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.

I'd put on Craig's list or other places like that. They are *extremely* desirable in my older neighborhood when replacements needed. None has sold for under a $100 for 3 rung (?) size. Re-purposing them. I just happened to see a tv segment where they were used as outdoor table legs. It looked cute.

I did read one publication (I think it was a us govt pamphlet from the early 20th century) that said metallic paint reduces btu output, but haven't seen anything else on the topic. They came from the factory pre-primed and the seller recommends painting them. As a practical matter I don't know how you would preserve cast iron without painting it. These systems are-over designed anyways. They'll put out a 70 degree delta t from the odt, which you hit only a small percentage of the time, with a margin of error. The entire system is within the insulated envelope, and generates heat as long as the thermostat and/or the TRVs call for it. That heat will distribute throughout the house more easily than escaping it. Maybe in old systems where the boiler and uninsulated pipes sat in an uninsulated basement, a small amount of thermal resistance at the radiator posed a problem, but in a properly designed modern system I find it hard to believe it will ever be a real world problem.

I'm reading it, kats! I'm embarking on a two-pronged window project at my 108-year-old house. One part is restoring and repairing the remaining original windows. Most of them are in perfectly good condition, but entombed in paint and caulk and missing their cords. Nothing we can't fix. A couple are rotten beyond repair, but our local wood window guy can replicate them. The other (and very expensive) part is is replacing the horrible vinyl replacement windows with proper wood windows (by the same guy - his workshop's whole business is building old style wood windows for historic/old buildings). Oh, and then the side project is commissioning a stained glass guy to make us new transom panes and landing window, as all the stained glass was stripped from this house long ago. That'll be once I've saved for a decade or won the lottery. I hope to have window and interior trim restoration done before we start a family, but I bought myself a very nice respirator. I'll say this about old windows - there are few things more satisfying than opening a giant and heavy yet perfectly balanced hung window sash with a single finger. It is the most epic manifestation of man's mastery of the concept leverage and the invention of the pulley. You can't do that with vinyl replacements. maifleur01 , it's important to know that the buyers of old houses (specifically those who buy old houses BECAUSE they are old houses) have different standards and "checklists" from typical buyers. Things that are attractive (or non-issues) in a typical contemporary house become massive detractors in an old house. Modern replacement windows are a big one, also updated layouts (especially newfangled open ones), new (replacement) finishes, carpet, "updated" forced air heating systems (forced air is LESS EFFICIENT than hot water radiators, did you know?), addition of anachronistic details like can lights and other silliness, etc. I see updated modern kitchens and bathrooms in old houses as a neutral, because while it's nice to have a decent kitchen and bathroom in the meantime, I'm going to tear them out anyway and redo them to match the house better (out of all the Victorians and Craftsmans we looked at, I did not see a single kitchen, newly done or falling apart, that I liked or felt was appropriate for the house. If you're a seller, you might as well spare yourself the cash and headache. There are a bunch of dumb shoddy things the previous owner of my house did to put it on the market, like paint the rooms dumb trendy colors, that we are systematically undoing. Luckily she didn't do anything beyond superficial "improvements". At the end of the day, less is better. Us old house buyers tend to be fixer upper types, so I'd rather fix an old house in an unadulterated state than fix an old house that's been remuddled and mucked up, because after I rip out all the dumb changes put in to make the house "more appealing" on the market, then I still have to fix an old house anyway.