Have Cast Iron Hot Water Radiators from the 40's. I would Like to remove one from a room to get to the wall behind. Can I remove one from the system and turn it back on? It has a shut off valve on one end and a return with no valve. would I am assuming I would have to cap the one end before turning back on?

The radiators are on the second floor. My understanding is if I drain them from the basement to just first floor it will drain all the second floor radiators. I would have to refill the system and boiler before turning boiler back on and bleed each radiator from bleed valve. Yes?

Thanks for your time.

 

t,
It all depends how your system is piped. If you have a monoflo system which means each rad is piped individually from the main with special fittings you can isolate just that 1 rad if the valve holds and you cap off the return after you drain enough water to remove it.
You can then repressurize the second floor.

If you have a loop system which is piped from rad to rad then you must drain water down below second floor. Cap that return as a precaution and you can run just the first floor.

This is all contingent upon if they piped your second floor separate from the first. In other words if all the second floor rads came off their separate feed from the main or if the rads were piped in no particular order.

They must be piped as you were making 2 zones.

Hope this wasn't too confusing and helps a little.

 

Are you sure that the system is hot water and not steam? A picture of the radiator would be good if there is a question.