Fixing/Replacing Radiator Valves

Timco

Is it a special program that allows you to add the arrows and words?

T

Eric Scheidler

Most of my radiators . . .

. . . have leaky valves.

Only half of my eight radiators even have valve knobs. The rest lost their knobs ages ago (long before I moved in earlier this year); all that's left is the stem.

Some of the valves are leaking both from the hole where a bolt ought to go in to afix the knob, and from around the stem. A couple of the ones with knobs are leaking from around their stems.

One in particular is leaking so bad that a plume of steam is visible. I think this particular radiator replaced another, smaller one when the wall between this room and an unheated sun room was torn out to make one big room. It alone appears to have a typical trap:



(Note also the vent on this radiator—on a two-pipe system—who knows how it got there.)

The returns on all the other radiators look more like this one:



I want to fix this leaking problem, especially the severe leak on this particular radiator.

Thanks.

Steamhead (in transit)

First check the system pressure

make sure the pigtail under the Pressuretrol is clear. If not, the system will over-pressurize. Higher pressure will cause leaks or make them worse. You may want to switch to a Vaporstat.

Then check to see if any valves have standard packing nuts. If they do, simply tighten or re-pack them.

That looks like it's some sort of orifice system, or maybe an early Kriebel. If you have to replace any valves, get the type that has orificing capability. I think MEPCO still makes them, possibly others too.

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Eric Scheidler

I use Corel Draw . . .

. . . for that. It's a high-end graphic program that is comparable to Adobe Illustrator. I import the images into a blank drawing page and then use the text tool for the words and line tool for the lines and arrows.

If you have any kind of bitmap editor, you should be able to do something similar -- probably even MS Paint would do the trick in a pinch, though you might not be able to do lines and arrows.

Timco

the lines & arrows are the cool part. would illustrator do that? Is that downloadable, or do I need to buy that?

T

Stephan

Leaking valve

Hi Eric
I sent some radiator to the powder coat shop and decided to put new valve on when they came back. There's nothing to it. I found some cheap one that are made for steam and look good. They are made by Legend and I found them at my local plumbing store(20$ for a 1 1/4"). Especialy if you don't have the knob anymore and that you have to change the packing, it's not wort to rebuit them . Good luck.
Stephan

Stephan

valve leaking

Hi Eric
I repainted my radiator and after put them back together,I decided to look into new valve. I found that Legend brand are cheap (20 $ )and work really good. I found them at my local plumbing store. Good luck.

Eric Scheidler

Illustrator . . .

. . . is very expensive. Not sure how much, since I use Corel DRAW, but that's comparable. Couple hundred bucks for sure.

Eric Scheidler

I've been wondering . . .

. . . about these old vapor systems. I've read Chapter 15 of Lost Art trying to hunt down what kind of system I've got. Those old systems all seem to have some kind of special, clever device on them, for venting usually.

Mine has nothing like this. So my question is, is this system really a Kriebel (if that's what it once was) if it no longer has the vapor/vacuum control pictured on page 261? Now it's got Gorton #1 and #2 on the main and two #1s on the return.

Another question, back to valves: the radiator that's really got a problem has a Hoffman No. 8C trap on it -- the only radiator with any obvious trap. Is this a problem? Or is it just fine to have a radiator with a valve and trap totally different from the original?

And, if I can use regular valves provided I use traps, would it not be simpler to use these readily available parts, rather than hunt down rare valves or ancient baffle-type traps (or whatever may be in there)?

Bob W._3

Isn't Corel Draw part of Corel Suite? If so, you can get Version 11 real cheap, like $12 or so. I think Ver. 12 is the latest.