Moving a radiator, pitch question

philsego

At the end of this heating season, I'll be moving a radiator in a one-pipe system. I have access below the the old and new positions, enough to do pretty much what I want. I've read that the pitch should be 1" in 10 feet (or 1" in 12' minimum), and I have enough room to do that for the new 10-foot horizontal run. BUT the vertical pipe will come off the el at 90-degrees, perfectly horizontal! How do I get the pipe to pitch? It's 1¼" - do I just bend it? (I realize that this is less than 1 degree). Or is there a special el/tee/union/whatever for doing this? Thanks!

JUGHNE

Swing fittings, simply use 2 90's with close nipple where it seems 1 would do the job. On both ends of the run, at the steam main and then where you go thru the floor to the rad valve.
This lets you get your slopes and allows for expansion of the iron pipe to prevent stress and noise.

Look at some old steam piping installs, most use the swing 90-45's etc. The elbows are not necessarily close together.

philsego

Yes - I see them on my system. It just didn't dawn on me why the plumber piped the system that way. Thank you!!

JUGHNE

Years ago before thinking about it, I thought the pipefitter was trying to reduce inventory.
This allows you to have perfectly vertical risers at each end of the sloped pipe.