Old Fitting

Alan(CaliforniaRadiant)Forbes

the butler.

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Alan(CaliforniaRadiant)Forbes

Old Fitting

Visited a house in Piedmont yesterday and saw this old left-and-right on a ½" brass water line.

They overthreaded the left hand threads and then wedged a wad of horse hair in between the coupling and a locknut.

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Alan(CaliforniaRadiant)Forbes

Turn on

the heat........don't like that bullhead tee; it should have been changed when they replaced the boiler.

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Alan(CaliforniaRadiant)Forbes

They used

the best insulation money could buy.

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Alan(CaliforniaRadiant)Forbes

Nice radiators

but I'll bet this one gave them problems. It looks like something made the pipe rise out of the floor since the feet on the left side are in mid air.

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Steamhead

That bullheaded tee

was installed when that boiler was installed, from the looks of it. I'll bet Peerless specified a header much like Columbia does for their gas steamers, and the installer used the instructions for knee pads. Can't wait to see your "After" pics!

The house probably settled in such a way to cause that rad riser to pop up a bit.

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ScottMP

Ya beat me to it !

I was thinking about the floor settling also.

Great stuff Alan.

Scott

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Unknown

How does a floor settle

and not have the frame, hangers, and pipe settle with it?

My guess, a new subfloor went in, and new finish on top. The thickness didn't match the old floor, and since no pipefitter was involved, the radiator was reinstalled without shims.

Just a guess.

Noel

ScottMP

Could happen ?

My old boss told me about an apt. building where all the WC flanges were about 1/2" to high. All the toilets would rock. Could'nt figure it out untill they went up on the roof and saw all the roof flanges were 1/2" off the roof.

The whole building was settling but the piping was'nt.

Scott

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Unknown

I can understand that one

if the plumbing originated beneath the floor under the building and stuck through the roof, too.

I'm not seeing a floor settling and leaving the steam pipes high. Having run a little steam pipe, you start piping ( like drains, I imagine) at the spot that the pitch and the structure meet, and go from there. In other words, there is likely one spot where the pipe is near the floor and the pitch fades away from that point. If the floor settles, I picture the pipe "riding" with it.

I'll buy it if this radiator is DIRECTLY over the boiler piping, with very little horizontal piping to it. This would be in the house with steam heat and the boiler ISN'T in the center, or the radiators aren't on outside walls.

Could happen.

Noel

Darin Cook_3

How much steam do you find out there?

I was out in San Luis Obispo a few years ago doing some underground utility work at the Army guard post there with my Air guard unit. We went on the tour up in San Simeon through Hearst Castle and low and behold, Steam heat. William Randolph Hearst was one of the wealthiest men in America in the early 20th century and I was told he specified steam heat over gravity hot water. I am sure you can imagine the looks I got as I was checking out the Rads and steam traps. They told me the boiler room was off limits and that noone had asked to look at it before. Imagine that!






Darin

Steamhead

That was probably a Vapor system

which was the Cadillac of heating at that time. And it's still one of the best out there.

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Jeff Lawrence_24

Biltmore

My family and I went to Biltmore house in North Carolina around New Years last year. My wife asked what additonal tour i wanted to go on, either the Gardens Tour, the Roof Top tour, or the Behind the Scenes tour. Guess which one I wanted to go on (and went on)? The boilers had been shut down by this point, but they were still there.

I loved the tour.

Not bad for a Southern boy, huh?

J

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bob young

a riser too long

what are the chances there is no three elbow swing under the floor on that connection ? it might have been piped in like that from day one. not all plumbers carry a ruler or know how to measure.

Arthur

Old Fitting

This a called a longscrew. used to be a common fitting before macunions was invented. We used them when I started in the trade some 40yrs ago. A lot cheaper than Mac's too. just a socket and a backnut. just thread one pipe to allow the socket & Nut to screw fully on and then line up to a standard thread and screw back on to the other pipe,
Get some hemp and roll into a string and roll around the long pipe beside the socket and wind the backnut up to it. That must one of the messiest job I've ever seen, we alway made a neater job than that. Still ocassionally run into them on old installations. Mostly used on Galvanised pipe most heating installations are now made in Black pipe with welded fittings. Mac's only used to allow maintenace on valves or equipment.

ScottMP

You should have seen the look

I got when in England.

We went to the castle were Winston Churchill was born. Sorry the name escapes me right now but I did the same thing, " could I see the basement ? ".

Ya they thought I was pretty wierd

Scott

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