Many thanks Pete, I'm hoping it can be removed (I wandered what the 2 long screw n nuts were for) as I will never use the boiler again, Please excuse my ignorance, i take it that it is dangerous due to heat then pressure could blow up the empty boiler? I thought that with those pipes not capped there would be no pressure as such due to those pipes pressure would be released, I was advised on another site to drills holes in the back boiler to release pressure but surely those redundant pipes would do that, again please excuse my ignorance, cheers Pete