The saga continues...
So, after all the work removing the radiator and capping the pipes, I guess I didn't cap them tightly enough, and water was leaking out whenever the heat turned on.
This soaked the floor and subfloor in that corner of the kitchen.
So, time to drain the system again so that I can re-cap the pipes, this time below floor level so that if they start leaking again, it'll be into our dirt basement. I found out some fun stuff:
1. If you don't have a huge honking radiator full of water slowing down the water flow, the system drains really friggin' fast. On a related note, blue jeans can soak up a lot of water.
2. If the system has been running, that water is very, very warm. Thank god the heat had been off for a while, or we could substitute "very, very HOT".
3. Note to previous owner/heating system installer--when supporting a thirty-foot run of 1.5" cast-iron heating pipe, it's probably best to use pipe hangers of some sort, and NOT SUSPEND THE PIPE ON THE ARMORED CABLE OF THE ELECTRICAL SYSTEM.
Since I already have the system pulled apart down to the basement level, we're considering replacing the radiator with radiant heat. We'll lose a lot of heat to the floor, but it'll give us warm toes and it beats reinstalling 400lbs of cast iron.
In other news, when installing anything from Ikea, do not attempt to think. Just follow the instructions. They did all the thinking for you, and any attempts to re-think their instructions will probably end in disaster, unless you're Swedish.
This soaked the floor and subfloor in that corner of the kitchen.
So, time to drain the system again so that I can re-cap the pipes, this time below floor level so that if they start leaking again, it'll be into our dirt basement. I found out some fun stuff:
1. If you don't have a huge honking radiator full of water slowing down the water flow, the system drains really friggin' fast. On a related note, blue jeans can soak up a lot of water.
2. If the system has been running, that water is very, very warm. Thank god the heat had been off for a while, or we could substitute "very, very HOT".
3. Note to previous owner/heating system installer--when supporting a thirty-foot run of 1.5" cast-iron heating pipe, it's probably best to use pipe hangers of some sort, and NOT SUSPEND THE PIPE ON THE ARMORED CABLE OF THE ELECTRICAL SYSTEM.
Since I already have the system pulled apart down to the basement level, we're considering replacing the radiator with radiant heat. We'll lose a lot of heat to the floor, but it'll give us warm toes and it beats reinstalling 400lbs of cast iron.
In other news, when installing anything from Ikea, do not attempt to think. Just follow the instructions. They did all the thinking for you, and any attempts to re-think their instructions will probably end in disaster, unless you're Swedish.