Leak near valve during condensate return

MikeJC

We recently bought a house with one-pipe steam heating. One of the radiators leaks water near the valve during the condensate return cycle. We had a plumber look at it; he applied a compound to the area and told us if that didn't work, they'd have to replace the male connector pipe between the valve and the radiator.

The compound helped for a while -- there was some dripping, but we could contain it with a towel. But it's gotten worse over time, and now whenever the heat cycles we wind up with a large puddle on the floor.

Do I need to replace the connector pipe, as the plumber suggested? If so, is that a DIY job? (For various reasons, we've lost faith in that plumber's abilities, so we're trying to figure out if we can do this on our own or if we need to call someone else.)

Thanks,
Mike

KC_Jones

Need a little more info. Where specifically is the leak? Is the leak on the radiator side of the nut where the spud connects to the radiator or is the leak right at the nut that connects to the valve. Trying to fix the leak from the outside like he did generally won't work, I would have lost a bit of faith also. Let us know where the leak is or if you can get a closer picture showing the water dripping that might help.

JUGHNE

Did he try to tighten the nut? (Or just sneeze on it? )

The spud going into the rad and the outlet of the valve have to line straight up with each other.

With the boiler off you could try:
One pipe wrench on the nut that you push down on...
Another pipe wrench snugly on the fat part of the valve body with the jaws pointing towards the radiator, this one you hold up on as pushing down on the first wrench. Jiggle the rad a little as you try to tighten the nut. Don't get too heavy on the brass nut.

That would be the first thing you could try yourselves.

Abracadabra

JUGHNE said:

Jiggle the rad a little as you try to tighten the nut.

Do the jiggle!

Jamie Hall

@JUGHNE 's explanation is exactly right -- and will almost always fix the problem. The fitting is a union, and the pipe that goes into the radiator is matched to the valve, and the nut serves to hold the two together snuggly. The jiggle is very very helpful! If all that doesn't work, it gets a little more complicated...

JUGHNE

I admit, the term "jiggle" was plagiarized from another posting.
However it is something that is just done automatically by most when tightening up any union.

nicholas bonham-carter

Make sure the mating faces are scrubbed clean, and lubricated with a drop of dish soap, before the jiggle.--NBC

MikeJC

Thanks, everyone. To answer KC_Jones's question, the leak is at the connection between the nut and the valve.

We'll try tightening the nut (and get our "jiggle" on) and hopefully that will work. I had tried tightening the nut before calling the plumber, but only with a regular wrench and not while manipulating the radiator.

Thanks,
Mike

vaporvac

Remember it's two wrenches and a juggle, so it may be a two person job?

MikeJC

A bit of a belated update, but this seems to have worked! (And had the added benefit of knocking off most of the compound that the knucklehead put on the valve.) Our system hasn't been running much due to unseasonably warm temperatures in the northeast, but we've had a few cycles now without any leaking at all. The one tricky part was that it took us a couple of minutes to realize that the nut was reverse-threaded and we were loosening it rather than tightening.

Thanks much to all who commented. I've posted a question about another of our radiators, and am hoping for the same successful advice as last time: http://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/156559/gargling-water-sound-in-radiator

Best,
Mike