Cost to repair bad copper to steel radiator connection
we’re looking to buy a house whose radiator pipes have been converted to copper tubing in some places. these copper tubes have been welded directly onto the steel connections of the radiators. our engineer says this is really bad, since copper and steel have such different expansion rates. we want to have the connections replaced…
we’re looking to buy a house whose radiator pipes have been converted to copper tubing in some places. these copper tubes have been welded directly onto the steel connections of the radiators. our engineer says this is really bad, since copper and steel have such different expansion rates. we want to have the connections replaced with either dielectric or brass fittings. has anybody ever done this, and if so, how much is this gonna cost us per radiator?
I really don’t know how big of a problem this is. I see that plumbers seem to always weld copper to ( brass or copper) threaded unions. Steel black pipe is then threaded to brass. This is so they don’t have to deal with making threaded pipe, it makes their job faster. I think you should talk to a good plumber to see how big the threat is.
it’s a hot water system (converted from steam at some point).
the inspection said little about the plumbing, wouldn’t they have commented on that if it was going to be a much bigger problem than the radiator connections?
thanks for the responses!
Do you have a steam or a hot water system? I would be more concern if it was a hot water system.