Hot water radiators vs steam raditors

ccstelmo

I'm in a pickle.

Down in Denver (I live in St. Elmo at 10,000-feet) I searched the salvage yards for a day looking for a four-section steam radiator thirty-eight inches tall to fit a particular need I have (don't ask). Turns out 95% of them got crushed and sent to China. So the pickin's are slim. Did find a hot water radiator though, and am desperate enough that I imagine myself splitting a couple sections off and shortening it up to accommodate my need. Problem is, there's no boss to drill out to convert it to steam). It's a single purpose (hot water) radiator.

Question Time:
1. Can anyone advise me about splitting off a couple of sections? I'm thinking I'll use a couple of firewood splitting wedges (plenty of 'em layin' around in St. Elmo) then shorten and re-thread the draw bolts and apply a copious amount of high temperature silicone to the push nipplies prior to re-assembling. Yikes! Just typing this plan out sounds nuts.

2. What's with that steam vent being down on the side of the radiator instead of at the top anyway? Why is that important? I'm not going to be able to relocate the vent because there's no boss down there and I'm not likin' the idea of drilling into the delicate filigree of this ornate radiator assuming I'll find enough iron there to tap. What'll happen if I just put the steam vent up there where the coin vent is?

Hey, thanks. This is my second post. The first one was in search of old radiators and I got zip response from that. So I went to Denver.

Desperate in St. Elmo

bburd

Air must be eliminated from both steam and hot water radiators.

Since hot water is heavier than air, the air will rise to the top and can be vented there.

Since steam is lighter than air, if a steam radiator air vent is located at the top it will close when steam has heated the first section or two and crossed the top of the radiator, leaving most of the radiator cold. Locating the air vent lower down allows most of the radiator to fill with steam before the vent closes.

In your case this might be an advantage, since the radiator is larger than you need. Put a steam air vent where the hot water air vent is now, and don’t reduce the size of the radiator. You will get less than half of the radiator’s rated output. It’s worth a try.

People do drill and tap vent holes in old radiators. That would probably work too, but then you would have the tricky problem of removing some sections. Others can advise you there.

Jamie Hall

Sections can be removed, if you're reasonably sure that they are push nipples (radiators with draw rods almost always are). Your approach -- using splitting wedges -- will work, with patience. You'll need four of them. Two at the top on either side, two on the bottom. Whack them in sequence -- you want to move the sections right straight apart, no twisting, no angling. So one whack, on to the next, all the way around.

When you do get it apart, inspect the push nipples and the mating tapers. If they aren't scored or rusted, clean up the mating surfaces and leave it at that. You won't need any sealant at all on them. If they are scored or rusted, then you can run a ring of RTV around the nipple, but not on it -- where the sections will mate when they are pulled together. Then to pull it back together, don't try to use the draw rods. They aren't meant or that. Instead, get two bar or pipe clamps with enough depth to the jaws to fit centred on the end sections -- again, one at the top and one at the bottom -- and use those to pull the assembly together. If they are typical pipe clamps, half a turn at a time on one, and then on the other.

Once the whole thing is together, you can reinstall the draw rods -- but when the radiator is cold, the nuts should be no more than finger tight plus a quarter turn (on clean threads). They're only there to keep the radiator from creeping apart during heating and cooling cycles.

If you do have to use the vent location at the top, use as slow a vent as you can.

Steamhead

Post a pic of the radiator, from the front and sides.... let's have a look at it.

bucksnort

Steamhead said:

Post a pic of the radiator, from the front and sides.... let's have a look at it.

I want a pic of his house. I went to St. Elmo 3 years ago and went over the pass to Tin Cup. If anyone is near this town, you must go. Any car can make it. OP, have you checked out any salvage housing places in Denver? There's a few in Milwaukee that have radiators. Maybe check craigslist?

Steamhead

This site has a listing for used radiator sources, here:

https://heatinghelp.com/systems-help-center/where-to-find-used-radiators/

@Dave Stroman is in Aurora, contact him at the number shown.

@bucksnort , we don't have any listings for Milwaukee- can you post them so @Erin Holohan Haskell can add them to our list?

Erin Holohan Haskell

Steamhead said:

This site has a listing for used radiator sources, here:

https://heatinghelp.com/systems-help-center/where-to-find-used-radiators/

@Dave Stroman is in Aurora, contact him at the number shown.

@bucksnort , we don't have any listings for Milwaukee- can you post them so @Erin Holohan Haskell can add them to our list?

Yes, please.

bucksnort

I had success with just googling "home salvage materials". There's 3 in Milwaukee. 1 in Madison called deconstruction.
St. Elmo is in the middle of nowhere and and the last place I'd even think someone would have a steam boiler. Denver has a bunch of these stores.

ccstelmo

To clarify: I'm in St. Elmo and operating out of St. Elmo (no, steam heat never arrived in St. Elmo but I can take you up into the hills and show you some fabulous, massive power boilers used for mining. There they sit, overcome by the forest, gracefully succumbing to the law of entropy). The job I'm working on is in Meeker, Colorado, another town on the way to no-where and in which I was amazed to discover Steam Yet Lives! Who knew? Back in the day someone was putting one-pipe into those homes. Kind of fun for me to hop onto that learning curve.

FYI: I've e-mailed and left phone messages for Dave Strohman to no avail. His website makes my mouth water but I can't rouse him.

Thanks to everyone who responded. I've got some direction now. ccstelmo

ChicagoCooperator

I'm not surprised that there was steam installed in small, remote towns (I mean, Sears houses could get it as part of the home package) - it was simple and kept places warm in cold areas. But you are remote, north of the Book Cliffs, right?