Getting radiators out of house....?

Alan Muller

Job is a 1920s house with frozen radiators. These are ordinary three-column rads assembled with left/right handed nipples. A few sections might be good but the great majority are cracked. I'm sure these were carried in as individual sections and assembled on the job. I'd like to disassemble or break up these to get them out safely but am not sure how to do it. Could cut them up with a Sawzall but it would tedious. Could the nipples be undone with something like a 1" impact wrench? Was wondering about splitting them apart with steel wedges used for splitting firewood. Suggestions welcome!

Jamie Hall

Easiest thing to do is going to be to strap them to an appliance type hand truck and trundle them out, into the pickup, and off to the scrap yard.

EBEBRATT-Ed

@Alan Muller

If you don't mind the dust a grinder with a cutting disk will go through it like butter. Buy some xtra disks Safety glasses and gloves are a must.

JUGHNE

How about a sledge hammer to crack them in the middle, they might pop apart.
Half of a rad might be more manageable.

EricPeterson

If they are assembled with threaded rod, remove the rods and then you should be able to separate the sections into more manageable pieces.

EdTheHeaterMan

EricPeterson said:

If they are assembled with threaded rod, remove the rods and then you should be able to separate the sections into more manageable pieces.

Like this radiator


But there are radiators with threaded nipples (left threads on one side, right threads on the other) and there is tool to tighten each section that fits in the opening at each section. It is a tedious process to put them together. Nearly impossible to take apart.

No visible threaded rods on these radiators.

Take them out in one piece or break them in half with a sledge hammer at a midpoint by smashing a section to pieces

EBEBRATT-Ed

Slice it with a grinder and a cutting disk. You don't have to cut all the way through it will break with a hammer after being weakened

Intplm.

This is a tough removal issue.
What I have done is get as much help as possible, say four people. (I have done it alone, and I can't recommend that.)

Get a few remnant carpets and flip them over so the carpet side is down. Tip the rads on their side onto the carpet or leave them on their legs. Once you have done that, it is easier to move the rads out. That is of course until you get to the staircase. Then it's time for your muscled helpers and a hand truck.

There is no easy way really. It is always bull work. Using a carpet helps a lot.
Breaking them up into more manageable pieces is a good idea but not easy.

Paul Pollets

I've found that if the radiator is too large to move, it can be disassembled after removing the threaded rods by using a larger hammer drill with a 1" chisel bit between the sections near the push nipples. The vibrations of the hammer drill work wonders.

FountainJim

I have been succesful in moving / removing radiators by threading pipe into the supply and return outlets and building handles out of threaded pipe. This allows for multiple helpers to get a strong and safe grip and it is much easier on the fingers and backs. Take a look at the following images.

RadiatorFan

Ok, this is an older discussion, but I am revisiting because I have a similar situation. Have to move a large, very old radiator down a flight of carpeted stairs with a landing in the middle. Although my heating pro told me he would use a PortaPower tool (or similar tool they use to take apart boilers) to take split the radiator into manageable parts, a pro in this forum told me the radiator has left-right nipples, and these are hard to get apart.

The radiator has to be taken down the stairs upright, because it's too wide if laying flat. Any suggestions on hand trucks? Going down carpet. But more importantly, the radiator will stick out from the hand truck about 38 inches, so pretty unwieldy. Other alternative is to remove rad through a balcony with a crane??? What does that involve and any suggestions?

mattmia2

Hire movers, they will have the right tools and experience.

The suggestion about sliding on carpet, even better get to mover's dollies and lift each end on to a dolly and roll it around. Don't have a recommendation on the right kind of appliance dolly with a stair climber for something that heavy. Make sure they stairs are well constructed too.

mattmia2

If you want to do it yourself i'd get a sawzall with a few of the new style metal cutting carbide blades and cut the sections apart. Put some dropcloths down, have a wedge of some sort to keep the sections apart as you cut through so the blade doesn't bind.

Jamie Hall

Find a good mover with experience with heavy objects. People who specialise in moving pianos will be able to do it with no problem.

RadiatorFan

Thanks - I'll keep working on this!