Installing a steam radiator ... piping size

jbmoff

Hello,

I have seen this question come up here on the wall often, but I am attempting this job on my own now that my heating guy cannot, so I'd like to confirm some things. Someone (previous owners) removed the radiator from my kitchen, and we definitely are going to need one! The previous owners told us, "Well, the kitchen gets cold, but we just leave the door open to the basement and let the heat from the piping come up." Really? Well, seeing there was no insulation on the pipes...anywhere.... I understood why they told me that! When we bought the home in March, this was on our list to do for the Fall. Well, Fall is here....so here goes:

The rad being installed has an EDR of 24. Our boiler can more than handle this additional load as it is over-sized. (My heating guy who was at the house in the spring confirmed this for me after I did my own calculations using Dan's book. He also suggested we may be able to down-fire the boiler somewhat and to be careful if I run around insulating all the steam mains - as that might cause MORE over-sizing).
Part I: Counter-Flow system - Two steam mains, both about 23 feet long.
Part II: Radiator is being installed on the first floor and tied into the END of one steam main just before the steam vent. Luckily, this main runs underneath the kitchen. There is a Tee where I am guessing the original one was. It will need a run-out from the steam main to the riser/90* elbow of approximately 9 feet.
Part II: All the radiators in the house have a 1.25 in. nipple leading FROM the Tee on the steam main to the 45* street elbow, to the 1.25 in. horizontal run-out to the 90* elbow to the 1.25 in. riser to the radiator.

Biggest question is...and I think I read this correctly in Lost Art (pg. 87):
Will the 1.25 in. pipe be sufficient to install this radiator correctly or because of the longer run do I need to go one size bigger? I know I should pitch it 1/2 in. in the 8 feet

Fred

Inch and a quarter pipe for a 24 EDR radiator should be fine.

jbmoff

That's what I thought! Now, anyone have any good suggestions as to how to get a bushing out of the bottom of a radiator that is 95 years old!? Many youtube videos simply say to cut it out with a hacksaw/sawsall being careful of the threads.
I've done this before with 2 in steam lines and it worked, but I am ALWAYS afraid of cutting those threads.

KC_Jones

Why do you need to remove the bushing? What size is in there currently?

jbmoff

1 in.
The person who removed the radiator I am using cut the spud that goes into the steam valve rather than disconnect it. It is sticking out of the bushing. I would have to remove that 1 in cut spud with a spud wrench no matter what in order to install the radiator.

KC_Jones

You might be better off trying to remove the spud and using a 1" valve on that. The spud will be much more forgiving to get out than the bushing. You could reduce the runout to the rad right under the floor and just have a short run of 1" to the valve. On a rad that small 1" should be enough. Don't have my book in front of me, but I seem to remember 25 being the cut off for 1". I have larger rads than that on 1" in my house. It's not right and I know it, but it works and it's quiet.

jbmoff

Of course, I wanted to take the path of least resistance and thought the same thing until I dug out my Lost Art copy last night. I was worried about using the 1 in. as that rad will be far from the boiler and will have the longest run-out. Don't want to go through all that work to not get steam delivered.
Pg. 91 in Lost Art gives a chart for the radiator valve...a 1 in. valve: max sq. ft. of EDR is 20. 1.25 in valve max sq. ft. is 55. That is why I was going to use the 1.25 in.
The other chart pg. 89 gives the horizontal run-out's max is 28 sq. ft. for risers not dripped (mine)

If I do go with a reduction, do I use a concentric or eccentric reducer?