My First Radiator

 
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blrman07
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Post by blrman07 » Tue. Mar. 17, 2015 9:57 pm

I had that issue when my wife saw me painting halfway down the back of a radiator. I told her "If you don't like it Don't look." It worked. but of course she had to say "if you want to do the job halfway then be my guest." My reply was
"Thanks for the inspection, I believe I will."

I fixed my own dinner that night got to watch wrestling by myself without hearing..." I don't understand why you watch this trash."

Neither do I dear, neither do I.


 
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Doby
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Post by Doby » Tue. Mar. 17, 2015 10:01 pm

blrman07 wrote:I had that issue when my wife saw me painting halfway down the back of a radiator. I told her "If you don't like it Don't look." It worked. but of course she had to say "if you want to do the job halfway then be my guest." My reply was
"Thanks for the inspection, I believe I will."

I fixed my own dinner that night got to watch wrestling by myself without hearing..." I don't understand why you watch this trash."

Neither do I dear, neither do I.
That sounds exactly like what my wife would say, must be a coal region wife thing

 
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Post by blrman07 » Wed. Mar. 18, 2015 8:58 am

Another thought on only painting the radiator 1/2 way down the back side. If your guests or anyone else actually leans up against the wall so they can look at the back of your radiator, don't invite them back. They are way too inquisitive about your living arrangements and when they leave check your medicine cabinet in the bathroom!!

 
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Post by StokerDon » Sat. Jan. 30, 2016 10:29 pm

I went out today and came back with a small collection of radiators.

A 3 column 12 section, 38" tall, 10,200 BTU.
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An 3 column 8 section, 38" tall, 6,800 BTU.
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A pair of 3 column 7 section, 38" tall, 5,950 BTU and a 5 tube, 10 section, 28" tall, 5,950 BTU.
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Radiators 005.JPG
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I was fat dumb and happy, these 5 would easy handle my living room, dining room heating needs. especially with that BIG 10,200 BTU 12 section.

First one up for the pressure test, the BIG one.
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FAILED!!! Center column rusted through on one of the sections.
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The same thing happened on one of the 7 section units, sprayed water everywhere. I currently have the other 7 section and the 8 section pressurized. We'll see how the look tomorrow.
Radiators 010.JPG
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That's a shame, I was planning on using the BIG 12 section, the 8 section and one of the 7 section units in the living room. That would have been 22,950 BTU. Then put the 5 tube, 10 section in the dining room with 5,950 BTU's.

If the rest pressure test good, I will put the 7 section and 8 section column units in the living room for 12,750 BTU and the 10 section tube unit in the dining room.

-Don

 
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Post by Rob R. » Sat. Jan. 30, 2016 10:47 pm

Don, you may be able to remove the damaged sections. If you have two radiators of the same design, steal sections from one to replaced the damaged ones in the other.

Edit: never mind, the radiators you have look different than the push nipple ones I was thinking of.

 
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Post by CapeCoaler » Sat. Jan. 30, 2016 10:54 pm

Parts is Parts...
Start the disassembly and roll your own... ;)

 
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Post by StokerDon » Sat. Jan. 30, 2016 11:07 pm

I guess it wouldn't hurt to take them apart. From what WoodnCoal said earlier in this thread it's either push nipples with long bolts or threaded nipples.

-Don


 
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Post by blrman07 » Sun. Jan. 31, 2016 8:00 am

The good thing about radiators is that you can disasemble them, take out the bad section and reassemble it!!!

 
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Post by Rob R. » Sun. Jan. 31, 2016 8:02 am

That's what I was getting at in my earlier post, but his radiators look a lot different than mine. I don't see any threaded rods holding the sections together?

 
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Post by waldo lemieux » Sun. Jan. 31, 2016 8:15 am

StokerDon wrote: From what WoodnCoal said earlier in this thread it's either push nipples with long bolts or threaded nipples.
Ive never come across a radiator that was'nt put together with rod. Is there really a type that go together with threaded nips? Anybody got any pics?

 
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Post by StokerDon » Sun. Jan. 31, 2016 8:31 am

From the first page of this thread;

Wood'nCoal explained it all pretty well. The bolted together rads would be easier to get apart and put back together, coming up with the push nipples is the trick. I think the threaded nipple rads, the nipples must be installed and removed with some kind of inside tool?

The radiator I started this thread with does not have any bolts either.
Wood'nCoal wrote:That American Radiator is known as a "slenderized" radiator. American Radiator and Standard Sanitary eventually became "American Standard".

