GB2609932A

GB2609932A - A radiator valve tool

Info

Publication number: GB2609932A
Application number: GB2111769.2A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Terence Rayment Alan
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2021-08-17
Filing date: 2021-08-17
Publication date: 2023-02-22
Also published as: GB202111769D0

Abstract

Radiator valve tool 11 comprising a bleed (vent) valve socket (spanner, wrench) (13 fig 2) formed in the axis (12) of a cylindrical part (12) and adapted to engage the head 9 of a bleed valve 6, the cylindrical part secured to at least one wing (14) extending radially from the cylindrical part to facilitate manual application of torque to the cylindrical part, wherein at least a Lockshield valve socket (spanner, wrench) or balance flow control valve socket comprising a hole (aperture) (figure 3 15,16,17) in the wing, the hole having a rectangular or hexagonal cross section corresponding to the cross section of a Lockshield valve head. The tool handle may have a flat panel structure. Radiator tool may comprise a plurality of holes of different rectangular or hexagonal cross section corresponding to common sizes associated with a Lockshield valve head (e.g 6x10mm, 8x10mm, 6x8mm). The bleed valve socket may have dimensions 5x5mm and be square in profile. A method of using the radiator valve tool comprises applying the bleed valve socket of the tool to a bleed valve, bleeding a radiator and applying a Lockshield valve socket to a Lockshield valve and adjusting the Lockshield valve.

Description

A RADIATOR VALVE TOOL

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of plumbing tools especially tools used to bleed a radiator and tools used to balance the radiator.

[0002] Conventionally a radiator bleed tool comprises a socket wrench with a square socket mounted onto a handle whereby torque can be applied. The socket is sized to engage a square headed machine screw incorporating a bleed valve. The bleed valve is threaded into a threaded socket in the top part of a radiator so that when twisted to an open condition air trapped in the radiator can be allowed to bleed out to atmosphere.

[0003] Radiators are conventionally coupled to a feed pipe and a return pipe of a heating circuit via Lockshield valves. At least one Lockshield valve will include a proportional flow control valve which can be set to adjust the flow of water passing through the valve to balance the flow in all the radiators in the system. The flow control valve is set up during installation to achieve a particular temperature drop across each radiator in the system and operates quite independently of any thermostatically controlled on/off valve. The shield flow control valve has a rotary part. As the rotary part is rotated a flow gap inside the valve is altered so increasing or decreasing the resistance to flow presented by the valve. The rotary part has a head projecting from the rotary part shaped with a usually rectangular, often square section to facilitate the application of torque to the rotary part by a spanner or socket tool designed for the purpose. The head presented on the shield flow control valve is not usually similar to the head presented on the bleed valve. Consequently the heating engineer setting up the system must purchase and remember to carry two tools in what is usually the final stage of bleeding and balancing the heating system after installation or maintenance. It may be noted that the radiators cannot be properly balanced until the system has been thoroughly bled as air trapped in the system forms a flow barrier itself and will affect the temperature drop across the radiator. This also means the engineer is liable to put one tool down while using the other making it easy to lose one tool when forgetting to recover it and causing delay in recovering the tool when it is found to have been left in the wrong place during the job. It is also easy to find that the balance spanner has been put away by an assistant who is returning the tools to the van. This can result in lengthy and annoyingly time wasting journeys to recover one or other tool at the end of a busy day.

[00041 It is an object of the present invention to provide a tool adapted to serve both as a radiator bleed tool and a balancing valve wrench whereby the aforementioned problems may be alleviated.

Statement of Invention

[00051 Accordingly the present invention provides a radiator valve tool comprising a first socket formed in the axis of a cylindrical part and adapted to engage the head of a bleed valve, said cylindrical part being secured to at least one wing extending radially from the cylindrical part to facilitate the manual application of torque to the cylindrical part, wherein at least one hole perforates the wing, said hole having a rectangular or hexagonal cross section corresponding to the cross section of a Lockshield valve head.

[0006j Preferably the radiator valve tool has two radially extending wings forming a butterfly handle to facilitate the manual application of torque. Preferably two or more holes can be formed spaced across the span of the wings, each hole having a different cross section to correspond to a different size and shape of Lockshield valve head.

[00071 The holes may be formed in the body of the wings or as open holes in the edges of the wings or a combination of the two arrangements.

