Mount a baseboard steam radiator vertically?

Tony Conner

... think of steam as utterly unpredictable. If you install things correctly, it'll work exactly as predicted. However I too periodically come across installations that just shouldn't work - but they do.

Laszlo

Want to put a 5'cast-iron baseboard steam radiator in a vertical position on the wall. Will it function? Some say yes, some say no, but can't explain why not. Can you help?
Thank you

Tony Conner

You Might...

... get some reduction in capacity, for the same reason uninsulated vertical steam lines lose less heat than the same line installed hoizontally. Heat transfer is driven by delta-T. With a vertical line, the air moving up the outside of the pipe gets increasingly warmer the futher it rises, and this reduces the available delta-T. With an uninsulated horizontal line, the air moves over the hot pipe once, and cooler air comes in from below. The delta-T stays up. For practical purposes though, I'll bet the vertical installation works just fine.

Steamhead (in transit)

Piping

That baseboard probably has 3/4" tappings. When you come up into the bottom of the baseboard use a gate valve and a union (or a "radiator gate" with a built-in union if you can find one) so the condensate can fall straight down out of the baseboard. The horizontal runout feeding the riser to the baseboard should be 1-inch. This will prevent banging.

Robert O'Connor_12

Laszlo

Sure it will work, but your going to have to control the condensate. Over sizing the horizontal branch by "two" sizes larger may help control unwanted hammer and I'd pitch it up bunch as well. Steamhead too brings up a good point as well in the gate valve arrangement. It would be nice if there were additional tappings in it for drainage.


Robert O'Connor/NJ

J.C.A._3

If it's a new install....check out,

Steamradiators.com. They may have something to fit your particular situation. Tube type steam radiators look nicer vertically than something that's supposed to run horizontally.

They have some of the neatest looking stuff, that works in many different orientations. Give it a shot. Chris

Steamhead (in transit)

Believe it or not

I've actually seen one of those little 3-1/2 square feet "bathroom radiators" form the 1920s hooked up that way- except it only had 1/2" pipe coming up into the bottom of the rad thru a gate valve and union! According to every reference I have that shouldn't work- but it does.

bob young

steam & cats

with steam " you never know ! " it is like a cat , it does whatever it wants & utterly unpredictable . thats why we love them both.