Saving those old radiators

Dave Stroman

There has been some chat here about cast iron radiators. Some say they can not give them away. That sounds strange to me. I go out of my way to salvage and collect these old beauties. I think of them as the ancient red woods. A nonrenewable resourse. When they are gone, they are gone forever. Perhaps in the eastern states they are so much more plentiful that they are taken for granted. In the Denver area that is not so much of the case. I cringe when see mountains of the old cast iron carcasses dumped at the salvage yards. Sold for pennies a pound. Just like when almost all of the buffalo were slaughtered just to have their bones ground up for fertilizer.

I pay people salvage value for them and I will come and take them away. They do not have to lift a finger. I really do not make that much money doing this. But I love it. Look how nice they look when they are all sand blasted and painted. This 100 year old will probably last another 100. This one will go in a 1920's house to replace the crappy electric baseboard in an addition. The boiler and all the piping will be replaced. But the radiators will remain.

Dave in Denver

Ross_6

Cast Iron Radiators

Dave,
I could not agree with you more. I can't say how many times that I have argued with my peers about all the advantages. I really think they add to any house, and you can't beat 'em for heat emittance. This is one item that really does stand the test of time.

Jay_17

them old thangs

I posted on the previous thread, and on others too (trying to find a home for the rads I have) It seems like here in the NE there is no market for the things, I even tried to contact the place near Boston that refurbs and sells radiators but got no response via email or phone. Several people have told me "I bet those are worth something" and "So and so would want those" but a batch sat in my garage for 3 months.
Maybe you guys should get together and set up deposit locations or something? I would be willing to haul them a little ways and give them a good home rather than the crummy scrap value!
Don't question the reasons for removal, whats done is done, maybe I would have done differently now.
Of course another problem I have is the ones on the second floor will have to be disassembled before I get them down the stairs, then people really wont want them! (even though they can be put back together pretty easily..
Jay

t. tekushan

demand

I truly appreciate those radiators.

They get removed due to building demolition or "modernization" (whatever that means). Since virtually nobody considers installing new steam systems, there are regional gluts of these radiators. This has no implications for their beauty or merit. It only affects their price.

What disturbs me more is their perceived value, which is more of a cultural thing. If someone on TV, web, or radio isn't in your face selling some piece of overpriced crap, this culture just doesn't value it. People now believe only those who have a vested interest in taking their money. Everything else is "history." "History" has become a derogatory term and no further investigation of historically significant items is worth the trouble. Much easier to assume "old" is valueless and "new" is inherently valuable.

It seems the value of something is only rediscovered when something old becomes new again. I modestly propose that those of us with a surplus of ornamental radiators place classified ads for each radiator and price them, say, at $750 a piece. If anyone calls, tell them its sold whether its sold or not. "Some guy's building a state of the art home and is installing a highly efficient radiant/convective steam heat distribution system." "Hmmm..." they will think. In a couple year's time, we'll have to be competing with one another to get these radiators for resale.

If we do this, all of us who have them taking up space will be rewarded, and we will have the satisfaction of breathing new life into the concept of steam heating.

Meanwhile, 15 years hence everyone who has yanked these radiators and scrapped them will be kicking themselves in the behind for their lack of foresight. And this would give me satisfaction too.

Dave Stroman

You have to realize that these radiators are not only used for steam. Most of the jobs I do are hot water. In those situations the radiators are left in place and the boiler and all the head banger piping in the basement can be replaced. What a great place for a condensing boiler. I just lined an old brick chimney with two 3" PVC pipes and hung a Trinity on the wall. You get the same lovely heat out of the rads as you get with the old locomotive size, asbestos covered beasts.

Here are 2 Trinity's driving an indirect and some old cast iron steam convertors that were converted to hot water.

Dave in Denver

t. tekushan

nice

very lovely installation indeed. Plus you still get that even, radiant heating from all that iron. good alternative if you've got steam/hot water radiators.

Mad Dog

I'm with ya Dave

The problem is the gulf of value that exists between people that want them and the people that want to get rid of them. I've got a nice collection that constantly changes via buying selling trading. We get contractors and people that want ridiculous $$ evn though they are junking them. I've seen quite a few say: " Nah!!!!! I can get more for them...if I don't they are going to the junkie." They would rather chuck them than get a fair price and save them./. What they don't understand is that these rads need to be restored and then stored ...many times for sevewral years until you find them a home. Mad Dog

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Dave Stroman

I do not do any work on the rads I have until I have a home for them. If I sell them, I sell them as is. I then charge to air test, sand blast, and prime. I put valves on both ends because I can buy the valves for less then the union ells. I had one the other day that passed a 30# air test. After I got it back from the sand blaster I found a hole in one about 1/4" in size. The 50 layers of paint must have plugged the hole. A little JB Weld and it was good as new. It seems that if I have problems with rads that don't air test, they came from steam systems, not water systems. I have been salvaging rads from an Army base here where the whole campus has a central steam plant. Each building either had thermostatic rad valves on each one or an air compressor with a pneumatic thermostat serving a rad or group of rads. The other day we spent all day in a theater that was being torn down. They had a huge air handler with a squirrel cage big enough to stand inside. There was a huge swamp cooler pad that measured about 10' high and about 15' long. It pulled air in from the outside. Right behind the cooler pad was a steam fan coil. In the winter some shutters would close blocking the outside air and allowing return air to be pulled in from the theater through the fan coil. The ducts were about 4' square. I guess so the velocity noise of the air would be kept to a minimum. So sad the ball was going to hit the wall. Found a few rads in this building but the biggest find was a JBL Voice of the Theater system. One of my plumbers ended up with some nice speakers circa 1940.

Anyway, these rads are really not worth much until someone needs some. It is not like I am going to sell them to someone just because they look cool. I pay salvage value which is $.045 per pound. I sell them for $10 to $15 per section for the plain ones, $20 to $25 for the decorative ones. The worth of them comes from the time and sweat to pull them out of the buildings ( thank goodness for my Escalera), storing them until they are needed, and simply knowing that someday someone will be glad to find one that fits into their house. Someone actually called me today wanting to know if he could sell me a rad. He said it just had a small pin hole leak in it. I said no, save it for a boat anchor. So he gave it to me. I'll see if it can be repaired. If not, to the dump. Like I said before, I am not making much money doing this. But I get a nice warm fuzzy feeling when I am doing a job that needs a rad and I just so happen to have one that will serve nicely.

Dave in Denver