Old Radiator Disassembly Mystery

Jonik

Here, attached, is drawing of the Old Rad....sort of.
Real rad has (had) 14 sections, and is ornately sculpted. The broken section is actually third from the right, from the valve side.

The nipples at the broken section,up top, are still there, but not shown in the drawing, for more clarity.

Jonik

Old Radiator Disassembly Mystery

100 yr old cast iron WATER radiator has freeze-caused hole in one of 14 sections. A mid section, not either of the ends. I want to remove that section, reassemble, and get the heat AND keep the decorative old treasure. AND, of course, avoid the removal/recycling/replacement ordeal. THIS ordeal is better.

Undoing nuts on bottom, exposed, assembly rod was done with relative ease...BUT...the top assembly rod is hidden within the radiator.
One side of top (let's' say Right) has the bleeder valve but no screw or any apparent way to remove that disk plate that holds the valve.
Other side of top has easily removed disk plate that exposes a solid one-inch square nut that SEEMS to be part of a two inch metal sealing plate. (That end plate attachment screw goes into center of that nut...so, bashing to loosen the nut might mess up that screw hole.)

That nut WILL NOT BUDGE.
Not sure if it's even supposed to. Can't put HUGE pressure on it or maybe rad would break...but I tried a four foot breaker bar extension on the wrench. No luck. Tied Heat to the nut and the area, plus Penetrating spray. Nothing.

I carefully chiselled out most of the broken column section. Upper assembly rod revealed. BUT...it's not solidly mounted to the side with that nut. That is...it's not one long rod going from left to right, as the bottom rod is. The rod moves back and forth with enough play to make up for the now-missing section. It IS solidly in the valve side though.

Question is: What's going ON inside there? Is the rod a sort of hook and eye thing?
Whatever it is, where to see explosion drawings for parts?
Must the whole thing be disassembled to undo whatever needs to be disassembled?
Where can heat and penetrataing fluid be applied to loosen WHATEVER is attached to whatever?
Are there issues here re/ counter clockwise vs clockwise threads?
At the Valve End, is the rod WELDED to that upper right end plate?....or is is screwed in?

Goal: To remove one or two sections and reassemble with proper sealants, and improvised PRESS to pull sections tightly together.
I have a test system set up...with a plug, a bushing, and a hose/on-off valve adapter. No need to hook to system to check for leaks.

Tried to attach drawing...but it didn't work.

Jeff_105

rob brown

rads

i've run into these rads before. the draw rod is run thru the upper push nipples and completely hidden. i tried to drive a fat chisel between the sections to separate. after a lot of pounding, the casting plate in the end section let loose like a cannon. i ended up cutting thru the rod with a sawzall to separate. not sure how the rod is anchored in far end of rad. i would try to get that nut off. are there any names or identifing marks on the rad? curious because you dont see these too often. # of tubes, dimensions of sections may help i.d. rads. photos? rob

Hvacman

You must be a professional illustrator... that drawing is impressive! I had to save it...

I would take a sawsall to the rod, lie the two sections down and try to tap the rod stub out the end with the nut... or, if the 2 ends at the rod locations are not leaking, cut the rod, remove the bad section, and make a new exposed upper rod (or two) anchored between the tubes like many are. A flat plate across the end section is all you need to clamp it all together.