1000th Post

Alan (California Radiant) Forbes

These are photos of a job in SF, replacing a Taco ESP zone valve operator with a new Sentry replacement operator.  The old one failed in the open position and the floors were overheating.



The hard part on this one manifold was that the old operator was up against a stud and the new operators are larger, so I had to hog out some of the stud with my Makita die grinder.  I use this tool on wood and metal and it's gotten me out of many jams, especially sink basket strainers that won't undo and those pesky aluminum nuts that seem to fuse to the brass shanks on faucets under the sink.

icesailor

White Metal Nuts

Get a can of Kroil (kanolabs.com) and spray it on the nuts. Let sit for a while, and it will come off with a good basin wrench or one of those basin multi-socket tools. As long as they aren't Wolverine Brass nuts.

I use Kroil on everything. The next step is the heat wrench. I cool the object with Kroil. If after all that, it doesn't come off, it was never coming off anyway. There has been little that didn't come apart.

If you took every kind of rest loosen-er and combined them, it wouldn't equal Kroil.

Alan (California Radiant) Forbes

Silly Question

Silikroil:



http://www.amazon.com/SiliKroil-Penetrating-Solvent-aerosol-SILIKROIL/dp/B0003041WK/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1328930738&sr=8-3



or Aerokroil:



http://www.amazon.com/Kano-Aerokroil-Penetrating-aerosol-AEROKROIL/dp/B000F09CEA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1328930738&sr=8-2



?

Charlie from wmass

Alan congrats on the 1000 mark

If you can keep us posted on how the new heads hold up I would appreciate it. I went to use some of the new Taco valves and I was talked into the oldstyle as the wholesaler was having life length issues with the new heads. I would believe my fellow wallies more but I did not have time to ask here before I made my choice.

Alan (California Radiant) Forbes

Charlie

I've been using the new ones for about 6 months now and haven't had any issues.  I don't use Taco zone valves anymore because of all the failures and if the operators keep failing, I will eventually stop replacing them and install more reliable valves.  Until then, I'll keep you informed should the new Sentry valves fail.



I misspoke: It's actually not my 1,000th post, instead the 1,000th topic in the Radiant Heating forum.



Happy in Hydronic Hyperbole.