Radiator piping adaptations

livingwater

I have several radiator piping coming from the second and first floor into the basement. My dilemma is that I need to cut the iron piping and adapt to pex for new runs to the boiler. Most likely, the fittings are corroded and unusable, or they do not come apart, and I do not have the choice of going in the wall on the main floor. What ideas are available?

newagedawn

is it a steam system? pex?

JUGHNE

Assuming that this is an older hot water system......if you run small pipe to replace larger pipe for only part of the system, then you may not get enough flow thru the smaller lines.
There were 2 recent threads here with this problem caused by lack of flow because of downsizing.

Some computer savvy wallie can click, drag whatever and insert them here.

livingwater

Hot water system. I plan on running same diameter piping. It is the adapting that is my situation. If I can not use any threads due to rotting, corrosion or just not possible, are there any other options? There are one inch lines coming from the second floor and stubbing into the basement and I hesitate to try to unthread the radiators on the main floor. Looking for other options for the transition from steel to pex.

Danny Scully

If it's a summer project, I would first attempt to reconnect to all threaded fittings. If for whatever reason you can't, get back to us with pictures of what you're running into. Again, for now keep it simple: remove threaded connections and install pex X male/female adapters.

BBros

I did the same thing for my home. A water system that was installed in the 40s I believe. A mix of 1" and 3/4" drops into the basement. I cut the majority of the horizontal, leaving about 2ft of pipe on each. Applied heat to the fittings and things came undone with relative ease. You might be surprised. Otherwise you might be attempting to re-thread old pipe in place, which doesn't sound like fun, but is technically possible with a hand threading tool.

livingwater

Yes it is a summer project. Thank you for the encouragement. I am just looking for alternative ideas to connecting two dissimilar pipes if the threads would not work. Such as the galv. compression couplings I have seen yet never used. Makes me nervous jumping into a project such as this and desire to make sure the customer is well taken care of.
I will attempt to send pictures from my phone.

Bob Bona_4

It's pretty uncommon not to be able to undo hw iron fittings. Cut the piping back a few fittings away from the ultimate adaptation point and work your way over. Somethings going to give. Based on the ease or difficulty taking things apart, you get a feel for how much you can tempt fate. I'd start with an 18 and 24 inch pipe wrench to break the fitting bond and go from there.

livingwater

Here are a couple pictures