Old Radiator Valves and Heat flow

JHZR2

Hi,

New here but awesome site.  Cant wait to get some of the books and start reading in depth.  I have an early 1930's home with cast iron radiators in all locations except the bathroom, which has a cast iron baseboard.  I upgraded my early 1980's W-M boiler to a Peerless Purefire Mod-Con back in 2011, with an indirect WH.  Couldnt be happier, it is efficient and really great. 



But my challenge is with balance of heat upstairs and down.  There is no door to close to slow air going up, plus we have an infant and so want his room to be warm.  But we prefer colder sleeping conditions. 

In our room the valve seems to work, but it is truly open or shut only, no throttling.  In one other room, the valve packing is poor and the connection to the radiator is prone to leaking if not kept well doped. 

So my interest is in replacing these two valves in our home.  The pipe is in good condition, but is this even a potential consideration, or am I asking for trouble?  I tried to loosen the leaky one once, and stopped when I felt like I was using too much torque on a two wrench approach. 

But is this a general no-no, or is it possible, and if using a device like a thermally-actuated valve, such as is seen in Europe, would that be a viable approach to prevent radiation where I would like it cooler, and keep it open where I want it warmer?  Would bushings or other interfaces to the piping or radiator be an issue here (I believe my radiators are made by Peerless, FWIW, not sure if it is the same company or not).

Thanks very much and I look forward to learning from your replies!

jumper

here's some tricks

If you can find an adequate replacement, you can change the guts without removing valve.



If your bedroom is too warm, try throwing a blanket over the radiator. If you really want to get fancy, think about enclosing the radiator. Breaking old ferrous connections can break something in addition to the connection.