(00081 It is common for a conventional radiator bleed valve wrench to be formed with a diametrically extending generally flat panel providing wings to form a handle. Conventionally the wings are formed by stamping from a suitable metal, usually steel or brass. In the case of the present invention the additional shaped sockets can be formed into the wings in the same stamping process as forms the wings. The tubular part is commonly drop forged from a tubular billet to impress the socket at the socket end and a groove to receive the wings at the opposite handle end. The wings may be retained by forging the groove to a driving or force fit tolerance with the wings which are then pressed into the groove. The wings may be welded into place if necessary.

Brief description of drawings

(0009.1 A radiator valve tool embodying the present invention, will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawing in which: Figure 1 is a NE isometric view of a radiator with the tool in use to adjust a Lockshield valve and to bleed the radiator; Figure 2 is a SE isometric view of a tool; Figure 3 is a plan view of the tool in figure 2, and Figure 4 shows an isometric SE view of a second embodiment of the radiator valve tool.

Detailed description

[0010] A radiator 1 has a hollow body with a lower manifold 2 and an upper manifold 3 arranged so that a working fluid, usually water can flow into the radiator at an inlet port 4 arranged at an inlet end of the lower manifold 2, and out through an outlet port (not shown) at the other end of usually, the lower manifold 2. The inlet and outlet ports are connected to working fluid supply and return pipes in a heating circuit via valves, of which one valve at least will be a Lockshield valve 5. In some cases both valves may be Lockshield valves or the other valve may be a thermostatic radiator valve or TRV. At least one end of the upper manifold 3 will be provided with a threaded bore in which a bleed valve 6 is screwed. In use water flows in through the inlet port, up through the body of the radiator and, as it cools, down to exhaust from the outlet port.

[0011] The Lockshield valve has a rotary part 7 from which a Lockshield valve head 8 extends axially upwards. The Lockshield valve head 8 commonly has a rectangular section often square, to facilitate engagement with a tool to adjust the angular position of the rotary part and hence the flow control gap inside the Lockshield valve. In the example shown the Lockshield valve head has dimensions of 6mm x 10 mm, however heads of 8mm x 10mm and 6mm x 8mm are common.

[0012] The air vent has an axially extending square section air vent head 9 with sides of 5mm x 5mm. The air vent is usually located into a recess 10 formed into the end of the radiator of the same depth as the height of the air vent head.

[0013) A radiator valve tool 11 comprising a cylindrical part 12. A square section socket 13 is formed axially in socket end of the cylindrical part having dimensions of 5mm x 5mm to sleeve closely over the air vent head 9. A handle end of the cylindrical part is engaged with a substantially flat diametrically extending panel 14 providing a pair of rigid wings extending radially from the axis of the cylinder. The panel is secured into a slot cut diametrically into the handle end of the cylindrical part and held in place by a driving fit, welding or soldering.

100141 Three spaced rectangular section through holes 15, 16, 17 are disposed in the panel and spaced from the cylindrical part.

[00151 As can be seen in figure 1 the socket in the cylindrical part is adapted to engage the bleed valve head 9. When not in use to twist the bleed valve head, one of the sockets 15, 16, or 17 can be slotted onto the Lockshield valve head 8 and used to twist and thereby adjust the Lockshield valve. The handle and cylindrical part of the tool provide a mechanical advantage to facilitate this exercise.

(0016) Figure 4 shows a second embodiment of the tool in which the holes 15, 16, 17 are in the form of notches stamped or cut into the edges of the wings.

100171 The resulting tool requires no more material, energy and process steps to fabricate than a conventional winged radiator bleed valve tool, while enhancing functionality and convenience. The tool requires significantly fewer steps, and less materials and energy to fabricate than a collection of a conventional radiator bleed valve wrench and a separate conventional Lockshield valve wrench as well as being quicker and more convenient to use as there is no need to switch tools between bleeding the radiator and adjusting the Lockshield valve.

Claims

Claims 1. A radiator valve tool comprising a bleed valve socket formed in the axis of a cylindrical part and adapted to engage the head of a bleed valve, said cylindrical part being secured to at least one wing extending radially from the cylindrical part to facilitate the manual application of torque to the cylindrical part, wherein at least a Lockshield valve socket comprising a hole perforates the wing, said hole having a rectangular or hexagonal cross section corresponding to the cross section of a Lockshield valve head.
2. A radiator valve tool according to claim 1 wherein a plurality of holes of different rectangular or hexagonal cross section perforate the wing, each hole corresponding to one of a selection of common sizes of Lockshield valve head.
3. A method of using a radiator valve tool according to claim 1 or claim 2 comprising the steps of: applying the bleed valve socket of the tool to a bleed valve and bleeding a radiator; applying a Lockshield valve socket to a Lockshield valve and adjusting the Lockshield valve.