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Repairing Cast Iron radiators

sharpblade | Posted in Energy, Heating & Insulation on February 12, 2007 04:55am

Another thread on CI radiators finally pushed me to pop this Q: I have these in my house, just love them. Steam. When I started my renovation, the first thing I did was to remove them, clean them and repaint them. Since then I discovered that a couple of them leak.  Not much, but enough to require a small dish underneath so they don’t ruin the hardwood floor.

The leak is between 2 of the elements, at the bottom (obviously). I understand these are press fit into each other, then heald together with 2 threaded rods, top and bottom. I loosened these to see if there is any wiggle between the 2 elements, nope. Tightened them again, real good, leak’s still there.

Anybody has run into this and any ideas on repair?

thanks.

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Replies

  1. sharpblade | Feb 13, 2007 01:43am | #1

    bump

    1. plantlust | Feb 13, 2007 03:00am | #2

      Would Teflon-tape stuff work on things this old?Unfortunately, I'm not sure about the tape's limitations. Both heat & water to work against...ONE WEEK Pumpkin-sitting w/the only Houdini dog in America. Day 4.

      1. user-53014 | Feb 13, 2007 03:18am | #3

        Just an idea, how about JB Weld, I knew somebody that repaired an auto radiator with it and it worked.http://jbweld.net/index.phpAlan S

  2. Jerry18 | Feb 13, 2007 05:59am | #4

    You may have already gotten good advice here, but I wouldn't do anything until you talk to the guys at the 'Wall'.

    http://forums.invision.net/index.cfm?CFApp=2&reset=Y

    These guys are friendly and love to talk steam heat or any kind of heat. Some of them rebuild CI radiators for fun. They'll know how to fix it.

    Jerry

    1. sharpblade | Feb 13, 2007 02:52pm | #5

      Thanks for your replies all. Here's some toughts/comments:

      The teflon tape thing would be tricky. althought the material itself could tolerate steam and heat, there is no way to get it to hold on the external surfaces. Unlike when it it held in place by threads.

      The JB weld suggestion: I tought about trying that, and I probably will  if I can't think of anything better.  Here too its application would be tricky, can't apply it to the surface.  I need to get it deep in there between the 2 leaking elements. I also thought about silver brazing that area.

      Finally, I never heard of the "Wall" forum so will try to get some ideas there. I would need to remove the radiator to do the repair, but with the cold we're having now (Mass) I'll wait a bit.

      Thanks again.

      1. BungalowJeff | Feb 13, 2007 10:14pm | #7

        Epoxy patch can be used, especially in steam radiators with low pressure....that's not a mistake, it's rustic

        1. sharpblade | Feb 17, 2007 06:19pm | #8

          Thanks for the additional ideas. I've been away busy cleaning snow and ice from my drive and other/older relatives for the past couple days, plus busy with a RE transaction. frist time back on BT in a coule days.

          WRT to packing the seals, I'm familliar with this procedure packing valves but these elements are very hard to take appart. I tried. So in this case, having a specialized pro do it may be necessary.

          The epoxy idea, I mentioned above (JB weld) this is something I may try.

          thanks again.

          1. sandalboy | Feb 17, 2007 06:29pm | #9

            I'm no pro at this, but I've successfully separated sections using multiple wedges with a 4LB sledge (engineers hammer). Wood ones will help reduce breaking the iron. Pound the wedges in as evenly as possible to separate.

          2. sharpblade | Feb 21, 2007 04:01pm | #10

            Have been away. Good tip, thanks.

      2. BryanSayer | Feb 21, 2007 06:30pm | #11

        You might also try
        http://www.heatinghelp.com/A lot of steam heat knowledge there.

  3. Tim | Feb 13, 2007 09:58pm | #6

    There are seals between the sections. The seal is the same stuff as is commonly used in valve packing. If that makes sense, get some from the hardware store and replace the seal. If you are saying "what is valve packing?", you may want to let your fingers do some walking and call a steamhead. They might be a little busy th9s time of the year, though.

  4. Quickstep | Feb 21, 2007 08:52pm | #12

    I re-worked several radiators a long while back, so as much as anything, this is a test of my memory. In my case, I wanted to replace large tube assemblies with small tube assemblies. I bought the small tube radiators at salvage yards, and most of them were too long, so I removed sections to get the length I needed. These were hot water radiators; I don't know if steam radiators differ.

    I drove the sections apart with wooden wedges that I cut just for that purpose with a long taper so the pressure would be gradual. I used four wedges, one on each corner and just worked my way around until the sections came apart. At the top and bottom where sections came together, there was a sort of tapered coupling. The taper fit into each of the sections that it was joining and I assumed the taper fit, combined with the threaded rods is what kept the water inside. When I put mine back together, I coated both sides of that tapered fitting with Gasoila sealant. I suspect high temp Permatex would fill the same need. I put them back together, gradually tightening the long threaded rods that hold the sections together, alternating bolts to keep the pressure even. You might get away with just tightening those bolts, realizing that if you break one (or worse yet break the casting in the radiator section that holds it) you're sunk. Either way, this is a summer job. Lastly, the valve that's on a radiator doesn't fully shut off; you'll need to drain the system before taking out the radiator.

  5. Toolpig | Feb 21, 2007 09:54pm | #13

    http://radicalradiator.com/

    nice guy. outstanding work!

    TP

    Toolpig (a.k.a. The man formerly known as "Toolfreak" and "Toolfanatic")

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