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October 18, 2007
Basic plumbing ?: re-orienting radiators
My marginal plumbing skills have failed me yet again:
I promised to reorient a radiator 180 degrees so that instead of pointing in to the room it would fit snugly against the wall. However, to do that I simply removed the valve from the steam pipe, globbed on lots of dope, and re-tightened the valve until it pointed in the right direction, which was not as tight as it could have been. When I fired up the boiler of course the joint leaked.
Is there another way to do this simple job, some kind of washer or seal or tape I missed?
Comments
Yes, one would think it should be simple. I can't tell you how many times I've said that. Anyway, you have to be careful when moving old plumbing as to not mess up the threads when you re-tighten, the threaded nut is brass and soft. Try cleaning the threads and try some teflon tape. That may help.
Posted by: Rick at October 19, 2007 8:15 AM
Which joint leaked? The pipe-to-valve or valve-to-radiator?
Posted by: Master Plvmber at October 19, 2007 8:16 AM
Thanks for the quick responses!
The joint that is leaking is the pipe to valve joint, the valve to radiator joint looks good.
The threads are good, but I did not use the teflon tape since I thought the pipe dope would be magic I suppose.
Posted by: spencer at October 19, 2007 8:36 AM
I'm sorry but I have to gloat:
There are a couple of posts in the archives about what an easy job this is. Some people commented about how it shouldn't cost more than about $75 seeing as how the valve costs less than $25 and labor is well...you know...why should you pay anything significant for labor?
Spencer, do the job over using wick and pipe dope on the threads. Not teflon tape.
It sometimes works a bit better on sealing old threads and certainly worth a shot.
Otherwise, you could wind up paying a plumbing company even more than $75.
Posted by: Master Plvmber at October 19, 2007 1:47 PM
Thanks for the info, I guess I was missing the wick.
Actually I had some plumbers replace several valves for me, but they left the rads sticking out into the room in a few places. I suppose I should have requested them to set them up along the walls but must have had bigger issues to worry about at the time/didn't notice.
In the worst case I'll set it back where it was, and if it STILL leaks then I'll give you a call!
Posted by: spencer at October 19, 2007 6:37 PM
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