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Anti-Icky-Water-Bottle
AKA Radiator Bleeding Bottle
Sometimes, when heating radiators start making weird noises, you need to bleed them (finally found out what the English term is - or is 'to purge' even better?) , and I hate doing it. But I have a central heating system that requires me to do it about once a month in winter, so I have to do it. At first, I did it with a cup and the super-tool everyone has: a square kind of key. The result, after doing it, was that my hands were really smelly, and I had to wash them multiple times to get the smell off. Yuck!
So I made a tool that would make my life so much easier: I call it the 'Anti Icky Water Bottle', or The Bottle for short. Here's what I did:
I took an old Spa-bottle and cut in 2 holes: one the size of my radiator, one the size of a bit of PVC-tubing I 'found' (well, stole from my parents' garage actually ;) ) I made a cut in the tube at one side, so that the key-thingie would fit snugly into it. I put the key in and tightened it with a tie-wrap.
Then, I put them together, and now I can turn the valve without getting IckyWater all over my hands! Pic of the tool in action:
Another action pic! WooHoo! Look at it go!!! *Sigh*
Update 6 - 3 - 2005
This bottle works great. However, I have one radiator that has the bleeding-hole positioned in the exact way that the water can squirt out between the bottle and the piece of pipe. So I had to cure that problem. Aesthetics-wise, I chose for a Sprite bottle to do this.
I cut out a small piece, made a hole, and attached it to the pipe. I also shortened the pipe, because it was a bit too long. Another tie-wrap was used to keep it in place.
Now, everything that comes out of the bleeding hole first hits the green wall, and has no way to escape the bottle. Hoorray!
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