UKC

Easy to do yourself? 

Looking to remove a radiator in a room for decorating

Do you really need to cap the pipes? Can't you just turn the valves off each end?

^This.

Also it might not be necessary to even remove the radiator.  If there's a little wiggle room in the pipes you're quite likely to find you can close the valves at both ends, loosen the nuts that connect those valves to the radiator itself then, leaving them connected, lift the radiator off its bracket and lay it down flat on the floor.

I did it myself it was not difficult, just watched a few Youtube videos.

I capped the pipes, I'm no expert but I think you have to, I didn't do it at first and got a fair bit of water coming  out during the course of the evening.

As oceanrower says, just turn the valves off at the ends. Take care if you have thermostatic valves fitted, if the house gets really cold they'll open and flood the place. These valves come with a service cap that screws in the place of the thermostat body but most get discarded, which is useful.

If the valves are old and leaky you can bodge a cap using the locking ring from a compression fitting with a 5 p piece and a rubber washer or piece of bike inner tube jammed in the end. Necessity is the mother of invention and all that.

yes, assuming they will actually close. It'd be sensible to reduce the pressure in the system if possible.

all depends on how scaled up your valves are. As other have said, my order of preference would be :

1) Don't remove it at all and try to decorate what can be seen. If this is good enough, happy days. Radiator water is filthy dirty and stains anything it touches, so if you can avoid going near it all the better.

2) Drain the whole system down from your drain point and a hosepipe, and just take them off and get the work done quickly before you need heating and/or water again

3) Remove whilst keeping the system live. If you have a thermostatic valve you generally need a special (i.e. came with the valve when new, but now in the bin) cap - you remove the thermostat cap which generally hand unscrew - no need to drain anything - and then screw on this special cap . All the cap does is keep the pin pushed down so that the valve is always closed. For the other end, pull of the plastic cap and either use pliers or a cap with a slot in to close the valve fully. 

You then need some thick plastic or freezer bags, two receptacles smaller than the radiator is high, and a bleed key and elastic bands or hair bands. And two people ideally. And some expendable towels, and more plastic for the floor. 

Bleed the pressure off then close the bleed screw. With a kind of home made funnel made from the thick plastic underneath, aiming for the receptacle, unscrew the nut on the radiator, when it's off you should be able to pull the leg away from the rad which will mean that the water or black goo will start to come out. It won't come out easily, but in spurts as there is nowhere for the air to get in (think of turning a thin necked bottle of water upside down and how it comes out). I then try to get some thick plastic between the valve and the radiator to try and direct the flow of water, then with your third arm or second person open the bleed screw at the top which means that the flow of water should become more even as the air has a way in. Then your helper can swap the receptacles and rush back and forwards whilst you try and minimise the water getting to places that it shouldn't. Eventually, if both values have been shut off then the water should slow and stop. Try and get your helper to tip the rad to get as much out as you can. Then put plastic or freezer bags over both the rad end and the valve end, to keep crap getting in and and any splashes getting out. Then take off the other end - in theory nothing will come out but it always does, bag both parts and lift the rad off - again easier with two people. And try and avoid kicking or treading on the legs that are left whilst you redecorate. Refitting is slightly easier, as long as nothing leaks. 

4) Personally I have done the "loosen the nuts and lie it down whilst still connected" trick before, but wouldn't again. Don't underestimate how heavy a rad full of water is and how much weight it's going to put on the pipe ends that will be propping it up. It scared the life out of me.

It has a thermostatic valve. We've no special cap

The bleed valve (shaped like a 50p piece) looks like it requires a spanner, not a bleed key

Thanks for the detailed response.

That's what I've done.  It might not satisfy a true perfectionist, but it's easy enough just to go down the back and in the sides with a long-handled small roller or similar as far in as you're ever going to see.

The only one that would probably need removing is the bathroom towel radiator.

I can arrange for your "radiator"  to have a little,  ahem "a little accident" 

5 grand all in 20's in a plain brown envelope should do it.

PM me

;-D

No problem.Normally one top end has the 50p sized stopper end the other has the stopper with a small bleed valve in, either a slotted screw thread or a 5mm ish square - I have never needed to unscrew the 50p sized part.

Not having the lock cap is a pain, in theory you don't need one (set the valve to frost protection or lower if it has it) and it shouldn't open - however you are taking a risk that if it gets cold it might decide to open or weep. I would get a cap (probably a 3/4" BSP) to cap off the valve once the rad has been taken off so that even it if it opens it has nowhere to go - something like this ebay ID 183154061966

Forgot to mention - always use two spanners - one to hold the valve body absolutely steady and oppose the twisting force and the other to turn the nut. If you don't hold the valve upright you risk twisting the whole valve which will rip the valve off of the live pipe below it, causing a veritable unstoppable fountain of black goo. Also note that the nuts turn the opposite way to what some people may think - you are unscrewing the nut away from the radiator valve, leaving the nut attached to the radiator - not unscrewing it away from the radiator. 

Youtube is probably your friend but I re-refer you to option 1 as your preferred route!

Have also used that method. If I did it again I'd probably use piles of bricks/old books under the horizontal radiator to take more weight off the pipe ends.