Drain radiator in one pipe system

pjoy

At the beginning of heating season should radiators be disconnected and drained of standing water? At startup my radiators make sounds like there is water in the base. All radiators are tilted toward the pipe,

109A_5

As far as I know the radiators here (one pipe system) have not been drained in almost 100 years.

If you think there is excessive trapped water maybe the radiator valves are not opened all the way, broken or the pipe pitch is incorrect so water in the pipes near the radiators is trapped and puddling.

If you do drain the water from the radiators and don't repair the underlying cause it will simply return after a heating cycle or two.

DanielDAY

If it’s only on startup then I would think that is normal. Radiators will be cold on startup so the steam will condense right away and you’ll have more condensate for that reason

ethicalpaul

all traditional steam radiators hold water. And they all seem to last for decades up to 100 years or longer.

So it can’t possibly be worth the trouble of draining them annually.

And don’t sweat the pitch. It just doesn’t matter within reason, and often the supply pipe won’t let you pitch it anyway