Hot Water Radiator Repairs

[Chirag Bahedia]

Hello-

I’m taking apart a 100 year old cast iron radiator from a hot water gravity feed system. The radiator is an American Radiator Company brand.

I need to take apart in order to remove a cracked section. This is a low and wide unit (42″ W 20″ H 13″ D) which is approximately 500 lbs and very rare model. This is my motivation for repair over replacement.

I was able to get the end caps off and see inside. The sections are connected together with straight nipples which have two little nubs on the inside.

On This Old House I saw Rich the plumber take the fitting out of a hot water radiator using a special tool. It was long, tapered and had grooves that fit the nubs inside the fitting. He inserted it inside the fitting and then used a pipe wrench to turn this tool. It was tapered in order to be used on many different ID size fittings.

I have three questions for the experts here:

1. What is this tool called?

2. Where can I purchase one?

3. If I have to break out one or two of these straight nipples, is there anyplace where I can find new ones?

Thank-you very much for any help!

Edit: I found a picture online and they call it a “spud” wrench although this name is shared by other types of wrenches making finding this tool very difficult.

http://bungalow23.com/2006/09/27/replacing-a-radiator-valve/sparky6722008-11-12 03:59:19

[sparky672Participant]

Here is what I ended up doing…

I used a reciprocating saw, an angle grinder, and a sledge hammer to remove the cracked section. This revealed the nipples that hold each section to the next. They are standard nipples about 1 inch long, right-hand threaded on one end and left-hand threaded on the other. The lower nipples are 2″ NPT and the uppers are 1-1/2″ NPT.

I had to make special long spud key tools for each from scratch.

Reassembly was a simple matter of making new gaskets and cleaning up all the threads. With both halves on the floor, start the nipple in each hole and then carefully line up the adjoining section. Insert the long spud key into the radiator and engage the nipples. Turning one direction pulls the two half together since the nipples have opposite threads on opposite ends.

See this instruction sheet for more info…

http://www.mhsradiators.com/assets/19.asset

Those are new radiators from the UK but the design and assembly is exactly the same as these 100 year old American Radiator Company units.

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