old valves in my old house

onyx

I was told i needed to post here. I have an 1888 Victorian that had hot water heat using radiators throughout the house. They have been removed by previous owners but the main mono loop in the basement is still there along with the branches to where the radiators once were. There is some interest in the diverted valves (i think that is what they are called cant remember) dating from 1897. That matches the house time when it was rebuilt. I want to put this all back in service at some point. I am looking for radiators to start the process (saving for the right ones). Any input on this process and what i have?

Danny Scully

Please tell me you’re on Long Island, and I’ll be there tomorrow Appears to be a gravity diverter system. Very cool stuff. You can start doing room by room heat loss calculations to determine the radiator sizes. Maybe also start spraying penetrating oil on all the fittings you’ll want to disassemble. And it can’t hurt to map out the existing piping (diameters and lengths) as it’s all part of the equation.

HVACNUT

Is it really worth it to cut and patch and redo and maybe open cans and cans of worms?
Old world rads in the living space. 21st century materials for the heating system.

Danny Scully

No guts no glory @HVACNUT. It’s all worth it when you see the end result.

Intplm.

@Danny Scully Is that a O-S tee ? Or dual diverter tee of some kind?

Danny Scully

It doesn’t look quite like an O-S fitting, which was more of a 2-pipe system. This looks more like a 1-pipe gravity system.

onyx

its 2 loops that join in the back to 1 line that goes out to the 2 branches. in the pictures is what the 2 lines look like. and im in iowa lol

onyx

did anyone want the ts? im going the pex al pex route