Bad piping

ChrisJ

I had posted a thread about this a while ago but I cannot find it.  One of my radiators had its piping modified years ago and after fighting with it I've decided its time to fix it.



I suspect in the late 1980s a closet was built into our livingroom and this meant moving a steam pipe.  Why they insisted on moving the pipe instead of simply building the wall an inch over I will never understand.



Either way, next spring I plan on modifying the wall so I can rip this nasty copper disaster out and install an iron pipe in its original location.  I get heat in the room but even with a Gorton C the radiator fills slower than other identical radiators with much slower vents on them.  I guess its a miracle I don't get any hammering from it.  My plans are to scrub and wash the new iron pipe before installing to try and reduce if not eliminate the amount of oil introduced into the system.



What do you think?

Rod

Other Possibilities

Hi Chris- What About turning it into a two pipe radiator? Or a one pipe with radiator vent and drip line? Something that would relieve the present piping of the condenste counterflow.

Just a thought....

- Rod

ChrisJ

2 Pipe

Hi Rod,



I think converting it to a two pipe may be more difficult, though I will think about it. To be honest I never considered it.

Rod

Gerry Gill's Mini tube Cast Iron Radiator

Chris - If you haven't seen it already, you might want to look at this video by Gerry Gill. He's hooked his Mini Tube system to a cast iron radiator.

It's really interesting and might be something that could relate to what you want to do.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6BHXov_BW0

- Rod

ChrisJ

Minitube

Wow..



No I had not seen that video and its really tempting now.

I guess I could just drill and tap into the tee on the steam main to run the 3/8" copper?

Rod

Mini Tube Limitations

I don't think you can mix the mini tube steam side with a standard 1 pipe steam main. I was thinking more about the trapped return side with 3/8 ID tubing. I'm just wondering at what pressure Gerry Gill was running his mini tube system in the video. My understanding is that the original Iron Fireman system ran at a higher pressure (close to 5 PSI)  in order to operate the steam turbo fans.  It may be that you need the higher pressure to blow the condensate through the return.as it doesn't seem that slope on the return matters all that much though it may just  be the small  size of the mini tube itself that helps move the condensate along.

- Rod

ChrisJ

Venting?

Rod,



I'm thinking this won't work for me.

I've never worked on a 2 pipe system but I'm betting the return must be vented and must go below the water line?



If so, I can't simply run a 3/8" tube to one side of the rad and put a trap on the other side.

Rod

No Trap

As i run this around more in my limited brain, more things come to light. Using the trap you are creating a "B" dimension situation. Gerry Gill gets around this by having a condensate tank and pump on his mini tube system.   To return the condensate you could just run a dripline from the radiator directly to the wet return . The venting would be accomplished by the regular on the radiator vent.  What I'm wondering is would the "Mini- Return ", 3/8 ID copper tube, with reasonable slope, work okay with this ?  It may be that the tube is too small and air would get trapped between condensate leavng the radiator and "A" Dimension water in the wet return. In larger piping the air could be pass the condensate and in the mini tube as the lower end of the tubing is open in the tank the air blows right through with the condensate.  It sounds as though you would need to use a larger drip line.

ChrisJ

I think

I think the sawzall is going to come out Rod.

Like I always say, the steam pipes come before the walls.



P.S., check your email.