Identify Radiator Type, Please

Overwhelmed_2

I'm trying to size for single-pipe steam boiler need. I can't decide from the illustrations in the "Sizing to Standard Radiation" chart whether I have Old Style Column or Tube Type. The illustrations just look all muddy to me, so I can't discern.



In the attached photos, the side measurement of mine is right about 12" high (excluding the feet, yes?) by 12" wide. Or maybe it's more like 12 1/2."



Is it obvious which I have to you, just by seeing the photos?



Thanks!

JStar

Rad

It's a tube-type window radiator. Measure the height with the feet included.

Double D

Tube type

You have tube type radiators. Your picture shows a 7 tube. You are safe using the 121/2" width measurement.



http://www.weil-mclain.com/en/multimedia-library/pdf/weil-mclain-pdf/other-downloads/boiler_replacement_guide.pdf

ChrisJ

Bare?

Is that radiator bare iron as in it was never painted?

I assumed all radiators came painted some color. 

Double D

Rads I ordered came Bare

I ordered 2-tube type radiators about 10yrs.ago for a bathroom/bedroom addition and they came in bare. The owner spray painted them before I installed them.

ChrisJ

Season

Might be a horrible idea but I wonder if you could season one like a cast iron pan to get a non stick durable black coating.

Overwhelmed_2

Thanks, and about that finish ...

Thanks, all! I would never have guessed to include the FEET in the radiator height measurement!



There is some sort of bronze color finish on those radiators. It does not seem to be paint, but it is something-- maybe even a stain? They're in a wood paneled den, so I assume there was an attempt to make their color compatible. Some of the variation in color you see comes from my camera's auto-flash. They're actually more of a uniform shade. I've been in this old house 37 years, and they are just as they were the day we moved in. All others in the house are painted white.

ChrisJ

Bronze

I'm pretty sure bronze was a common color for radiator paint at one time.



I also think all of my radiators which are silver, are bronze under it because I saw the bottom side of one appeared to be bronze. I guess they couldn't fit the brush in there. I'd love to get all of ours sandblasted and painted black for increased IR output.

Hap_Hazzard

I'd try it, but...

The darn things won't fit in my oven!

Dave in QCA

American Radiator Corto

I can see the manufacturer's name in the casting on your photo. American Radiator Company's venture into "modern" tube type radiators was named "Corto" They went to great lengths in describing you beautiful and modern they were.



From "The Ideal Fitter" 21st edition, 1925, American Radiator Company:



"Corto, the Radiator Classic, is the creation of Louise Courtot---a French artist engineer long affiliated with our Company. he labored for years to realize the ambition which he has expressed in these words:

"My ambition is to design a radiator of such refined and artistic elegance, one so repeating the chase lines of classic architecture, that in its finished state it may justly be regarded as an object of art."



It is interesting to note that the Corto radiator at this time had 2" thick sections. However, by the 1930s, American was producing radiators that looked exactly the same as the Corto but the sections were 2.5" thick, the same as the rest of the industry.



Always confusing is the fact that this first phase of tube style radiators are not "small" tube radiators. They are either just plain tube style, or large tube style. This is an issue that Dan has confused in TLAOSH. Much later, the slenderized "small tube" radiators were introduced with sections 1.75" thick. These were produced mainly after WW II, or perhaps beginning in the very late 1930s.

Chris_L

American Radiator Company catalog

Here is a link to slightly older version of the "The Ideal Fitter":  http://colonialrevivalrestoration.com/Historic_Catalogs.html

(Click on the link for the 1913 American Radiator Company catalog).



For those interested in paints and coatings for radiators (and boilers and risers), see the last page.

ChicagoCooperator

Thanks for the link

Great information in that link, thanks for posting that.



Here is one of the circular radiators, albeit slightly newer & simpler, in use in Chicago.



http://www.flickr.com/photos/30052777@N07/10575895134/in/set-72157637125358266



There are several in the Elks Memorial building at the north end of the main section of Chicago's Lincoln Park.

Steve_175

Looks like

A Churchill



http://www.paladinradiators.com/cast-iron-radiators/churchill/

Overwhelmed_2

Types & Measuring Help - More Confused

I finally went around the house and measured all the radiators, including feet. Trying to set up a chart so I can do calculations, and am now even more confused.



The radiator pictured above now seems more like 11 1/2 wide rather than 12 (or 12 1/2). I have 3 of these along the front of my house (den & living room) all the same. They're 14" tall including feet, 7 tubes and 14 sections each.



The rest of the house seems a crazy mix. Heights seem fairly standard at 14" or 20" or 38." How many sections for each is thankfully straightforward. The number of tubes per measured width has me flummoxed though-- I tried to be careful measuring, but since these aren't hard edges and I'm not used to doing this I'm finding it tough.



Here are the different ones I found. I think. (House built in 1926) I'm trying to match my measurements with the "Sizing to Standing Radiation" chart.



3 tubes - 4 3/4 wide (or maybe 5"?) So that is Thin Tube Type?



4 tubes - 6 1/2 (or 6 3/4) wide - Would that be regular or thin? I have 3 of these, so if I mess up that's error x 3.



5 tubes - 8 1/4 (or maybe 8 1/2?) - Does not seem to fit either regular OR thin from the chart, so what should I use?



6 tubes - 10' wide. Hoping I can call this one close enough to 9 3/4 for regular tube type.



7 tubes - I'm getting 11 1/2 wide, but maybe they're actually 12 or even 12 1/2? I'm using a metal rule guessing as best I can where is the actual edge.



The one boiler installer I talked to just wanted to use same boiler size as before, or go one up. I put him off saying I needed to do the measurements. He already thinks I'm crazy (citing heat loss along the pipes from radiator to radiator among other factors-- didn't know I'd be using Dan's factors) I'm quite sure. Now I'm floundering with this-- feeling like I'm Fiddling While Rome Burns.



Help?

Dave in QCA

Measure the thickness of the sections

Measure the thickness of the sections. That is, from joint to joint. that will tell you the thickness of the sections. Thin tube are 1 3/4" thick. Regular Tube, also called Thick Tube are 2 1/2" thick. Once you know which type they are, then find the matching radiator in the charts.

Overwhelmed_2

Regular It Is!

Thanks, Dave! Regular it is!



Now I just ignore the chart widths, look at the tubes on each picture, and use the factors (per height) from the chart?

Dave in QCA

Here is a great table

I am attaching a table that was taken from an ASHRAE publication back in the 1960s. I find it VERY useful.



This is not all inclusive, as there are certainly some exceptions. American Radiator Italian Flue type rads have 3" spacing and great sq ft per section than a comparate 3 column radiator. Also, most of the American and US Radiator 4 column models also had 3" spacing.