I did video on “How To Remove a Steam Valve” part 1 and part 2 where I illustrate the steps in removing a steam valve that’s been in service for as much as sixty years. In this short video I walk you thru the steps in removing the male end of a steam air vent valve that often breaks off inside the radiator. You innocently go to install a new air valve on your steam radiator and the next thing you know is the valve breaks off inside the radiator. Now what do you do?

Well you basically have two choices, get yourself a 1/8″ nipple extractor a.k.a. easy out and proceed in removing the broken piece as I illustrate in the video. The problem is that unlike a broken piece of pipe, the piece in the radiator is a very thin wall brass and it doesn’t have enough thickness for the extractor to grab. The result is that the extractor will start to bind and distort the inside of the radiator. When this happens I jump to plan b. which is to get an 11/32″ high speed drill bit and drill out the broken piece. Now it’s time to get a 1/8″ n.p.t. pipe tap and cut new female threads into the radiator. Start slow and straight using either an adjustable or open end wrench a little WD-40 or cutting oil and work the pipe tap back and forth until you’ve cut in the new threads.

You’re now ready to install the new air valve and in general I just use my pipe joint compound (Mega-Lock) which is a Teflon fortified pipe joint compound. I very rarely use Teflon tape on air valves (doesn’t look good), but you most certainly can. One last mention is that I referenced “international pipe threads” when mentioning the pipe tap, I stand corrected and the proper designation is “national pipe thread”. Well I hope I solved the mystery of how to remove that broken air valve and if I wasn’t clear, please drop me an e-mail at info@bobsplumbingvideos.com.

Thanks for dropping by, HAPPY PLUMBING!