Thermostatic valve on cast iron radiator

Gounthar Frankfurt

Hello,

I finally found good looking TRVs at a reasonnable price.
Now, I'd like to find the manufacturer of those valves.
The french plumbers can only have "Balmoral" valves now at
outrageous prices. I'd like them to establish a contact with
other manufacturers to get better prices on better looking
valves. This way, they could make a little money by selling
good looking valves at a good price... maybe better than the
price I got for me (remember, I'm a particular).

Anyway, I attached two pictures of the valves. Does anyone
know who makes them?
Thanks in advance.

Bruno Verachten

Gounthar Frankfurt

Thermostatic valve on cast iron radiator

Hi guys,

I hope my question won't pollute your forum too much ;-) I'm a french
private individual, and I found your website a few months ago when
looking for old cast iron radiators documentation. BTW, bravo for
these brochures and catalogs, it was a great pleasure for me to read
them.

I currently have a less than a year old hot water system at home with
panel iron radiators.

I have been fond of cast iron radiators for years, but my wife didn't
want any (OLD, ugly, pricey...).
Anyway, I finally found a not too pricey source for patterned cast
iron radiators, and now have four French Rococco radiators.

before "restification"

beginning of "restification"

I will throw away some iron radiators to install the cast iron
radiators. We have an electronic thermostat in the living room, and
the radiators in this room have a simple valve. The thermostat asks
the gas boiler to heat the water and make the water circulate when the
temperature it reads is not high enough. The other radiators have
thermostatic valves, except for the bathroom (always fully opened).

The cast iron radiators will be installed in rooms where the iron
radiators had thermostatic valves. The first question I have is :does
putting a thermostatic valve on a CIR has sense?
The plumber who installed the system last year told me that the
inertia of the CIR would make the thermostatic valve useless.
What do you think of that? I do trust this guy, but he doesn't write
books about heating, you know? ;-)

My second question is about thermostatic valves too. I checked
everywhere I could to find affordable valves with a look that could
match the beauty of old cast iron radiators, with no luck.
There are nice simple valves, but the thermostatic valves are most of
the time really expensive, and ugly. There used to be a thermostatic
valve called "Chartwell", but vendors seem to not sell it anymore,
because it didn't work well.
Even the french manufacturers who produce reproduction CIR don't sell
thermostatic valves. Do you know where I could find nice thermostatic
valves for old CIR?

Thanks in advance, I hope I'm not off topic.

Bruno Verachten

Mike T., Swampeast MO

Not at all off Topic

Thermostatic Radiator valves make great sense on cast iron radiators for the very reason that your plumber mentioned--inertia.

Standing iron radiators have lots of mass and high volume and the TRVs will control the flow effectively turning them into quite large flywheels. In a perfect world where a system is perfectly balanced and you want the entire structure at the same temperature the TRVs won't have much use.

But, this is an imperfect world filled with imperfect systems and people always have changing desired. The TRVs allow the radiators to compensate for all.

Regarding "ugly" TRVs: There are period-looking TRVs available in the UK. Very expensive as the pound is high against the dollar. Not sure about your exchange rate. Also unsure if the threading will match as things from the UK tend to have straight (as opposed to tapered) threads.

Gounthar Frankfurt

Ok. So I do have to find nice TRVs for my radiators.

I found period-looking TRVs at Tuscan Foundry, but they are hand made,
and cost more than £200 (290€). I paid less than that for each
radiator. Anyway, if they are the only period-looking ones, I'll buy
them, but one by one ;-)
As for the threading, my radiators have 3/4 threads if I remember
well.
Thanks for your answer.

Bruno Verachten

Mike T., Swampeast MO

Tuscan Foundry

Sounds like the ones I was thinking of--both name and price...

Make certain that you verify that the threading is compatible! Would be terrible to pay that kind of price only to strip the threads and/or not get a good seal!

ScottMP

Bruno

SOmetime there is No inexpensive solution to a problem. Quality is expensve and if you have beautifull radiators that you are happy with and the TRV's that you need to make the system work well are costly .. so be it.

I have no problem with searching for a good deal but a good system will be worth the investment.

Good Luck

Scott

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Gounthar Frankfurt

Hi Scott

> SOmetime there is No inexpensive solution to a

> problem. Quality is expensve and if you have

> beautifull radiators that you are happy with and

> the TRV's that you need to make the system work

> well are costly .. so be it.

Well, TF sells some for 240£, and I found nice looking TRVs
for £76 (the ones I attached the pictures of in my previous
post). I don't know if they are good quality, but I think I
will buy some to see if they suit my needs.

> I have no

> problem with searching for a good deal but a good

> system will be worth the investment.

I agree with you, but I don't want to spend money for things
outrageously priced. I just don't want to pay more for a
TRV than for a patterned cast iron radiator... that doesn't
make sense to me. There is sort of a "niche" for the valves,
and a lot of vendors make a huge profit (I saw one non
thermostatic valve at £57, and the same one at £96).
I don't want to make a bargain at each deal, I just want to
pay a fair price for good hardware.

Thanks for your answer, and for reading my ranting ;-)

Bruno Verachten

ScottMP

Quality

is priceless !!

The cost of the valves will long be forgotten when your sitting in a comfortable home and your wife is snuggling warm .

Another 40 ( I don't have that pound key ) you probable spend more than that on a good meal and thats forgotten two day later.

Some things are worth the expense

Scott

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Gounthar Frankfurt

> The cost of the valves will

> long be forgotten when your sitting in a

> comfortable home and your wife is snuggling warm

> .

Ok Scott, you got me, I'll have a second look to expensive
valves ;-)
But... I still want french plumbers to get contacts with
period looking valve manufacturers, for them to give us a
larger choice.
If anyone has any contact, please share them with me.

Later,

Bruno Verachten

ScottMP

Hey

get the Polish plumber and make the wife happy

lolol

Good Luck

Scott

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thfurnitureguy_4

OK so I'm a pig, but I couldn't help reading this thread in my best Peter Sellers Voice. Hope it all works out T.

Gounthar Frankfurt

Hi,

I'm lost. I finally found a good looking valve at a fair price, and just before ordering it from the UK, the sales
person tells me the valves have tapered threads.
You warned me about the UK having straight threads, and I
need straight threads (well, I tried to plug a fitting with
straight threads in the radiator, and it went well, so...).
The sales person told me the valves are imported from
outside the UK, but I just don't know the name of the
manufacturer.
Is there any adaptor that could fit between the valve
tapered thread and the radiator straight thread?
I think it's a bad idea, but I just don't know what to do.
If anyone has a picture of a tapered thread, please add it
to this topic. As English is not my native language, I
sometimes don't understand things the way I should :-(

Thanks.

Bruno Verachten

Paul Pollets

TRV's

Bruno, Oventrop makes TRV valve bodies and actuator heads in many colors. The valve and head usually cost under $100.US to contractors. The colored heads are $20. more. I do alot of restoration on antique heating systems, and have even sandblasted the nickel plating from the valve body to "distress" the valve and make it appear old. See the Meeker Mansion restoration on my website. Regards, Paul

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Gounthar Frankfurt

Hi Paul,

thanks for your reply. I'll have a look at the Oventrop
valves.
Concerning the Meeker Mansion restoration, thanks for the
link, the radiators look really nice. Unfortunately, the pics aren't very big, and I don't have very good eyes. Don't you have bigger pics of the valves installed?
Best regards,

Bruno