tools came out, and the radiator was drained through a hose into a container rather than onto the floor. That is how we do every valve change in a carpeted room. You should not be able to tell we were there except that the leak has stopped.
If the valve being replaced is a plain manual one, it is a good moment to fit a thermostatic radiator valve instead, because the radiator is already drained. A TRV lets that room control its own temperature and is one of the cheapest ways to trim a heating bill. Ask when you book and we will bring one.
Job attended and photographed by our engineers in Sutton Coldfield, August 2026. Written up by Saeed Iqbal, the engineer who leads Synergy Gas & Plumbing (Gas Safe registered 594385). More recent jobs in the area are on our Sutton Coldfield page, and every job we write up is on the case studies index.
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