have a question what to do withy a steam fitting

jc_11

Hi everyone I'm John, I am in sort of a pickle and was wondering if someone might help me. I have a 2 family house in northern new jersey i reside upstairs and tenants down below on the first floor. I've had an ongoing problem since we acquired the house the front room(living room) and the dining room Are adjoining.....kinda like railroad rooms. Anyway...the rads are cast iron baseboard on a one pipe steam system.....i know enough about steam to get myself into trouble.......I'm not an idiot but i am not in the same class of some of you guys by no means.....i finally took a heat measurement, took it to my local supply house, and they said my load was substantially off from what it should have been, that re-piping was in order and so forth. I looked at the piping in the basement.....the mains are 2 1/2 with 1 1/2 take offs going to the rads and they were then bushed down greater even still....from 1 1/2 to 3/4 for the cast iron baseboard. well the dining room radiator take off i just cut the steel pipe and knifed out the remaining nipple, wicked the new nipple and fittings and came up Thur the floor with a proper 1 1/4 valve like my supply house told me to do....NOW.....lol....the fun part......the living-room rad is in a cumbersome spot right over the garage door and the tension spring for the garage door......no room to turn wenches......went to the living room and the existing valve and cut it out .....and a portion of the floor gingerly.....to find a 1 1/4 x 1" 90.......I'm beyond myself.....i need to get these rads in....i need to ask a simple and it might seem a moronic question......i cant turn it out......is the only way to remove this is to break it out and if so.......if i support it with wrecking bars from above.....that's the only way to do it .......and hit it with a lump hammer......will it break clean........any help is thank full....BTW had 12 ft baseboard cast iron in the living room when I'm done there will be a 20 section 4 tube....1 1/4 feed......dining room had 8 ft  baseboard and now has 14 sect 4 tube.....piped  1 1/4 to valve....sorry for the rant ......hard long day

JStar

RE

Were you having trouble heating those rooms? What prompted all of this work? And why start now? Did you do a heat loss on the rooms?



Old pipe is tough. Usually, the ends justifies the means. Breaking a fitting in the floor is going to be mighty hard.

jc_11

reply

yes i was having a problem or the tenant was....he pays the heat.......but i assumed it wasnt gonna be that tough to do it...........i did like i said have a heat calc done of the rooms.......and they are undersized......with the radiation thats there.....so i made the decision to do it...not smart i know but it had to be done ....i mean why would anyone take a 1 1/2 takeoff and reduce it down to 1" then to 3/4 for baseboard heat.....?....i know why......to make it look aesthetically pleaseing instead of those big clunky ugly rads that were there for 50 yrs...but worked like a dream i might add.......so anyway this is the problem i have i want to put the clunky ugly things back and shut the tenants up.....and have this *****ed fitting in the way that i need removed and the f wored was fudged....i spell really badly......lol

JStar

RE

What is the EDR or rating of the new radiator? Maybe 1" will be enough if it's only for the vertical rise.

jc_11

re

the edr im not sure of because........they are from the thirties the ones i acquired cast iron and are 5 tubes at 16 section ......the the living room and 5 tubes at 12 for the dining....it might be not enough but close  is better then nothing

JStar

RE

Can you measure the height, width, and depth of the living room radiator? 

jc_11

re

31L X8 1/2 W X26 1/4 H

JStar

Radiator

The radiator, by your dimensions and number of tubes and sections comes out to 42 sq.ft. EDR. That's 10,080 BTUH.



1 1/4" pipe is good for 55 sq.ft.

1 1/2" pipe is good for 81 sq.ft. So the run-out is fine.

1" vertical pipe is for rated up to 45 sq.ft. Here you might get lucky, and be fine leaving the reducing elbow in the floor, and running 1" to the radiator.



HOWEVER...



You'll still need to use an 1 1/4" radiator valve. 1" will be too small to allow the condensate to properly drain. Don't use a bushing. Use a reducing coupling on the vertical rise to avoid the possibility of pooling water in the riser near the valve.

jc_11

RE

I NEED TO CUT OR BREAK THE REDUCING ELBOW OFF ........I TRIED TO COLLAPSE THE NIPPLE AND I WASNT ALL THE WAY THRU SO I SCREWED IT UP AND OF COURSE THE 90 IS ON THE FLAT SO.....I HAVE TO BREAK THE FITTING.......

JStar

RE

In that case....GOOD LUCK!



You might try to get a very long sawzall blade and make a few cuts in the fitting, then try to chip it off without damaging the pipe threads. Second option is to open up the floor.

jc_11

RE

THIS IS WHY I SHOULD HAVE NOT COME HERE......I HAD THIS ANSWER 8 HRS AGO.........

Steamhead

Never hurts

to ask..........................

nicholas bonham-carter

a lesson to be learned

at this time of the year especially, more study of the problem, and its solution is required, before taking hammer to fitting, or sawzall to pipe.  

just make sure you can get some replacement pipe-fittings, during the time of of the dismantlement, and repair.--nbc