Unique Problem

[LynnDixon]

Our house was built in the 1930's or 40's. It has cast iron hot water radiator heat and plumbing. We have never had a problem with the system until now. This past spring there was a tree that fell on the electrical lines going to our home. It caused a surge of electricity to go through the house killing all of our appliances and catching a fan on fire in our basement. The fan melted and caught several large plastic storage containers on fire. As a result of the extensive smoke damage, everything within the house that was bare metal began to rust including our radiators and the piping to the radiators. apparently, this type of smoke (plastic) is highly toxic and causes excessive corrosion. Our insurance company paid for a company to come in, sand and paint with rustoleum) the exposed pipes and radiators that had not been previously painted (and therefore protected) by the smoke. Those radiators include some on the second floor and all of them in our basement. Now seven months later and when we started using heat again, those particular radiators periodically stop working and then begin working for no reason. We have bleed the radiators and drained the system several times but nothing has worked. To make matters worse, the exposed pipes in the basement are now rusting again (especially at the joints and elbows). We contacted a plumber and he was also concerned of the future leaky pipe problem that he says will develop within the walls of our house. Those pipes are not accessible and therefore have not been painted. My questions are...Do you think there is a correlation to the periodic working and nonworking of our affected radiators and the rust? If so, how is that possible? How do we stop the rust and fix the heating problem? Also, will untreated rusty pipes begin to leak and how long will it take?

 

[bengasman]

If the pipes are rusting as a result of the work not being done completely or correctly, claim it on the insurance again. It is there responsibilty to negate the results of the fire, not just to do a one off job, whatever is the cheapest.
As for your heating, need more info on what you have. My crystal ball is suffering from smoke damage