Apartment Building Bathroom Steam Riser

Steamhead

but I'm curious- what are you using to heat that bathroom? If the bathroom is small you could always attach some steam-type baseboard to that riser.....

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Alex_3

Apartment Building Bathroom Steam Riser

I will be gut remodeling a 5th floor apartment in a 6 floor building. The building was built around 1950 and is heated by one pipe steam system.

All the rooms have standard steam convectors with the exception of the bathroom which has an open 2" diameter pipe in one corner. There is no vent on it, I guess it's on the top floor.

My problem is that I need to offset this pipe ~8" as it is the middle of a proposed doorway. Would any problems be caused by cutting the pipe below the floor and above the ceiling, rethreading it and offseting it using 45 degree fittings? The pipe would also no longer needed and would be insulated in the new wall.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

Al Letellier

steam riser

With the information you give, I see no problem, especially using forty fives. 90's would give the obvious potential problems, as you have already observed.

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Alex_3

Steam Riser

The bathroom will be exapanded to 5'x8' and will be heated by an overhead 1500W fan-forced heater/vent combo. Besides being in a bad spot I am told the steam riser makes the room extremely hot from October to March and requires an open window to get the heat to a bearable level. About 20 years ago I lived in apartment with the same open steam riser in the bathroom and know this problem well. Also in a small bathroom it is hard not to brush against the steaming-hot pipe and cause a nice burn.

I was actually considering putting a reducing Tee in the 2" riser to feed a small 1" or 1 1/4" tapping steam baseboard. If I did that I could always use a TRV steam vent to control the heat. I'm sure this would work in theory- but I'm not sure how it would affect the system, etc. Why didn't they originally install steam baseboards with individual valves off this riser when they built the place? I have seen other buildings of this age have the riser and the baseboards. I guess it was to save a few bucks.

Joe_13

Are the ceilings high? Will a 45 offset cut the pipe over 8" before you hit the top of the door jam? I assume you are working for the owner and he knows you're doing this?
The only nice thing about having the small radiator is it would alow you to open the window slightly for fresh air in the winter without freezing out the room. (Nobody likes a cold bowl!) I guess there's no such thing as a steam towel warmer.

Steamhead

Put some Baseray in

it will be a lot cheaper to run than that electric heater! Plus you can control it with a TRV or adjustable air vent.

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