Random Question: getting rid of radiators?

[emcicle.livejournal.com]

Hi all. We're going to be converting our method of heating from steam heat (radiators) to hot water (base boards) in the next few weeks. Anyone know of anyplace that would be interested in buying the old radiators from us? (Maybe that place down in Union Sq?) I know scrappers will come and take it away free, (and the plumber doing the conversion also will take them), and I doubt they are worth much, but i thought maybe some wise person here might have done similarly before and have some suggestions.

Thanks for any suggestions. :)

ETA: 6/27/12 After emailing pictures of the radiators to Antique Plumbing Fixtures (A1 Plumbing) in Union Square, we were contacted by the owner. He bought our 8 radiators for $125. They picked up, and actually took all the piping and trash bags as well. I'm happy with the result. We got a little bit more money to put towards our renovations, and hopefully the radiators will get cleaned up and go to a good home that can love them better than we could. Oh, and we have one more radiator that still needs to come out (bathroom) and he said we can contact him when that comes out, so we might get another $10-15).

Comments

[clevernonsense.livejournal.com]

Do you mean the cast iron radiators? They can be worth a lot of money if they are older and in good condition--Sorry I can't be of more help :) (maybe look for a year/brand stamped on it and google/ebay around)

[42itous.livejournal.com]

There's a place in Union Square that seems to deal in old radiators -- it's a house whose yard is full of them (plus other antiquated plumbing fixtures. ::google:: Ah, here they are! http://www.antiqueplumbingandradiators.com/

[emcicle.livejournal.com]

thanks, we have a call in to them, and are waiting to hear back.

[ron_newman]

Please let us know what they say, as future readers may look at this post. Thanks.

[emcicle.livejournal.com]

owner asked us to email him pictures of the radiators we have. We could have also brought them in to him, but A) they are still connected and B) we don't have a car to transport them (and even if we did, 8-10 radiators would be very very heavy!). If he is interested in them based on the photos, once they are taken out he can send someone to get them. I'll update again after we hear back again.

[curiositykt.livejournal.com]

I've always called that place the radiator farm.

[sparr0.livejournal.com]

Somewhere very near Bennett St in Somerville there's a steel scrap place that buys radiators specifically.

[ron_newman]

Is this the same place referred to above? It's the same general neighborhood.

[avjudge]

Just wanted to say, while I love hot water heat, I HATE my baseboard radiators. I haven't seen any standard American ones that aren't flimsy & don't look like they'd get dented & rusty fairly quickly. (Mine are only ~10 years old and they're both.) They look bad & get in the way of decorating. How I wish the original radiators had been converted instead of these things being put in.

[emcicle.livejournal.com]

that's interesting, and good to know. I hate our radiators. they spit and hiss and clang and we just clearly don't have a good understanding of how to make them work right. But not only that, I hate the pipes going up between floors (they're all exterior of the walls, in corners), they take up a lot of room and prevent us from using the spaces in a functional way. We may be able to keep the first floor radiators and convert them, then the upper floors would be base board. I admit I'm excited to have multiple zones for heat, and an actual heat source in our bedroom (right now there is no radiator in our room, and a random hook up in the closet?)

[avjudge]

I think the hissing and spitting are a steam thing - don't know if the banging is louder with steam, but our hot water baseboards tick and sometimes bang as they warm up and move relative to the walls they are fastened to or pass through (at least that's the explanation I've seen).

I don't claim our installation is very good - they brought the pipes up (for the 2nd floor they come through a chase in the front hall, w/the plumbing for the bath coming the same route), then ran them all around the exterior walls of the house, covered with baseboard covers the whole way - though if you take off the cover you'll find that sometimes it's just pipe, no fins. So it's extra annoying because it is EVERYWHERE - I can't have a floor-length drape or a bookcase flat against the wall on any exterior wall. If you have a dresser, things fall down behind it. Yuck.

I really want these - won't help with the curtains or furniture standing out from the wall, but it will look so much better where they're visible: http://www.go-overboard.com/

ETA: While going through the links I found looking for the above, I found another radiator cover company that had this FAQ about cast iron radiators which says people use baseboards now because of cost, not quality of heating - don't know how true this is: http://www.beautifulradiators.com/cast_iron_radiators.htm

Though I can certainly understand being excited about having zones - I love having 2 & want to split my kitchen off into a 3rd (it has 3 exterior walls, heats up fast, cools off fast, sometimes has its own heat source, has a lot of windows which makes it sometimes warmer, sometimes cooler than the rest of the 1st floor). And hot water is nicer than steam. But most cast iron radiators can do hot water; my understanding is that all but the oldest were constructed to be used either way. They will need a 2nd pipe for cold return water, whereas when plumbed for steam they are installed with only one pipe.

[emcicle.livejournal.com]

just came back to add that we talked to our plumber, and our radiators are not able to be refitted to be hot water heat (due to cost and efficiency given the size of the pipes, etc).

