We've been in our house for about 3 years now and love the radiant heat but hate the cost of heating. Every radiator has about 5-6 layers of paint that we know of since a few have chipping paint. We have decided to strip them to increase the heat output. We tried stripping one this past summer while we were stripping the floor but it seems impossible while it is still connected. I was wondering if anyone could give me some advice on maybe removing these to strip them in the garage and then replacing them. Has anyone done this before and can we use the spray on stripper?

 

You might want to re-think your strategy for reducing your heating costs.

I lived in an 80 year old house with old cast iron radiators, with multiple layers of paint. You can remove them, but you are taking a chance of breaking something, and you will have to either cap the pipes or hook them together, depending on your piping flow arrangement. There have been a lot of war stories posted in this forum of problems encountered when trying to remove old radiators.

I removed one, stripped it completely and refinished it. A lot of work, for little gain. After re-installing it, and using a digital infra-red thermometer to check the temperature of the refinished radiator, versus the one at the other end of the room (with multiple paint layers), I had about degree difference in temperature.

Conclusions:

Paint is not a great insulator over cast iron
10 hours of work for one degree temperature increase was not worth it.

You could spend your money better getting the boiler heating unit checked to insure it is operating at peak efficiency.

 

I did buy some foam insulation board, I think it is 1.5" thick, and has a shiny foil on one side. I cut it to fit between the radiators and the plaster wall to reflect heat back into the room (foil side out).

I believe this did help with the heating costs.

 

Thanks for the info.