Introduction: Copper Pipe Radiator

By More on my website
About: Maker of cool things for homes, finder of corners to put storage, builder of clever spaces, lover of our beautiful planet, grower of veg, enjoyer of life.

Now the bathroom refurb is complete, we wanted a large statement copper radiator to fill the bare wall near the sink.

Supplies

  • Copper Pipe
  • Yorkshire corner fittings
  • Plain T copper fittings
  • Copper Circle
  • Wire Wool
  • Blow Torch
  • Flux
  • Small Art Brush
  • Solder
  • Copper Pipe Cutter
  • Hacksaw
  • Cloth Sandpaper
  • Fire Cloth
  • Water Spray
  • Fire Extinguisher
  • Temperature Valve
  • Compression Equal Tee
  • Compression Manual Air Vent
  • Spanner
  • Everbright Lacquer
  • Metal File
  • Munsen Rings and Extenders

Step 1: Keeping Things Safe

Before you start soldering there are a few safety things to bear in mind:

  • Keep a fire extinguisher nearby in case anything catches fire.
  • Have a spray bottle of water as the pipe becomes extremely hot.
  • Have a thick, wet flannel or fire cloth to cool the pipe.
  • Ensure very good ventilation as breathing in solder fumes is very dangerous.

Step 2: Creating Your Design

On some large scale graph paper - I used one for a flip chart and taped bits together so it fitted the space - tape the paper on the wall you want the radiator to be.

Roughly and lightly draw the kind of shape you want, remove the paper and draw the final shape ensuring the lines are the same width as the pipe. You can see in the image I coloured the corners red and T's green but you don't need to do this.

I wanted the radiator to have a rough shape of a tree together with a toilet roll holder, but yours can be anything you like. It also does not have to be heated and you can omit the valves.

Step 3: Planning Your Materials

Once the design is finalised, you can then count the amount of corner and T fittings and measure the length of pipe you will need. Ensure that the tails are slightly longer than needed so the plumber has plenty to work with when installing.

I used Yorkshire fittings for the corners because they have solder embedded inside already and give a better finish. They are more expensive than the plain ones but I prefered the shape and result I would get.

For the T joins of the supporting bars I chose the plain style because these parts do not have water flowing through so the join did not need to be complete. As I was using a thread of solder here, I could get away with using very little and keep the finish smooth.

For the toilet roll holder, I also bought a copper circle to solder onto the end of the pipe to stop the roll falling off.

Step 4: Start Assembling

You are now ready to start cutting all your pieces and lay them loosely on the paper. As the pipe does not feed all the way through the T fitting I needed to cut away half of the long top part so the pipe rested onto it - you can see what I mean in the image.

Find a starting point and solder a corner to a length of pipe as follows:

  • Sand the pipe end and the inside of the corner with the cloth sandpaper.
  • Using a small art brush, coat the end of the pipe and inside the corner with some flux. Be sure to keep the flux neat too as solder will flow wherever flux is.
  • Put the corner onto the pipe tightly.
  • Support the pipe with a clamp so the corner is away from any surface and you are able to get all the way around.
  • Start up the blow torch and hold it on the band of solder inside the fitting, move it around the fitting to the point where the solder just starts to bubble up - remember not to allow the solder to escape outside of the fitting, you want all of it inside.
  • Be sure the solder has risen the whole way around the fitting.
  • Once this is done, wrap the wet flannel around the fitting to cool it, taking care not to burn yourself.

When connecting the T fittings and supporting pipes (the bits with no water flow), be sure to do these systematically as you will need the space to attach them, don't do the whole shape first as then you will struggle to fit them in.

The only difference when soldering these is that you are going to use a thread of solder, so as you are holding the blow torch to the fitting, have the end of the solder thread touching the part you want to attach. The expansion and heat will suck the solder into the fitting and form the connection. Take care not to use too much as you want it to be neat and there is no need for a water tight fitting here.

If you are unsure about this part, practice first to get the hang of it before you do it on the final piece.

Use this method to attach all the bits together.

Step 5: Valves, Vent and Testing

As I wanted this to be a heated radiator, I needed to add an air vent at the top to pressurise the pipes and remove air bubbles and also to regulate the temperature.

The best solution I could find for the air vent was using an equal tee compression fitting and a manual air vent to put inside the top part of the tee. As there are no options for a copper set of valves I found some nice brass ones that were ok.

In the area I wanted the vent to go, I cut away part of the pipe and attached the compression fitting to each end of the cut pipe using a spanner. This is pretty straightforward and is the same for all compression fittings. I then inserted the manual air vent and closed this off - you are now ready for testing.

By turning the radiator upside down, I filled each side of the legs with water right to the brim and sat it on a bit of paper. I left it like this for a few days and kept checking to see if any water had escaped - luckily I did a good job and nothing came out!

Step 6: Finishing Off

Now you know the radiator is water tight, we can finish off by first giving the whole surface a good polish with fine wire wool. If you see any areas that have a bulge of solder, remove this using a fine metal file and then polish with the wire wool. Make sure you do not remove any solder that is going to keep the water in!

You can then clean and coat it with a lacquer to stop the copper from tarnishing. There are plenty on the market to choose from and I used the one from Everbright. It is fairly easy to apply and dries quickly.

To attach the radiator to the wall I bought munsen rings and extenders to make it easier for towels to go behind. You can of course use anything you wish.

Once the radiator is hanging on the wall you are ready to contact a plumber to attach it to the water flow and install the valves.

Job done!

Step 7: Thank You

Thank you for reading my very first Instructable. I hope you have found it useful and interesting and I welcome any comments or questions.

Happy building!