[djethan.livejournal.com]

An (expensive) alternative are European style panel radiators. Check out http://www.buderus.us/products/radiant-heat-products.html (http://www.buderus.us/products/radiant-heat-products.html) or http://www.runtalnorthamerica.com/ (http://www.runtalnorthamerica.com/). We just converted our entire heating system from oil to gas and from steam to FHW. We chose panel radiators due to their efficiency and looks. They definitely cost more but we are very happy with them. Coupled with a 7 year 0% HEAT loan, it makes it a little more palatable budget-wise.

[avjudge]

I was just about to post about those (both of those brands) and decided I'd gotten wordy enough! :-) I've always been impressed with the better-looking modern heating in Europe compared to the Slant-fin stuff here.

Though I think that the style is a bit off for my vintage (1874) moldings, and I still covet the Overboards look - I'd have them in my LR already if they weren't so pricey (and I still hope to build in some bookshelves that act as radiator covers at the base).

[jamiesquared.livejournal.com]

These are great products but costly. My husband who does heating/plumbing really likes working with them.

[jamiesquared.livejournal.com]

Good points but baseboard is cost effective and a great option for many.

[katiemwallace.livejournal.com]

If spitting, hissing and clanging are your problems, it would be a much more economical solution to fix that problem rather than replace everything. There are ways to fix such things in both Steam or Hot Water Radiators. If these are radiators in an old early 1900's house, they have lasted a century and they were built to last another century. I have pretty silver decorative ones throughout my house. But I had no radiators in my two bathrooms and baseboard heat was added to both. One of them has already been replaced after only about 10 years, rusted, dented, yes. The other one is only 6 years old, somewhat sturdier and seems to be doing okay, but it certainly doesn't heat the room very well.

[emcicle.livejournal.com]

I don't actually think that is true, given the extent of work that would be needed to fix the problems. New vents for each radiator, flushing system, potentially multiple times, and likely re-grading all the pipes would be costly, especially when combined with the number of radiators that will be moving anyways due to renovation plans. if we converted to hot water and kept the radiators, they would still need to be cleaned/flushed and then repiped to have a return line. The heating system was added after the house was built, and all of the steam pipes between floors are external (not in the walls as it often was done when put in with the house) and make certain corners in every room unusable. I agree that baseboards are probably not the prettiest or sturdiest heating methods, but for our situation, they are the best options. It's disappointing to hear that they don't heat as well, and I hope that is an unusual situation and not the norm.

[jamiesquared.livejournal.com]

I came to check out this post when my husband just mentioned it to me. Don't worry baseboard heats really well! A radiator gets to 212 and baseboard goes to 180 typically in terms of teperature inside but think about it this way...you have one radiator to a room versus baseboard that goes all around plus you get multiple zones and you can't do that with steam :)

[jamiesquared.livejournal.com]

Oh just as an FYI...Jamie wouldn't take the radiators, he would just call a scrap metal guy to take them away ;)

[emcicle.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, he told me when we met earlier this week.

Thanks for coming on and assuaging my concerns. It's such a huge step/commitment, but I agree, it is the best option for our situation. If we had unlimited money we of course would use all the fancy pants beautiful radiators... but then again, if we had all the money in the world, we wouldn't have had to buy a fixer upper. :) Please thank Jamie again, he was very helpful tonight.

[emcicle.livejournal.com]

Hey! if you have a chance, can you check in with Jamie and ask him what's the status of the work he's doing at our house? we thought he would be coming out this past week to finish up what he could with the heat conversion, but we didn't see him at all. I think we were also waiting to hear how much the wall radiator he recommended costs (though maybe my husband didn't actually ask him that yet). I emailed him a few days ago (I think Thursday) and haven't heard anything from him. Can you nudge him for me? (Alex and Emily) Thanks!

[emcicle.livejournal.com]

Hey! if you have a chance, can you check in with Jamie and ask him what's the status of the work he's doing at our house? we thought he would be coming out this past week to finish up what he could with the heat conversion, but we didn't see him at all. I think we were also waiting to hear how much the wall radiator he recommended costs (though maybe my husband didn't actually ask him that yet). I emailed him a few days ago (I think Thursday) and haven't heard anything from him. Can you nudge him for me? (Alex and Emily) Thanks!

[mjrocks98.livejournal.com]

I bet this place would take them, New England Demolition and Salvage: http://www.nedsalvage.com/index.html

[georgy.livejournal.com]

Who did your heating work, and would you recommend them?

[emcicle.livejournal.com]

I would whole heartedly recommend our plumber. James Dillon Plumbing

James Dillon, Owner
Dillon Plumbing & Heating
(617)319-5898

He was timely, responsive, and did what he said he would do for the cost he said he would do it. (it's a sad state when you actually have to point that out as a selling point). We found him to be more cost effective than other highly recommended plumbers, including Big Blue, which I think is because he works on his own and doesn't have a lot of overhead to pass on to his customers. He's local to Teele Square, as well, and knows the area.