Need some help hooking back up HW boiler system with cast iron radiators


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Old 10-20-13, 04:16 PM
T
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Need some help hooking back up HW boiler system with cast iron radiators

Some background-we bought this house a few years ago and have been slowly doing repairs-I've been looking for all this time for radiators to fit where the existing ones are as they were never drained and all of them have multiple cracks. (we found that out the first time we fired up the boiler) There is a pipe that enters in the middle of one side and another towards the floor on the other end.
Anyways-I was able to find radiators for about half of the house this past summer and I have a few questions.

The replacement radiators aren't an exact fit-Most are 1-3 inches shorter in overall length (although capacity is somewhat made up for in the height and width). My questions are these.
1. How do I make up the space that is missing?
2. I think these replacement radiators were for steam as there is a weird 3" bullet shaped thing on each of them. What do I do with that? Remove and plug it?
3. Any ideas on how to move the old radiators down and the new ones up? These are all on 2nd and 3rd floors of old 1920 winding wooden narrow staircase.
4. I was thinking I would replace those ball valves on each one I installed but is there anything I should add?
5. Once they are installed is there something else that should be done before I turn on the boiler? Does the system have to be "bled"?

Sorry for all the questions-this isn't normally something I would try myself but after 3 years of searching for contractors the cheapest price we've been given is $500 labor only per radiator and I still have to find my own replacement radiators and put them in place. since I have over 30 of these that certainly isn't going to happen.
Thank you in advance
 
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Old 10-20-13, 05:57 PM
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Hi Tom,
The first thing you must do is make sure the rads you bought are for hot water installations. They have rads made just for steam and others that can be used for both. The one that has the bullet is for steam. You remove that and put an 1/8" plug. Then as one of your old rads has you have to install a manual air vent in the top. If it does not have a place in the top you can't use them. You might have a plug to remove to gain access. The new units must be bled when everything is done. Next, the way they are hooked up is the supply comes in low and the return is where the vent is on the high side. Those fittings for ex. that go into the supply (elbow and the piece in the rad) are made to go together. After loosening the union you must save both pieces for reuse or buy new. The same with the rad valve. To install those there is a special tool. That's a start. This is one job that could take up a lot of space. Better you ask direct questions as needed. As far as making up space, do whatever it takes. Probably short nipples on the supply side which means you may have to buy different fittings. Short distances are very hard to make up sometimes.
 

Last edited by spott; 10-20-13 at 06:13 PM.
 

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