Twas the two days before Christmas...

[MJNewton]

...and for reasons I still haven't fathomed I decided to finally add the inhibitor I bought *in the summer* to the heating system... There's a handy towel radiator upstairs for this so I closed off its valves ready to remove the air vent and pour it in. But of course, the lockshield hasn't been touched in ten years and so that decided to spring a small leak. Not normally a problem - a bit of PTFE to pack the spindle out and all would be good. But oh no, that'd be too easy - to add to the excitement of Christmas this valve is some sort of 'designer' (read: 'designed entirely for form over function') valve with a screw adjuster sealed internally with o-rings of dimensions never before seen before. Taking advantage of the problem opportunity I bought a new more conventionally-designed lockshield with a built-in drain which could be handy for future use. Amazingly for me the obligatory 'hold breath whilst you re-pressurise, crank the heating up and check for leaks/weeps' didn't result in any issues - I didn't even get the weird 'wipe finger around the seals and convince yourself it feels wet but it doesn't look it' feeling! Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Edited December 23, 2020 by MJNewton