Old Radiators, New PEX

Since most of us have spent the week hunkered down trying to stay warm, let's talk about furnaces! Hot water furnaces to be exact.

I have always thought my little house would be perfect if it only had hot water heat, but alas it has forced air. I did think briefly about changing it when we first moved in, but there were so many things that still needed work or finishing. But this spring in the middle of an allergy attack I texted my brother and said I need hydronic heat!!

Yes, after living in the little cottage for five years I finally figured out I am allergic to whatever the furnace blows out! I don't know if it is just old dirt, cat hair, dog dander or what, but it turns me into a basket case. I am no stranger to allergies as at the age of four we discovered I was allergic to food dye. Hives are a weekly occurrence, sniffy nose, itchy eyes, scratchy throat are common. But I have never never felt so horrible as when the furnace/air conditioner blows. I could hardly drag myself out of bed I was so tired, I constantly felt like I had the flu and couldn't eat, I couldn't sleep or think. (I had a lot more symptoms, but you get the idea.) 

This summer we tried an experiment and did not turn on the AC; instead we invested in two window units. In two months I had all my energy back and was ready to tackle the Brick House head on!

 This fall when it started getting chilly we were in of a bit of quandary. Wisconsin gets cold! And we knew a ton of space heaters wasn't going to work, though it got us through the fall months. So my brother and I hatched a plan!
This past Spring I found a houseful of radiators on Craig's List. They were from a smallish bungalow like mine and most of radiators would work for my house. I did end up purchasing two more for the downstairs bedrooms as there wasn't quite enough small ones.
So we had radiators, but not a boiler. But every house has a hot water heater, right? And a hot water heater does the same thing a boiler does, heat water. Would a hot water heater be able to heat a cast iron radiator enough to heat a house? We decided to find out!

My brother also happened to have a heat transfer plate, circulator and expansion tank. The only thing I needed to buy was an additional circulator pump, PEX fittings and some copper pipe to plumb everything in. We were able to poke the PEX piping up through heat/cold air vents so everything is temporary right now. (I am still planning on putting in a real boiler this year!)

The way a hydronic system works is a boiler/hot water heater heats the water, a circulator pump pumps it through the pipes and the radiators. As the hot water goes through the radiators it heats the cast iron and since cast iron radiates heat so well the air around the radiators also get warm. The water continues around it's circuit and returns to the boiler/hot water heater to be heated again. 

My temporary system works the same, except the water from the hot water heater goes though a transfer plate which transfers the heat to water in the radiator system. In this way the water in the radiators and the water in the hot water heater stay separate and we are not washing with water that has been through a radiator. (It picks up a lot of iron and turns black! Yuck!)

Wow these old radiators really work! In a couple of minutes we could feel the warmth radiating out of them and in an hour you just wanted to snuggle up next to it! Of course it is not as even as it would be with a whole system, but it is keeping us comfortable. The bedrooms (where there is no radiators) are about 2-3 degrees cooler. We started slow and connected one radiator first. It worked great during the day, but wasn't able to keep the house a steady temp over night. The hot water heater seemed to be doing fine and not running excessively, so we connected another radiator to the system. Now the living-dining room stays a very steady temperature even during the night.

And how did our temporary system do in the artic blast? Not too bad! It couldn't quite keep up during the extreme overnight lows and would dropped down about three degrees, but it would get back up to normal temperature during the day. I think that wasn't bad for a temporary system!

 Radiators are also a mittens best friend! I don't know what it is about the radiant heat, but mittens dry in minutes and look better then ever!

So, have you ever lived in a house with hot water heat? Did you like it? Would you like to have hot water heat again? Please share, I would love to hear all about your experience! I am all about radiators and hot water heat right now!

The Saga of the Four Inch Double Tee

My beloved 1920s cast iron sink. Someday it might go in the kitchen, right now it is our utility sink. Perfect for wash large pots and roaster, boots, planters and wool sweaters(we have a tub that fits perfectly under the faucet). It was a craig's list find. My Great Aunt had one, and oh how we always envied her! I know my basement walls are gross, try not to look at them. One of this summers projects, wash and paint the walls!

So what does my sink have to do with a Double Tee? See all that plumbing to the right of the sink? This is the story.

It all started way back in May......

During plumbing week we ended up at Lowes 7 times and the local hardware store 5 times. We also made a trip to Home Depot, which is where the Double Tee comes in. When it comes to plumbing, you try and be prepared, but it doesn't usually happen. Especially with an old house, no matter how you try and plan it out and prepare for all eventualities, it just doesn't work. 

Plumber Phil had a certain fitting in mind for the plumbing next to the sink. Unfortunately, Lowes didn't have it. As we were going to Home Depot anyway (to return the bathtub), Mandy and I thought we would take a quick stroll down the plumbing aisle and see if we could find it. After looking and looking, Mandy finally spied what we thought Phil was looking for! We were so excited! We drove home gloating in triumph thinking how proud Phil was going to be of us. 

This is what a Double Tee looks like. It is huge. About 14" wide.

Upon rushing to the scene of the plumbing dilemma we saw the drain pipes completely installed and the only comment we got from the plumber "They really make a fitting like that! I didn't think you were going to find it. I figured out another way."

Needless to say we were a little deflated.

Now what to do with this THING! In all the hustle and bustle of May I threw it in the trunk of the car to deal with later. Quite a few weeks later I was rounding up odds and ends that we weren't going to use to return to Lowes and not thinking threw the Tee into a bag and took it along. After all the craziness of May I didn't even remember where I got it until the cashier asked if I was sure I had bought it here as it wasn't coming up in the system!?! Have you ever done that? Very embarrassing......

I forgot to mention, the label on the tee was roughed up. It took about 15 minutes for the cashier to finally figure this all out, after she spent 5 minutes trying to look it up in the database and 10 minutes waiting for the plumbing department to not find it.

After another few weeks/months of shuffling it around in my trunk and being asked numerous times "what is this doing in here?" I finally made it back to Home Depot. It was now a familiar routine of trying to scan, squinting at the tag, trying to look it up, waiting for the someone to look it up. While we were waiting for the verdict to come back, a man waiting behind us exclaimed "Wow! That is a crazy looking pipe, what is it for?".

I am so glad it is out of my hands now......... My sister Becky loved the story and thought I share it. She even suggested going back to the store and taking a picture of me holding the tee!!

Do you remember this ad from Good Housekeeping?