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Old Cast iron Clangers

Kewlkicker
Kewlkicker Member Posts: 1
in Radiant Heating
Our current heating system is from the 1950's or before... steam heated with oil furnace with big cast iron radiators in several rooms, every time the heat warms up we get MAJOR Noises from all the radiators.... I'm looking for solutions...

Option1
Replacing the radiators... How hard is it to buy new radiators and hook them up to the old cast iron pipes... are there ways to do this maybe with plex and some converters?

Option 2
Cleaning out the old radiators.. Is there a way to clean them out... we bleed the system every year but the clanging still comes back.. I'm told its the metal from the radiators eroding over time from the steam... Is there a way to flush out the system maybe that makes it so you can clean a radiator out and make it usable again... so that maybe the charm of the old radiators is still there...

Comments

  • BobC
    BobC Member Posts: 5,495
    Buy this book "Pocket full of steam", read it and then come back.

    http://astore.amazon.com/heatinghelp-20/detail/0996477233

    Bob
    Smith G8-3 with EZ Gas @ 90,000 BTU, Single pipe steam
    Vaporstat with a 12oz cut-out and 4oz cut-in
    3PSI gauge
  • Abracadabra
    Abracadabra Member Posts: 1,948
    Steam heat should be silent. You don't need to remove or replace the radiators.
  • vaporvac
    vaporvac Member Posts: 1,520
    Could you describe the sounds and when in the heating cycle you hear it. As Abracadabra said, steam should be silent. The issue could be with the piping of your rads, so replacing the rads themselves would do nothing. I've never heard of anyone replacing their rads unless they've been damaged.
    Also, what do you mean by bleed the rads?
    Two-pipe Trane vaporvacuum system; 1466 edr
    Twinned, staged Slantfin TR50s piped into 4" header with Riello G400 burners; 240K lead, 200K lag Btus. Controlled by Taco Relay and Honeywell RTH6580WF
  • Fred
    Fred Member Posts: 8,542
    Is this a steam or hot water system? You don't bleed steam systems. Does the noise sound like expansion noises or banging? There is a solution for either but you need to define the noise.
  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 24,516
    Fred said:

    Is this a steam or hot water system? You don't bleed steam systems. Does the noise sound like expansion noises or banging? There is a solution for either but you need to define the noise.

    Nor do you ever need to clean the radiators (inside, at least. Outside? well... depends on how many cats and dogs you have!).

    As @Fred said, there are solutions for both expansion and banging noises -- but one needs to know which one is dealing with.
    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England

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