Need help deciding: Very Old Traps - Rebuild or Replace?

Brad White_200

I agree with Tim and MPF on the difficulty of getting trap covers off.

(I am currently consulting on a 1915 Webster vapor system (93 years old!) of which there are several traps on casework-concealed radiators which you <i>just know</i> have never been serviced... Burning 10,000 gallons a year in a 15,000 SF row house with windows open as high limit thermostats tells you something....)

The approach we are taking is to try a few, especially the most difficult ones, (by boring a hole in the casework and using a bit extension and air-drive socket). The plan is to opt for capsule replacement with Tunstall capsules. If the access rate seems inordinate, then we replace with new traps entirely where we have to.

Most of the other traps are accessible once the removable covers are lifted off, fortunately.

So, a mixed-bag approach, but it could save us a lot of collateral carpentry.

sreja

Need help deciding: Very Old Traps - Rebuild or Replace?

Hi Everyone,

I really need your help with a hard decision we have to make in our building.

We have 83 radiators in an almost 80-year-old building. We can't find any record of the traps ever having been serviced, and we have decided to have the traps updated (as well as get thermostatic actuators installed on every radiator).

Now the hard question: Whether to replace the traps or rebuild them using a kit.

The info is this: The contractor we have decided to hire has given us a price on both options, and the price to replace is not significantly much more than the price to rebuild, so immediate price is not an issue.

And the contractor has found a supplier with parts for the traps, though the original trap company is out of business and it was difficult finding a supplier for the parts.

So as I see it, the pros and cons look like this (given that installation price isn't really an issue):

Pro Rebuild: Easier on pipes (we did a test replace of one and it wasn't a problem but with 83 radiators, who knows).

Pro Replace: Easier, cheaper, safer to rebuild going forward and no danger of finding ourselves in 10 years unable to get rebuild kits.

We really need help thinking about this -- any opinions?

Unknown

My $0.02

If I could get new for nearly the same price as rebuilt, I'd go new.

Timco

Old caps can be really tough to get off, and I have cut many in half, then removed. Old traps are soft brass and can be really tough as well...neither is really easier with that many. If cost is same, I would opt for new.

Tim

Steamhead (in transit)

Though the material cost

might be similar, the labor is definitely more when replacing rather than rebuilding traps. The tailpiece (part that threads into the radiator) often cannot be removed without much effort. If a trap body should break, then of course you'd need a new one.

We find that an electric impact wrench can remove the cap from almost any trap with little effort.

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