Thread: Corroded Radiator piping in Concrete

I found a 20 yr old Teledyne Laars gas boiler with a mix of piping and very corroded pipe going into a basement floor slab to service a cast iron radiator on the other side of a concrete block partition wall. Previous owner broke out concrete floor at some unknown time - maybe to try and repair it, not sure.

I am recommending servicing of the boiler by a qualified plumbing and heating contractor, but as for replacement of piping - would same contractor take care of that as well, or would there have to be another contractor involved to remove the concrete first? Does this look like a really expensive job? Pipe run from boiler to radiator is about 15 ft, incl. what you can see in the pic, maybe up to 6 ft under finished basement side.

Obviously the current owner should wait till the end of heating season to try and replace pipe when the system can be drained. Pics attached. I'm going back there to complete the inspection this week. There is basement ceiling leak damage in the finished part but can't tell if it might be radiator pipes or bathroom plumbing. They are going to have to tear that ceiling down. Heating system was working when I was there but didn't have time to check everything.

Your thoughts and feedback would be appreciated. I am in Ontario.

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Originally Posted by Lisa Simkins

I found a 20 yr old Teledyne Laars gas boiler with a mix of piping and very corroded pipe going into a basement floor slab to service a cast iron radiator on the other side of a concrete block partition wall. Previous owner broke out concrete floor at some unknown time - maybe to try and repair it, not sure.

I am recommending servicing of the boiler by a qualified plumbing and heating contractor, but as for replacement of piping - would same contractor take care of that as well, or would there have to be another contractor involved to remove the concrete first? Does this look like a really expensive job? Pipe run from boiler to radiator is about 15 ft, incl. what you can see in the pic, maybe up to 6 ft under finished basement side.

Obviously the current owner should wait till the end of heating season to try and replace pipe when the system can be drained. Pics attached. I'm going back there to complete the inspection this week. There is basement ceiling leak damage in the finished part but can't tell if it might be radiator pipes or bathroom plumbing. They are going to have to tear that ceiling down. Heating system was working when I was there but didn't have time to check everything.

Your thoughts and feedback would be appreciated. I am in Ontario.

I really do not have an answer for you but the beautiful thing about or profession is that we just find it, we don't have to tell them how to fix it!

A plumber could do all work, if not a prissy - sissy. Actually probably would have his grunt helper do it.

Cost is dependent on who shows up. Not a terrible job if you know what you are doing.

Rusty pipe may look worse than it really is, but when it goes it goes.

One option rather than dig up and replace existing pipe, run a new line different location (probably cheaper).

As Garry mentioned, one contractor can do the whole job if he isn't a princess. It's not that hard of a job. Depending on how important that radiator and its level of heat output are, you may want to recommend the client install a little Taco pump on the return side for that run. I can't tell for sure from the pics how the run is. It's not about distance, its about the piping being lower than the boiler and pipe configuration. Also from what I'm sort of seeing, running the pipe under the floor doesn't seem entirely necessary, but what do I know.