Help me figure out my 2 pipe system

Hap_Hazzard

I've never had any luck getting them out unbroken, so I invested in a spud wrench. Now I can break them with a spud wrench.

ethicalpaul

Same here but at least the spud wrench works to install the new one. Removing them with a saw and chisel is so easy after the first one

Hap_Hazzard

I sometimes wonder if any of the ones I've installed would be hard to remove. I use Great White pipe joint compound, with PTFE, so my pipes are easy to take apart after a few years, but radiator spuds are like a special case.

EBEBRATT-Ed

Teflon tape with Anti Seize as pipe dope and they will come out easily the next time.

You can usually cut the nut off the spud with a grinder and then get a pipe wrench on the spud.

I have better luck finding some square stock and grinding it to fit the inside of the spud tightly . Don't have a lot of luck with spud removers

Hap_Hazzard

Calling them spud removers might just be setting people up for disappointment. Spud installer seems like a better term.

mattmia2

An acetylene torch might heat the spud enough to dehydrate/break the corrosion without heating the rest of the radiator too much but i'd be concerned about interfering with the seal on the adjacent section connection. Probably just need to heat the spud and let it cool to loosen things a lot.

Hap_Hazzard

You wouldn't want to heat the spud. You'd want to heat the surrounding cast iron without heating the spud, and I'm not sure how much the tapping would expand as you heat it. The spud would expand as a function of the thermal expansion coefficient of brass times the circumference of the spud, so you really want to avoid heating it. (Hmmm. I wonder what chilling it with liquid nitrogen would do.)

But I think the real problem is the 50 year old fossilized pipe joint compound that's usually there, and a torch isn't going to do anything that the last 50 years of heating hasn't done.

mattmia2

It doesn't matter much which part you heat. the main thing that heating does is dehydrates the rust and other oxides to turn them from a hard crystalline structure to a soft powder. The expansion also helps mechanically break the bonds. You have to heat it to hundreds of degrees to loosen it, far hotter (and dryer) than from the heating system.

acepedro45

I’m ready to declare victory here. I decided against messing with the spud given its age and condition. Instead, I tightened up the new trap against the old spud another turn. No leaks now!

I’m attaching a picture of the new brass plug where the old Hoffman vent uses to be, plus a shot of the new trap. Note the scoring on the nut near the new trap where my pipe wrench bit into it, a sure sign a gorilla homeowner has been at work instead of a pro like you guys!

Thanks for all the advice. I’m hoping this will make a meaningful difference in the bills.

Steamhead

So, how does it work?

acepedro45

Just thought I'd check back in a few months later. The biggest monthly gas bill this winter has been $650, so that's a large drop from the $850-1000 I had seen last winter. No idea what gas prices have done in the meantime, plus it's been a bit warmer in the northeast, but I still feel good about it.

Thanks again everyone.