Old Heating Piping Experiences

Our old building (built in 1912) also has heating pipes from 1967 (but inside the walls); during the major renovation in 2000, we left them in and only replaced most of the radiators (the old ones didn’t look nice and were partly much too large). In 2015, we also had a storage room converted into a bathroom, again including new electricity, water, floor, and walls. Both times, the contracted specialist companies did not recommend renewing the heating pipes. Until today, there have been no problems with them. Just ask your plumber what he thinks! I’d also be interested to know how much savings new radiators would bring compared to the option of “leaving the old ones in.”

Hello, the plumbing specialist says to leave the pipes in and that the old radiators are of high quality and still good. Only in the living room did we want to change the position of the radiator and now we will have two panel radiators there.

Since all the radiators are off now: How do you flush them out? Can you do it yourself (like with a garden hose), or is it useless anyway? In another forum, I saw that this is more a question for a professional. Or what do you think?

Our plumber installed a magnetic filter on the old system (19 years) and the new boiler, the reason being to remove metal abrasion from the old system, the new boilers and pumps cannot handle this for long.

Heating pipes that are not exposed to external influences (such as the moist soil mentioned here) last practically forever. This is because, unlike fresh water piping, essentially the same water circulates continuously. The entry of minerals is therefore practically non-existent. I was able to observe this impressively during my renovation. Water pipes were only open inside to a small fraction, the rest was clogged with lime. Heating pipes were also inside almost in their original condition.

There were actually only problems with galvanized pipes and direct plaster contact. Copper, as far as I know, has always been delivered with a coating. Only the soldered joints are critical. I have trouble physically understanding why a new radiator is supposed to save energy. The proportion of radiant heat to convective heat changes, but the specified total energy is always the same, and that must be provided by the boiler.

I have problems physically understanding why a new radiator should save energy. The proportion of radiant heat to convective heat changes, but the stated total energy is always the same and must be provided by the boiler.

Because the new radiator delivers the same output at 40 degrees flow temperature as the old cast iron radiator at 70 degrees flow temperature.