Cleaning Cast-Iron vintage radiators

[Halo Jones]

SWIMBO has just appeared with 10 or so cast iron radiators and wants them cleaned up, repainted and installed.

They look in decent shape. The paint is pretty much intact on most of them but flaking in places and there doesn't yet appear to be any rust. Do the folks that do all the Wadkin refurbs know what the best way to clean them up for repainting?

Also, it may be a while before I get some of them get fitted. Does anyone know if there are any tricks to storing them?

Cheers,

H.

 

[mikebeetle]

I would get them shot blasted or you'll be there ages with chemical strippers etc.

 

[n0legs]

I would get them shot blasted or you'll be there ages with chemical strippers etc.

Agreed. ^^^
I had mine shot blasted after many wasted hours with paint strippers. Mine were the four column style, so getting in and around the fins was murder.
A word of advice, get the insides really clean. Due to their style they can hold loads and loads of Magnetite (black sludge) this will play havoc with a domestic boiler/heating system.

 

[Halo Jones]

Will shot blasting not risk damaging the seals between each of the sections?

I was wondering about cleaning the inside but they have just been removed from an old hospital that had them working just 2 weeks ago. From the quick look I've had they don't appear too bad inside. If they are going to sit for a while do I have to worry about them furring up inside?

 

[n0legs]

Will shot blasting not risk damaging the seals between each of the sections?

I was wondering about cleaning the inside but they have just been removed from an old hospital that had them working just 2 weeks ago. From the quick look I've had they don't appear too bad inside. If they are going to sit for a while do I have to worry about them furring up inside?

Not on mine it didn't.
The shot blasting was done for me by a company who used an automated blasting cabinet that had a rotating table inside of it. The blasting medium was quite fine (chilled iron comes to mind ?????) and within about half an hour all paint was removed.
They needed priming really quickly though as they seemed to go from clean metal to light rust brown in a short time.
The furring up bit I can't answer. Mine had been stored for a few years and some were really badly blocked up, two of which needed a long masonry drill bit to clear before flushing/washing out could start.
I won't post here what I used to clean them out with as the hs police will be jumping up and down :roll:, but I'll guarantee this it cleaned them out a treat :lol:
Get a couple of fittings so you can make a hose adapter type fitting, you can leave them running/flushing for ages. Turning them over a few times helped when I was at this stage.

 

[twothumbs]

You could phone Hendersons here in Edinburgh. 0131 661 0870. They do them I think for the trade. Anyway Lindsay H. will advise ...I think.
www. hendersonsmetalcleaning.co.uk

 

[wallace]

I got some from a reclamation place which had been sat in a yard for ages. I got them shot blasted. I was going to get them powder coated but they were too heavy for the guy to deal with, so I got them sprayed with enamel. I think I was just lucky because your supposed to pressure test them

 

[Eric The Viking]

I've had great success with single pressed-steel rads in the past by using a drain-jetting attachment to my Kaarcher pressure washer inside them. Obviously you have to remove the fittings, but it really shifted the sludge in the bottom tube. It doesn't work for double rads, as you can't get past the joint (leastways, my jetting kit isn't that flexible), but IIRC most cast iron rads have much bigger bore bungs.

I don't think you'll get at anything blocking the smaller tubes unless you do it chemically. That said, although (I think) those things used to be sand cast (and thus rough inside), the rate of flow through each individual tube is slow, so it's only the sludge that sticks to the rough insides that'll be there - gravity will take the rest to the bottom tube. A drain-cleaning jetwash will do the bottom tube and a couple of inches up the other tubes, so it will certainly help.

If the bungs are rusted solid, you might free them up with a propane/MAPP blowlamp - I've done this on old cast-iron boilers in the past, and on steel rads but only with 1" or 1 1/4" BSP bungs, not the larger ones.

E.

 

[oakfield]

Our local pine stripping place has a contract with a cast iron radiator firm to strip all their radiators. Not sure if they do it in the caustic tank or with Paramose.
I can find out if it would help.