Radiators and sagging steam pipes

JimmyR

I need help with an odd single-pipe steam issue.

I sent my radiators out to be sandblasted and powdercoated. They came back looking great! 85 years of paint and rust was gone.



My contractor got them all hooked up except for one in the first floor powder room. There the pipe is about 1/4" too low to hook up the radiator. His solution is to use a bottle jack and a piece of lumber to force the pipe up into position.

I'm a little nervous about this approach. The pipe for this particular radiator is right of the main about 6 feet from the boiler. I'm concerned that placing that kind of force on a joint will cause something else to crack.



I have tried shimming up all the other radiators near the troublemaker (first and second floor) hoping they would help convince the straggler catch up. I also wedged a 2x4 under the joint and gave it a slight assist. So far, no luck.

 

My options, as I see them, are to replace this section of pipe with a slightly longer one (not sure I can get the pieces apart after 85 years), grind down the feet of the radiator or buy a 6" nipple and push the radiator away from the valve.

Any ideas? Is the bottle jack really the way to go?

Thanks!

Rod

Attaching Radiator

Hi- Are you able to see the lateral (radiator) piping from the basement side?  If so, check that there is no blocking or anything that stops the pipe from moving upward.  If the lateral pipe is free of attachments and reasonably long, raising it up a 1/4 inch should be fairly easy.  When you do get the radiator hooked up be sure to block the pipe so that any strain is taken off the valve. Don't grind the radiator feet or anything like that. If raising the pipe isn't practical a new longer nipple would be the way to go. You might also check radiator valves as some are a bit longer than others.

- Rod

Jamie Hall

At the risk of asking the obvious

was this radiator hooked up before?  To the same pipe?  If so, what changed in between when you took it out to be powder coated and when it came back?



If nothing, the first thing I would look at, since it is close to the main, is was the radiator holding up the main before?  (Don't laugh; I've seen this)  And does the main now have a nice quarter inch sag in it? 



So the first thing to do is to check that main, and make darn sure that it is straight and that it pitches in the correct direction.  You may have to adjust or add hangers; they have been know to come loose.



Having gotten the main straight and pitched properly, does the pipe now fit?  If so, good.  If not, is that lateral pitched properly (how long is "right off the main", by the way?)?  If not, will bringing it back up into position make it worse?  (highly unlikely).  If not, I'd suggest easing the pipe back up into position -- you might need a jack at this point; you might just need a good long pry bar.  Hard to say.



As a last resort, you might need a longer nipple.  But... let's be sure everything else is right first -- particularly if it was hooked up before you took it out.