shut off valves on cast iron radiators

jed

I have a 85year old house with cast iron radiators, The valve on the radiators are leaking at the stem, is there a way to fix this problem without replacing the valve , if not how do you replace the valve without cutting pipe.


jed

jed

leaking valve

I have a 85year old house with cast iron radiators, The valve on the radiators are leaking at the stem, is there a way to fix this problem without replacing the valve , if not how do you replace the valve without cutting pipe.


jed

Paul Mitchell

valves

the valves should have a union at the radiator. You can also try and tighten the packing nut which is the nut that goes around the stem.

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tim smith

packing

Add teflon packing under the packing nut and snug down, usually works. Good luck. Good idea to release pressure off system when doing this.

David Efflandt

Faucet packing graphite

You can still do it the way it was done originally (which I did with a couple of mine). Ace Hardware has what they call "faucet packing graphite" which is a graphite impregnated rope. Loosen the packing nut and slide it up the stem, remove some old gunk if necessary, wrap some packing rope around the stem and tighten the packing nut over it. Don't tighten it too much, so you have room to just tighten it some more if it leaks in the future (usually only if the valve was operated, which should be rare).