Welcome! Here are the website rules, as well as some tips for using this forum.
Need to contact us? Visit https://heatinghelp.com/contact-us/.
Click here to Find a Contractor in your area.
If our community has helped you, please consider making a contribution to support this website. Thanks!

Radiator plug

Options
alanm
alanm Member Posts: 149
in Strictly Steam

i have a plug/screw …that i need to take out…..does not move..tried spraying lubricant…still no luck…any suggestions…..

plug.jpg

Comments

  • ethicalpaul
    ethicalpaul Member Posts: 8,743

    If the plug's slot is still intact you haven't tried enough 😅

    Keep working it, perhaps try an impact screwdriver, and when the slot is mangled and useless, then you get the drill out.

    NJ Steam Homeowner.
    Free NJ and remote steam advice: https://heatinghelp.com/find-a-contractor/detail/new-jersey-steam-help/
    See my sight glass boiler videos: https://bit.ly/3sZW1el

  • TheClevelandSteamer
    TheClevelandSteamer Member Posts: 19
    edited March 19
    • 1. Heat it up with MAPP gas torch.
    • 2. Hit is with an impact driver. Readily available at Harbor Freight, Amazon, Home Depot, etc for under $20. It's basically a screwdriver that you smack it with a hammer and it shocks the screw, usually enough to break it loose. I've never had one not come out using this tool.
    asdf.png

    Repeat 1 & 2 until it comes out.

    If those fail, drill it out with an extractor.

    PC7060
  • alanm
    alanm Member Posts: 149

    thanks….so "hitting" the impact driver will not damage the radiator?

  • mattmia2
    mattmia2 Member Posts: 16,673
    edited March 19
    https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1892185#Comment_1892185

    you need to use discretion. if you go all out on it with a short handle sledge you will drive the bit and plug right through the radiator but if you use some moderate taps with a short handle sledge you might get it out.

    it helps if you hold a bit of pressure on it so the tool is up against the cam and it isn't bouncing on the spring when you strike it.

  • mattmia2
    mattmia2 Member Posts: 16,673

    @EBEBRATT-Ed you are trying this type of impact driver on your plugs, not the electric or pneumatic kind, right?

  • alanm
    alanm Member Posts: 149

    havent done anything yet…i jsut saw the comment about using the impact driver/hand

  • Long Beach Ed
    Long Beach Ed Member Posts: 1,833

    I assume you wire brushed all the paint off the screw and surrounding metal? Sprayed it with a penetrating oil for several days, or a week or two if you have time, whacking the screw a few times each day? The oil won't get into the threads if there is paint in there.

    After this, try a few shots with the impact driver. Get an American-made one if you can.

    If that doesn't work, try heating with a torch, more oil and then the impact driver.

    You should be able to get it out if it's an old, USA-made plug.

  • EBEBRATT-Ed
    EBEBRATT-Ed Member Posts: 20,145

    @mattmia2

    Waiting for the weather to warm up. I tried the electric impact and got 1 out. The others I cleaned the paint off and sprayed with Kroil oil. I have the hand impact but haven't tried it yet. Too cold to shut the heat off and I have other work to do on the boiler…change the expansion tank and turn the air scoop around which has been backwards for 25 years. So I will wait I only wan't to drain it once if possible. If they won't come out I will drill and tap.

    PC7060
  • bburd
    bburd Member Posts: 1,302

    Umm… maybe I'm missing something here, but those lower vent openings are intended for steam systems, and if you have an expansion tank and an air scoop you have a hot water system. Unless you have a hybrid of the two.

    Cast-iron radiators on hot water systems should have manual air vents at the top of the end of the radiator. Air will rise above the water.

    —
    Bburd
  • 4GenPlumber
    4GenPlumber Member Posts: 151
    https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1892263#Comment_1892263

    We had this conversation on a different thread.

  • alanm
    alanm Member Posts: 149

    this is steam heat

    bburd

Categories