Drain plug

Fizz

for poor pitched pipe. This has been suggested as a sollution to end of run on one side of parallel single-pipe system. The pipe in question(a 6' piece) was put in this spring and some-what improved pitch of old one. The only other solution is very expensive as pipe supplies steam to 2nd floor rad, and would have to re-pipe thru cellar rafters. The pitch is downward about 1" over 6' run. Would this provide solution?

nicholas bonham-carter

Are you missing part of your post?
Can you repost with all the information?—NBC

Fizz

That's it. It's just one section of run with poor pitch, and a drainplug is suggested. Have you ever seen or heard of this as the answer to pitch? Now, the radiator heats fully, but there is a wooshing noise once steam is moving, and sand moving like sound.

nicholas bonham-carter

Does he want you to remove the plug during each heating cycle?
The one inch slope is better than nothing, but will make a bit of noise as the steam pushes past the slowly moving water.
Try a very slow vent (Hoffman 40), on the radiator supplied by this pipe, and that may reduce the noise.
Make sure the water is as clean as possible to reduce carryover up into the supplies, and max out your main air vents, while keeping the pressure in the ounces range.—NBC

Jamie Hall

Downward towards the boiler, I hope? In any case putting in a drain plug won't help. If the pitch is downwards towards the boiler, keep going along the pipe all the way to the boiler. The pitch must be uniform -- that is, the pipe must be straight with no sags or dips. It is better to have less pitch with a straight pipe than varying pitch.

Then, as @nicholas bonham-carter suggests, try a very slow vent on that radiator.

However.

If the pitch is away from the boiler, that won't work. There are solutions, but they're not all that simple.

Please advise...

Fizz

Here's some pix, the pipe is away from boiler, you can see return, but pitch is not to boiler in pipe in question. Advice to drain once a week, as amount won't be as much as not draining, and more than that shouldn't make much difference as only one rad attched at 20 sf of radiation. Pictures were prior to replacing section of pipe which was leaking. Thanks guys for input.

Fred

That pipe can be dripped into a wet return or the pitch can be corrected. Plugging it and draining it weekly is not a fix. It will fill with water in a couple days, in the dead of winter, not to mention the amount of fresh water you'll be adding to the boiler with the draining.

Jamie Hall

Where does that lower pipe go? I assume that the upper is the steam supply line...

Fred

Jamie Hall said:

Where does that lower pipe go? I assume that the upper is the steam supply line...

@Jamie Hall , I assumed the pipe continues past that lower pipe (Dry return) about 6 ft to the last radiator run and that is the section that pitches the wrong direction. Of course, my assumption is just that, an assumption.

Jamie Hall

Fred said:

Jamie Hall said:

Where does that lower pipe go? I assume that the upper is the steam supply line...

@Jamie Hall , I assumed the pipe continues past that lower pipe (Dry return) about 6 ft to the last radiator run and that is the section that pitches the wrong direction. Of course, my assumption is just that, an assumption.

Oh dear. You might be right. Not a whole lot of leeway there, then. Hmm... I wonder if the OP could extend that dry return, on a slightly lower slope (it seems to have a good bit of slope) far enough to pick up a similar T and 90 arrangement at the far end there... Unless there's a handy dandy union in there somewhere, though, there's going to be some pipe cutting and threading involved!

KC_Jones

If you are indeed talking about a drain plug that you drain weekly, well honestly that's kind of silly. That being said, it's a terrible idea because you are basically talking about needlessly draining water out of the system that you are trying to keep as much water in.

A drip into a wet return is the only good option for a low point that you say can not be fixed.

Fizz

Fred, the pitch correction would require removing pipe to 2nd floor,and cutting into rafters, so maybe a drip is better choice, and Jamie, the bottom pipe is the parrallel return. There is about 5' from dry return to pipe run to radiator. The drip was mentioned as the better opt, but may wait til end of season, $ is tight having just moved. Any harm in waiting?

Jamie Hall

Fizz said:

Fred, the pitch correction would require removing pipe to 2nd floor,and cutting into rafters, so maybe a drip is better choice, and Jamie, the bottom pipe is the parrallel return. There is about 5' from dry return to pipe run to radiator. The drip was mentioned as the better opt, but may wait til end of season, $ is tight having just moved. Any harm in waiting?

Well, waiting won't break anything. You may find you have varying amounts of hammer at the end of that line, and varying amounts of heat from the radiator, but no... it won't break anything...

Fizz

So far no hammer or heat variation, keep fingers crossed. Thanks Jamie!

Fizz

This past cold snap reared it's ugly head in the form of moderate water hammer and swooshing sound at pipe. Is it possible to run a pipe from end of supply to start of return?

Jamie Hall

Fizz said:

This past cold snap reared it's ugly head in the form of moderate water hammer and swooshing sound at pipe. Is it possible to run a pipe from end of supply to start of return?

Depends on whether that "return" is, in fact, a true dry return or whether it's an extension of the steam main. If it's a true dry return, then no, unless a trap is put in to keep steam out of it.

Your best bet for a low spot, if you can't correct it, is to drip it to a wet return.

Fizz

It's an extension of the steam main.