OT - Hot water radiators in the house

I had an interesting evening - was heating up some supper and thought I heard water running in the living room so went to investigate. There was water pouring out of the ceiling onto my wife's leather recliner! I ran upstairs to check it out and the radiator in our bedroom had sprung a LARGE leak - a 3/16" hole was spraying water out. I got it stopped up and drained the whole system in the house down so now I have no heat tonight with a low temp of 34 degrees predicted. Anyway, my question is - where is a good place to go for replacement radiators? I took that one out of the house already and where the hole is could be brazed or welded shut but I already JB welded a hole shut in that radiator 2 years ago and I really don't want to keep repairing radiators if they are going to spring a leak in another spot later on. And if it happens again, we may not even be home and could have a LOT of water damage then! So I just want to replace this radiator while I have it out and be done with it. There was another one on the main floor that sprung a tiny leak earlier this month but I had been keeping a towel under it to get by. Since the system is drained down now, I took that one out also. Sorry for the long post - I needed to get calmed down after cleaning up that mess tonite!

What type of radiators? The old tall cast iron sectional types? Or the long tubes with aluminum fins on them?

In any case it sounds like time to start replacing them if you want to avoid future accidents. Also you might want to consider upgrading the system to something more efficient and less obtrusive?

The heating guys tell me that this type of system is more efficient and more even heat than a forced air system. The only drawback is that you can't have central A/C with this type of system. The radiators I have are similar to cast-iron but are made differently that other cast iron ones I have seen. If I can get new ones similar to what I have, they should last longer than I will! (The ones I'm having problems with now are around 80-90 years old)

I dont know of anyplace that carries new, but most large towns have architecural salvage stores that should have some. Problem is, is that they probably would be where is as is.

I believe the old cast iron radiators are a very good efficient type of heat. Especially in that they will radiate heat a long time after the furnace has stopped running.I believe they stopped making them due to less demand because of their weight and the ease of newer baseboard installation. You can check with salvage yards as has been suggested and keep an eye on local add papers for used ones for sale. Find an old house being changed over and buy the old radiators and store a few away, just a thought.

Can you shut that zone off and run the rest of the system or is everything on one zone? How about a temporary baseboard heater in the gap to get you through- not good to use both types on the same zone for long term but might work ok as a stop gap measure.

The radiators being old can eventually be a problem but the leaks are probably due to the chemicals in the water supply. You could look at going to baseboard on the entire zone, although I prefer the old radiators too. Good luck

There are new replacements for your old radiator.

www.runtalnorthamerica.com/residential_radiators/wallpanel-vlx-radiators.html

You may be able to find a used replacement. Just a short story of what happened to me. Several years ago I had a house heated with hot water heat. I hated it. It was never warm enough. One weekend we went away and returned home to find that the furnace had gone out and all the pipes had frozen and burst. It was -20 degrees. The house was an ice cave! Ice was everywhere. What a mess. Never again will I have hot water heat. There are better ways to heat your house. Good luck!
Tom

You might try calling a heating contractor to see if they have removed any that they would sell. Scrap yards would be another place to ask. You may also be able to do a temp replacement with some pipe and fittings from your local plumbing and heating supply. If you Google "New cast iron radiators" there are a bunch of hits. shipping has to be a killer though.

I wonder what's up with your heating system water... is it corrosive or does it contain dissolved oxygen from any plastic pipe that MAY be in the system that is making it attack the cast iron?

(Any plastic pipe in the system needs to be the special stuff for heating system use that has the oxygen barrier.)

Adding some hydronic system antifreeze with corrosion inhibitor MAY help prevent future problems.

wow those look nice but are pretty fancy. Probably pretty high $$$$$

I would be leary of used radiators having the same problem as the ones you've got and I'd be really concerned about all of yours and the pipes going out. (sorry about the bad news).

We have hot water heat and like it but we have the newer (1970) style base boards. The boiler is the size of 2 suit cases.

You've got a few options. 1 get used or replacements like you've got, 2, update to base boards (look in granger) but you should probably update all the pipe too. 3, put in a forced air hot water unit that basically sits were the rad was and has a fan inside that blows over the radiator section, these heat pretty fast. 4, put in hot water tubing in the floor, VERY nice, heats the whole room very evenly but is high $$$ since you'll have to redo the flooring too.

If you go base board you'll need 8-14 foot per room.

Nothing to do with the hotwater, sounds like your heating system wasn't put in correctly to begin with. Hotwater is just about the best possible way to heat a house!

I installed a complete wet system in a house about 15 years ago when I lived in the UK. Over there, this is by far the most common method of heating. New radiators are readily available both modern and old style/reproduction, so I’d assume they are available somewhere this side of the world. If you buy salvage rads, maybe get them pressure checked so you know they are sound and not also rusting out inside. Our system had thermostatic valves on every rad, so individual rads could be controlled for room heat, switched off and removed with out draining down the whole system and disabling it. These valves were very cheap, and easy to fit. Depending on your pipework, you could probably fit some temporary pipe in to get the system running while you source new rads. If your rads are rusting out, they probably all need replacing. The system should run an antifreeze / rust inhibitor mix, and it needs strength testing every few years. We used an additive called Fernox….not sure what is available where you are.
Chris

Hartford loop they are all in series. Rubber hose may get you through the winter. Bypass the bad one.