Moving Wall Radiators for More Space

cubicacres

We'd like to remove the banding iron wall supports, angle this kitchen wall radiator out on the left side a few inches to make room for replacing the air vent, allow it to be a little further from the wall to radiate more heat into the room, and support it with a pedestal from below on the left side to get a better pitch by turning the bottom of the brass supply valve counter-clockwise a quarter turn or so. Any suggestions on doing this?

Jamie Hall

Carefully... You may find that just turning the valve a bit so the left side of the radiator is farther from the wall causes it to leak, since you are turning the valve in the loosening direction. One hopes not; I'm not sure from the photo whether you really have enough room to the wall to turn the valve all the way around, which you would have to do to take it off and redo the threads.

Be sure to replace the radiator with enough pitch -- that short nipple along the wall looks pretty flat. Check it's level...

cubicacres

It's pretty close to the wall, and was supported underneath by 2 bricks before we swapped them for the banding irons into the wall studs.

Now that we need to replace the air vent and it's too close to the wall to replace it without cutting into the wall, it looks like we're going back to how it was earlier with those bricks/pedastal for support to level it, and moving it out a little (or swinging it at the supply valve or further down the supply pipe near the floor hole on the right of the photo to get a few inches clearance on the left side to attatch a new air vent.

Steamhead

Order a pair of wall-mount brackets from OCS, which are adjustable and set far enough out from the wall that you can change the vent easily. They're on page 5 of this catalog:

http://ocsind.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/15981-OCS-Catalog.Updated15.pdf

cubicacres

Thanks, we just ordered a pair from Anthony at OCS.

Do they swing the bottom of the radiator out into the room when connected to the supply pipe a little when the vertical screw is lowered/adjusted, or is this just the way to initially set it as far from the wall as needed to provide space for the air vent change?

It would seem a little weird (leak prone?) to have the top of the wall radiator at an angle back towards the wall with the bottom out into the room instead of straight/vertical up & down, but haven't used these before, so we're curious.