Radiators

[maitre d']

We've got a radiator in the kitchen that isn't used or needed.  I want to remove it [permanently] and the pipework, is it best to cap the pipes off, or do you  join them together to complete the circuit?

[Octavius]

It depends whether the feed pipes to/from the radiator are branhced from the main circuit (which is likely) then you could just cap off the two feed pipes:

    [Radiator]

__|_______|___main circuit >>

[maitre d']

Octavius - don't know as they come down through from the floor abovejust for that radiator.  Don't really want to start ripping up floorboards etc  Would my best bet to make a sort of U shaped tube to join them up

[Dsg]

If you are not sure as to the connection (branched or not) try simulating capping by closing both valves on the radiator and seeing if the other radiators in the house are affected (unlikely). If there is no problem then capping-off should work fine.

[Octavius]

Sometimes the mains pipes are 22mm copper pipes and the branch feeds to the radiator are 15mm pipes.  If this is the case then you should be ok to cap off.

However, the pipes do not need to be connected together to keep the system working as the main flow/return should run through the whole building with branches for radiators.