Of course it can be done.

You not only need the correct length of radiator, but also the correct amount of tubes.

You'll have to get a current heat loss calculation on the house and get the properly sized radiators for the current needs. This means proper length, proper amount of tubes, and width.

Plumbing is typical of any house.

My daughter's house is heated with 1/2" copper supply lines to each radiator.

If you contact me at my email, I can fax information about all the radiator types, their btu output, and how to determine the output of each type.

I think this would be insanely expensive for the gain. Thousands in labor. I think the going cost for a goo0d plumber is 1400 per day, including parts. Not fixtures. You will need to find salvage radiators, as new CI radiators are expensive. Pull up the carpet and the holes are easy to find.

$60 per hour in this area.

Do like many other people do: Get some books, practice soldering and do it yourself. All except the final hookup and bleeding.

I know of other people who have done the same. There are people who just love those old radiators. The old radiators will also heat the house so much better. The plumbing cost depends on the particulars of the house. The old pipes may well still be available. You have to start exploring.

Hey, all of us do crazy things purely for asthetics.

I wanted genuine period shutters on my Colonial home. I found hand-forged iron shutter pins from the 1700's and made my own matching female end. Then I made reproduction shutters, louvered on the second floor. I never regretted the job.

I say: Go for it.

I have just started researching replacing the Runtal radiators installed three years ago after three winters of extremely high gas bills. Your post is the first I found and I agree with you. We had the Runtals installed when we put a 450 square foot addition on the north side of our house and we have never been able to heat it. The Runtals are probably undersized, but they simply don't hold heat like the old cast iron radiators in the original section of our house (built in 1949). All the websites I've seen so far for cast iron radiators are UK. Are there U.S. suppliers? Good luck with your replacement.

Burnham use to have some cast iron units available.
I have only used old ones (the ulitimate in recycling)
for many years though.

Buy some old ones and repaint. They last forever. They are reasonable.

Have you priced out the radiators you would like to use? Around here, you would expect to pay between 10 and 40 dollars per section for these at a salvage restoration store. They would need to be stripped and repainted, and prolly rebuilt to size them to the heatloss of the rooms into which they are to be installed. You will need to have a rom-by-room heat loss calculation completed before you pick out your radiators.

Depending on where you are, the size of your house, and the type of radiator, and how decorated the raditor sections are, you will prolly spend between $5,000 and $10,000 on the radiators, repainting, and delivery to the job. Then add in the cost of the plumber ($100/hr around here) to pipe them in to your boiler.

What you are proposing can be done, and done successfully, if you are willing to $pend the amount needed to make it happen.

A friend of mine did this in his 100+ yr. old house. Of course, him being a contractor helped. Can you post pix when you're done?

YouÂre not crazy and I can understand the desire for aesthetics and comfort.

But be sure to understand that you cannot just install these in place of the fin tube if it was piped in a series loop. You see the first radiator will be hot and everyone after that colder and colder.

The distribution system will need to be changed some like monoflo systems but the best way to do it and do it right is two-pipe reverse return. That way the first radiator on the supply is the last on return making the first on return the last one on the supply. This equals even flow at each radiator and allowing you to manually or thermostatically control each individual radiator with out affecting flow to others.

In addition proper boiler piping such as primary/secondary may be required to eliminate condensing or shock depending on boiler model and design. Unless of course you invest in a good modulating condensing boiler which, loves cool water and saves money while offering even more comfort due to varying water temps based on outdoor temps.

Not sure what year this was posted, but if you are able to find cast iron radiators for your restoration project, I would like to buy your old Runtal units if they are still available.