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TR2/3/3A Is this Smith heater junk?

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BillyB62

BillyB62

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I bought this heater with hopes of restoring it. I've read Frank Angelini's restoration guide and many of the threads on this and several other forums but after taking it apart this afternoon, I noticed there were only two clamps on it and the side that didn't have a clamp appears to have expanded (I assume from liquid expanding). I've filled the heater core with water today and it doesn't appear to leak, but before it I take it to a shop for pressure testing (I understand I need to put the clamps back on before doing so), I'd like the forums opinion of whether I'm wasting my time and money. Also, can I put a big clamp the heater core and comptress itin hopes of being able to put a clamp on the bloated side?

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I had some success in compressing heater cores using a cheap hydraulic press. If you find any leaks after closing up the accordion, it's scrap. They are too flimsy to try to fix leaks. There is no way to block a leaking tube as is done with radiators.
 
I had my TR3 heater core repaired where the tubes split open. It was an old one man shop next to his house and he used a special type of glue stick to block off the leak. Many years later, it's still good. I keep pressure limited to 4 lbs per the manual - don't want to push my luck but it can be done. Mine had not expanded, just a couple of blown tubes.
 
From the picture the core does not look all that bad. You don't need to pay somebody to pressure test 4 pounds of pressure. The hard part is to NOT use to much pressure. And yes the clamps need to be on it before trying any pressure at all. I am sure somebody here can tell us an easy way to get four pounds of pressure besides hooking into a car. I am thinking that a gallon of water weighs about 7 pounds so if you blocked one pipe to the core and hooked a hose up to the other pipe and filled the hose with a gallon of water it would give you somewhere between 4 and 7 pounds of pressure at the core with the hose elevated above the core. Or maybe hook up a hose between the pipes on the core full of water and use a bicycle pump with ball needle in the hose and give it a short pump. It would not take much to get the 4 pounds. Probably easier ways to test it as well.
After testing I have cleaned the cores and straightened the fins. A little paint and they look great. Now as to how well do they work probably as well as they did new--which is not saying anything at all.
Charley
 
Thanks to all for responding. I actually bought two heaters at the same time an I plan to take a look at the other one before going forward. Although the other heater looks better to the eye than this one, this one came attached to a junk front end and had all the mounts so I chose to start with this one. The fan motor on this one doesn't spin freely when attached to a power source so I might have some work to make it work - as Frank mentioned in his article, it may take two to make one.
 
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