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Repaiting cast iron rads ?


beardey
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We lost 5 cast iron rads in the cold snap. We had been very happy with them as they were efficient and looked nice.We would like to try and save themt

 

Have tried to repair the cracks with a 2 part filler that works up to 130 deg and the pour in rad weld. This has worked to some extent but further small leaks appear. Is it just a case of carrying on or has anybody had success with other methods.

 

I understand that ideally they should be braized but dont know anybody to ask and they are too heavy for me to remove. We are in the Lot near to Cahors..

 Any suggestions please

 

Beardey

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We too had a cast-iron rad burst at one end during the winter.

In case you find a neighbour or friend to help you lift yours:

Mr Clair was able to remove ours off the wall and separate the damaged end-section from the body of the rad.

He is going to reset the piping to fit the reduced size before putting it back in situ.

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Radweld is not the answer I am afraid and the amount you would have to put in would be massive as it would dilute too much. I have to make an assumption that these are cast iron so you will need to find somebody who knows what they are doing. Basically you need to find a welder (soudeur) who can weld (souder) cast iron (fonte de fer - not sure about that but somebody will put it right). You could try Pages Jaune http://www.pagesjaunes.fr using some of the above words starting with soudeur. It is specialised stuff is cast iron when it comes to welding. If on the other hand its plain old steel then its a lot easier to weld.

As a side issue I would drain and flush the system then refill with a good inhibitor (a must with caste iron) that also contains antifreeze at a mix rate that will go down to about -20 at least then you won't have this problem again. The chemicals may seem a little expensive but nothing compared to the cost of repairing damage from frozen pipes and radiators in the future. Good luck.

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You would probably find it easier and a lot cheaper to buy a good used rad.  The likes of Emmaus (large charitable junk shop/brocante) in Angouleme has loads of them sitting outside, they never seem to sell so possible they are not in that much call so they would be cheap.

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Thanks for the input.

Well done Mr Clair. Trouble is cant seem to find any join in ours.

 

Looked on Pages Jaunes but nobody local but now that we have the correct terminology we will hunt for a local plumber .

 

Wish us luck

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We had the same thing happen and we had anti freeze in our system. The plumber that put the anti freeze in said that there is a fine line because if you put too much in it is not good for the system. Perhaps an excuse!

We also had shower mixers and taps crack even though the system was drained. Mr. Clair is making me feel guilty because we are claiming on insurance. We are looking at replacing the three cracked old cast iron rads new cast iron ones that look identical.

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[quote user="WJT"]Mr. Clair is making me feel guilty because we are claiming on insurance. We are looking at replacing the three cracked old cast iron rads new cast iron ones that look identical. [/quote]

No need to feel guilty! [:)]

I wanted to claim and would have, too, if the insurance for the 'rented property' (the gite) had covered the damage.

As it is, it's only a radiator and it could have been a lot worse...

Mr Clair looked at this as a bit of a challenge! [:P]

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[quote user="beardey"]

Thanks for the input.

Well done Mr Clair. Trouble is cant seem to find any join in ours.

 

Looked on Pages Jaunes but nobody local but now that we have the correct terminology we will hunt for a local plumber .

 

Wish us luck

[/quote]

You might find that a garage or agricultural dealer can weld it as things such as cylinder heads and other coponents are sometimes cast iron and occassionally require welding.

Paul

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But it is difficult, so some back woods carrot cruncher is unlikely to manage it. If it is important then finding a skilled cast iron welder would be better otherwise the rad  will most likely fracture along side the repair weld later (another flood) Brazing maybe better it the rad is painted so it doesn't show.

Lincoln's guidance, and they know about welding.

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You might find that a repair is just not viable. I started trying to repair one a few weeks ago. Special rods for the stick welder were no use so I tried brazing it. The trouble was that it was badly corroded inside. The burst had been at a thin point in the metal and it was so corroded and thin that brazing was just blowing the hole larger and larger. Once I decided it was scrap I went at it with a hammer and there were plenty more thin points on it, so even if I had persevered and patched it, a future leak would have been inevitable.

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