Radiator Pressure test. Good or bad?

LeviW

Hi All, I pressure tested a radiator that was removed from my 1907 home by a previous owner. It's been sitting in the garage for several years in a very dry climate. I air tested the unit up to 35psi. I let it sit for 1 hr and it dropped to 31psi. When I checked it about 10hrs later it was at 13psi. It was leaking from several places including the plugs used to pressurize it. I was told that our water pressure should be 45-60psi.

So my questions:
I used air for the test. will hot water cause the paper seals to expand thus stopping the leaks?
Should I test it with water?

The pictures below show the bubbles from soapy water. and the pressure gauge.








Thanks,Levi

Jamie Hall

Probably not paper seals -- much more likely push nipples.

Air is OK for a pressure test, but... are you planning to use this on a hot water system? If so, it should hold at 15 psi. On the other hand, if this is steam it only needs to hold 1 to 2 psi. The water pressure in your house is not relevant.

LeviW

Gotcha. It's a hot water system

LeviW

did I mess up the seals buy testing at 35psi?

Grallert

I think those have right left threaded nipples so there would probably be a gasket of some kind. You could stand that beast on end fill it with water and put some pressure to it.

Jamie Hall

LeviW said:

did I mess up the seals buy testing at 35psi?

Cheer up. Probably not.

Gordy

Do you have a clue as to where it was in the home? Why it was removed? And what replaced it?

Curious as to why it was removed. Maybe you are discovering the reason.

mikeg2015

Unless it’s a 3 story building or you need to run 200f+ water temps, 10-15psi is plenty pr sure. that’s all we run on a industrial boiler with piping 25’ off the ground.