Steam radiator valve heights

Terran

Hi all, happy new year! I've gotten some very useful advice here and I wanted to give something back. I recently learned that not all steam radiator valves are the same height, and it's not just an old-vs-today difference, they're made today in different sizes.

In these pictures, front and back for 1 1/4" and for 1", a Bluefin valve I got from supplyhouse is on the left, and a Marsh valve from nyrpgroup is on the right. The Marsh valves have a spec sheet which gives the dimensions from the bottom to the centerline of the union, but the others don't; you can see they're about a ¼" shorter. I think the pictures got put in a random order when I uploaded them, unfortunately.

Hope this helps someone get a replacement valve that matches and avoid having to rework the pipe!

Mark N

Three years ago I had all my radiators refinished and replaced all the valves with Marsh. I had no issues at all. All the rads matched up perfectly with the Marsh valves. Much higher quality than the imported ones.

JUGHNE

The fact that the better valve is taller and has what looks to be a larger internal passageway for counterflow steam, means that there is more meat/brass in it.
Just by weight alone you get more for your money.

Fred

I notice the Marsh valve doesn't have a packing nut around the valve stem though. I assume you have to take the entire bonnet off and repack from the inside?

JUGHNE

But how often does that get done? Every 40 years maybe?

Fred

JUGHNE said:

But how often does that get done? Every 40 years maybe?

Yea, about the time you have to virtually twist and grind on that bonnet to break it loose. When I replace something like that, I smile and think to myself; "I'll be dead before it becomes an issue for someone".

Mark N

Marsh valves are packless.