Got my radiator back from the sandblaster.

Shalom

One of my neighbors (actually the rabbi of my synagogue) was renovating his attic, and he didn't need this wonderful old radiator anymore, so I bought it off him. It was covered in white paint, but it sat out in the grass in his backyard for a few months until I was able to shift it; it's heavier than I can lift. Wound up renting a hand truck from the Orange Aprons and dragged it the few blocks to my house, but by then it was somewhat rusty and the paint was ruined. It has all this wonderfull scroll work on it.

There's a place in Saddle Brook that does sandblasting; basically an auto body shop, but they sandblast other stuff as well, and they advertise themselves as radiator specialists. so I had them pick it up and bring it back to their shop. it took a week, and I went back and picked it up. well not literally. They offered to paint it, but said they could also leave it as the natural color of the cast iron and just clear coat it, and we decided to go that route. As they were loading it in my car, the guy said "You know this is a great piece. We took about a thousand picture of this while we were doing it.' Me: "Before and after, I hope?" Him: "Of course." Me: "You gonna put it on your website?" Him: "You better believe it."

I did not ask them if they disassembled the radiator into individual sections, or just worked on it as is, but they did get all the nooks and crannies in between.

So now I have to find a way of getting it out of the back of the car without injuring myself.

But I have a couple of questions about this. 1) I have no idea how to find the EDR for this thing. The 2 end sections have three columns, but the 6 middle sections have only two, and where the center column would be is a bunch of iron bars, presumably to increase surface area, but how do you calculate that?

2) There's no top pipe; the sections are only connected at the bottom. Also the only vent is on the last section. I was taught that the steam goes up the first section, spreads across the top and then expands downwards, but obviously it can't work that way here. How does this work?

I'm attaching a picture, will upload a better one once I get it out the car.

Shalom

Another picture. The color is a little darker in real life; the flash made it more silvery.

STEVEusaPA

Very nice. I see it’s still in the car. When is help expected? You’ll find out who your true friends are.

Shalom

I might be able to slide it down a sheet of plywood onto the dolly. Probably get one or other of my neighbors to help me tomorrow,

Steamhead

That's an American "Rococo" 3-column radiator. How tall is it, including the legs?

Shalom

22 and a half inches, more or less.

It's only three columns on the ends, the middle sections have two columns and some kind of griddle between them.

ethicalpaul

Hey! I got a similar one from a craigslist ad last winter. To see how it works check out this thread: https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/169931/radiator-recycling

Hap_Hazzard

Steam radiators were originally not connected at the top. Only when they started making them compatible with hot water systems did they start connecting the sections at the top. Some of these had plugs to separate the sections so they'd work better with steam, but the plugs could be removed for use with hot water.

I've repainted some of my radiators with Rustoleum High Heat, after removing the layers of peeling housepaint. It takes a few coats to get full coverage, but it looks great.

srmaietta

Shalom, that looks great. Something I’d love to do to all of mine... one day maybe.

If you could, post a link to the companies site, I’d like to see their pics of the process.

Steve

Shalom

https://www.jrsandblasting.com/cleaning-radiators-new-jersey/

They haven't posted pics of my radiator yet.

srmaietta

Well, I was wondering if Saddle Brook was the one near me.. Yep! Great to see this in Nj, hopefully I. Can give them some business in 2020.