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can I get a radiator valve handle height extender?

shambles
shambles Member Posts: 10
in Domestic Hot Water
I like to have the hot water radiator off in my bedroom most of the time, but on in the early day, which I now do -- but as the valve handle is near the floor between the radiator edge & wall & behind a bookshelf in the corner it's not so handy.

I'd like to be able to turn the radiator in my bedroom on & off without such contortion However web-searches (incl. here) have been fruitless (though I was sure I'd find such a thing right away).

I'd imagined I could buy a sort of simple extender made of a metal rod attached to the valve handle mount at bottom with the valve handle at top and a brace to fasten the upper side of this to the radiator so that I'd be able to turn the valve about 3' higher (much more convenient).

I only want to be able to actuate the valve from a more convenient height, not add or move any actual valve or pipe fittings. The valve turns freely. it's a ca. 1900-1920s cast iron radiator with the Bakelite handle.

Surely this application must've come up before... Can anyone suggest?

Comments

  • Big Ed_4
    Big Ed_4 Member Posts: 2,980
    First thing that comes to mind is an auger bit extender ...

    There was an error rendering this rich post.

  • hot_rod
    hot_rod Member Posts: 23,108
    Log lighters that you see in fireplaces have extension stems. Bellimo has shaft extenders like this for damper motors.
    Drill bit extensions are another option.
    Bob "hot rod" Rohr
    trainer for Caleffi NA
    Living the hydronic dream
  • jesmed1
    jesmed1 Member Posts: 586
    edited January 1
    Or you could make something like this from scrap wood. It's not a permanent attachment, just something you can hide behind the radiator when not in use. I used a piece of scrap 3/4" ply and a handle/shaft from an old discarded garden tool. The "gripper" material is a few strips of self-adhesive anti-slip grip tape for stairs, but you could just glue on a piece of sandpaper. The half-moon cutout should be just slightly wider than the valve handle by about 1/4". If you don't have the tools for this, maybe a friend/family member could make it for you. Yours can be more refined. This is a 10-minute kluge.
  • shambles
    shambles Member Posts: 10
    Hmm, I was sure there'd've been some invention for this already -- you'd think all those low-to-the-floor valves would've necessitated some extender for all those fancy ladies back then (or coarse/lazy blokes like me). It does sound like an easy part to make, if I had a machine shop handy which I don't. Maybe I'll look in some old radiator catalogs on archive and see if such a thing was sold way back when. Maybe the wooden handle-grabber idea will have to do...
  • WMno57
    WMno57 Member Posts: 1,408
    On my 1916 home the valves on the bedroom radiators are waist high. They were originally piped like that. Steel pipe runs up along the side of radiator. You should buy a vintage pipe threader for yourself as a belated Christmas gift. I'd expect a lot of pipe tools in the U.P. because of all the steam era homes and mines. Get one you can still get new dies for.
    You could also do copper or oxygen barrier pex.

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