clevis hangers on steam mains

thfurnitureguy_4

during the summer I found a 50 foot length of 3" pipe that was sagging about 3" with no hangers. or so it seamed at the time. As it turns out the hanger bolts on 5 clevas hangers had broken off or pulled out of the celing joists. These were 3/8" bolts broken off! I guess the ball and socket type or roller hangers arn't just for looks. Now looking at what the old guys used, and are still are holding after a hundred years. I devised a rig that I thought was prety cleaver. I used a 3/8 lag hook into the celing and hooked it thru a 3/8 eye bolt that threaded into the hole in the clevis hanger. now I can adjust the sag out of my pipe and it still can swing with expantion. This sag that was above the suspended celing in the back near the boiler. I bet it was all but filled with water. This might explain the slow steam to that side of the building.

Christian Egli

Hanging pipes the same way rails are set for the railroad

You're thinking smart. That's great. Steam is not only good for the heat it works the brain muscles too.

Now, how many times did you bang your head on the sagging main until you developed the bulging brain? It's happened to me a few times too many.

We use a lot of L-shaped brackets to hang pipes on. The bolt into the joist goes horizontally, so it doesn't just hold by the thread.

Then, the hanger rod dangles from the vertical hole. It makes adjustments easy, whatever type of pipe attachment you use, clevis, split ring…

That works just like your hook up.

You figured it all out. It isn’t so much the weight but the thermal expansion that rips and breaks things apart.

Can your long main expand on the ends? Does it have a set of elbows to play with? Or else, if it is solidly restrained on both ends, then the length of main will buckle into large S shapes to absorb the extra thermal expansion.

It will equally push on a boiler and put a lot of stress on the cast iron parts. Until they crack.

If the buckling occurs in a horizontal plane only, no problem, the hangers can pivot. If the buckling occurs vertically, it will yank out the weakest bolts.

And the train derails.