Lifting up a Radiator

NY2024

Hi! There are two radiators on our second floor that feed off the same riser. My guess is that the runouts to these two radiators have sagged over the years. Every time the heat comes up, there's a lot of banging in the runouts to the two radiators until the steam reaches the supply valve for each radiator. Once the steam arrives at the supply valves, the banging stops completely.

Once the heating season is over, I would like to hire a plumber to raise these two radiators a little bit (both ends of each radiator) to hopefully give some pitch to the runouts and solve the water hammer that happens each time the heat comes up.

One of the radiators is a 32 EDR six-tube radiator with 8 sections and the other radiator is a much larger 55.5 EDR three-column radiator with 15 sections.

How does it actually work to raise up a radiator? How difficult is it to do this? Is there any potential downside to trying this? Can it break or crack the radiator? I would rather deal with the water hammer than create new, additional problems. How many inches would be good to start with to try this out?

Thank you very much for your help!

EdTheHeaterMan

You need two strong men and a boy!

Seriously, lifting a radiator with a lever and fulcrum, a little at a time, is not hard to do at all. Have some ¼-inch shims ready. Lift one end ¼ inch, then the other end ¼ inch, then go back to the original end ¼ inch, and then back to the other end ¼ inch. Continue this process until you get the radiator about ¾ inch above the floor, and then try the system out.

The cast-iron parts and fittings should hold up just fine. I have done this several times with good success.

ethicalpaul

A block of wood and a 2x4 make a great lifter. As long as you don't get too medieval on it I think the risk of breaking anything is quite low. But not zero!