Before the introduction of the slenderized design radiators were larger and heavier. Since the key to radiation is surface area, radiators were big to get as much surface area as possible. The slenderized design greatly increased surface area with a smaller footprint.

That radiator is a "5 pass", each section has 5 tubes to radiate heat. The more tubes the more heat radiation.

Radiators are sized for heat output by the number of sections.

They are connected together in two ways: If the unit has four steel rods with threads and nuts at the ends holding it together then it is built using "push nipples". Each section has has machined steel nipples between it and the next sections. The push nipples are tapered, large diameter in the middle tapering to smaller diameter on the outside edges. The radiator is assembled, the 4 rods are installed and tightened, compressing the sections together. The other method of assembly is to use threaded nipples to connect the sections together, each section is assembled to the next one and the threaded nipple is installed. This type of assembly can be identified by the absense of the 4 steel rods.

Radiators on steam or hot water systems are essentially the same, the difference is Hydronic (hot water) will have an inlet and an outlet along with an air vent on the outlet end near the top. Steam radiators generally have one bottom opening used, with an air vent installed midway up on the opposite end.
As of this morning, the 7 section and 8 section units still have pressure and no sign of leaks. We will call that a PASS!

Next will be the 10 section tube radiator.

-Don

 
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Post by blrman07 » Sun. Jan. 31, 2016 9:16 am

If your radiator doesn't have draw rods then it's probably screwed to gether with threaded nipples. Check out this link for details. Your gonna need some special tools for that job :mad: If it's with draw rods it's simple. If its screwed nipples it's a bit more complicated.

http://www.radiatorrenovator.co.uk/features/how-are-radiators-constructed/

 
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Post by rberq » Sun. Jan. 31, 2016 9:25 am

StokerDon wrote:A 3 column 12 section, 38" tall, 10,200 BTU.
I have five of those in my house, though a couple of them are 10 sections rather than 12. When the contractor sized a new boiler ten years ago, he estimated we needed 50,000 BTU. I thought he had measured walls, windows, insulation, etc. to come up with the number. Now I wonder if he didn't just count the radiators and call that good. :P

You will like them once you get them installed. Nice, even heat.

 
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Post by StokerDon » Sun. Jan. 31, 2016 10:18 am

blrman07 wrote:If your radiator doesn't have draw rods then it's probably screwed to gether with threaded nipples. Check out this link for details. Your gonna need some special tools for that job :mad: If it's with draw rods it's simple. If its screwed nipples it's a bit more complicated.

http://www.radiatorrenovator.co.uk/features/how-are-radiators-constructed/
That's a very interesting website there Larry. So each radiator section and each threaded nipple have a right handed and left handed side. The inside of the nipples are keyed. The key that fits the inside of the nipples has long shaft so it can go through the section into the nipple. Turning the key, and therefore the nipple, will screw the sections apart or together, depending on which direction you turn the key.

Hummm,,, old threaded nipples inside a rusty 70? year old radiator. How hard could that be to get apart??? Don't forget, there is a top AND a bottom nipple for each section so you have to turn the top one a little, then the bottom one a little, ect...

I could just cut apart the bad section. Then see if I can get the nipples out. If so, I might be able to put it back together. Probably easier to just find another radiator though.

-Don

 
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Post by lzaharis » Sun. Jan. 31, 2016 10:57 am

Now you have done it Don!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I want to rip out my 250 feet of baseboard even more
and purchase some square pipe from Germany to connect
all together and eliminate the pipe under the doors and below
the floor in spots.

After that I can install a long low radiator in the garage, pour in a
few gallons of non toxic boiler antifreeze and treatment and then I
can work out there and not worry about anything and the steel roof will
melt all the snow and ice on it now that the gutters are fixed-

If any of you have trouble with gutters-like most of us (I hate mine but I need them)
I bought the I Robot Luge robot gutter cleaner and I wish I had it years ago
and its a blessing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I figure I will use it two times a year on average and save lots of grief and it increases
the gutter flow to the downspouts.

I installed downspout leaf screens with 3 inch PVC replacing my the front
aluminum downspouts and you would not believe the difference-one rainy day
the screens caught it all and the next gully washer cleaned the leaf screens right off.

I guess a trip to Bean Town for salvaged, cleaned and tested reclaimed radiators
is in the cards. I always wanted to visit Deer Island too.


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