# What to do with a leaky radiator?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-a-leaky-radiator/363089>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 3, 2006, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-a-leaky-radiator/363089 "2006-07-03T20:28:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\
**Post date:** [July 3, 2006, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-a-leaky-radiator/363089/1 "2006-07-03T20:28:31Z")

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I came home today to find that one of my radiators has been leaking. The leak appears to be in the middle bottom of the radiator. The carpet is very wet and the wall has a rusty stain. I’ve turned it off at both ends (water valve on LHS, temperature guage on RHS) and it no longer seems to be dripping. Is it (relatively) safe to leave it like this for a non-emergency plumber visit or should I get a plumber in ASAP?

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**Author:** ![Malienation](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Malienation](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malienation)\
**Post date:** [July 3, 2006, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-a-leaky-radiator/363089/2 "2006-07-03T20:51:08Z")

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It should be safe turned off, although, of course, you no longer have the benefit of heat in that area (I assume you are in the Southern Hemisphere, where it’s now winter). I also assume you have hot water heat and not steam heat (which has much higher pressure and could be a little dicey).

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**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\
**Post date:** [July 3, 2006, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-a-leaky-radiator/363089/3 "2006-07-03T21:03:09Z")

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I’m in the UK, and it’s high summer. The temperature was turned to \* anyway, so it wasn’t providing heat.

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**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\
**Post date:** [July 4, 2006, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-to-do-with-a-leaky-radiator/363089/4 "2006-07-04T01:47:48Z")

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Place something to catch any further water leaks. Shut down the water feed valve to the boiler, as it will continue to try to replace lost water until the problem is fixed. If you’re a renter-call up the landlord or proerty manager.