Welcome! Here are the website rules, as well as some tips for using this forum.
Need to contact us? Visit https://heatinghelp.com/contact-us/.
Click here to Find a Contractor in your area.

Do cast iron radiators have a built-in pitch?

Jimbo_5
Jimbo_5 Member Posts: 222
in THE MAIN WALL
I have an old 10-section one in the yard that is definitely oitched to one end. Just curious.

Comments

  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 24,728
    None of the ones I've seen do... did someone take a hacksaw to one of the end sections?
    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
  • Intplm.
    Intplm. Member Posts: 2,176
    No built in pitch that I have seen. All rads have the same length for each leg.
  • JohnNY
    JohnNY Member Posts: 3,287
    No.
    Contact John "JohnNY" Cataneo, NYC Master Plumber, Lic 1784
    Consulting & Troubleshooting
    Heating in NYC or NJ.
    Classes
  • TKPK
    TKPK Member Posts: 25

    sorry, reviving an old thread.


    I have a 34 yo Weil McLain EG-65 2 pipe steam system in a 100 yo house.

    I have surveyed all 15 of the radiators and 8 are pitched in the wrong direction (toward the supply, not towards the steam trap).

    The pitch that I need to gain varies between 1/4” and 5/8”, one is over 1”. Most of these have very rigid pipes with no forgiveness to change elevations on either end and are sitting on hardwood floors and I can’t see the fitting that the nipple goes into.

    The only way I see to re-pitch is to rethread the drain end nipple and trim off some of the nipple and some of the radiator feet.

    I do not have any hammer in 7/8 of the radiators. The 1+ inch lightly hammers
    I am very handy, is this a good approach?

    I will do anything to avoid tearing up floors/ceilings to get at broken fittings

  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 24,728

    Leave them alone. The only real risk is water left in them freezing someday, if the house gets really cold.

    The hammer is probably not in the radiator anyway — much more likely in the supply runout.

    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
    ethicalpaulTKPK
  • CoachBoilermaker
    CoachBoilermaker Member Posts: 340
    https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1823016#Comment_1823016

    If they are pitched the wrong way, how is the system working? Won't the water stay stuck in the rads?

  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 24,728

    These are two pipe steam radiators, @CoachBoilermaker . The steam comes into the radiator through an inlet high on one end. It condenses in the radiator, and the resulting condensate — the water — leaves through the trap (or in some vapour systems some other gadget) low — usually, though not always, on the opposite end.

    Now if the radiator is pitched the "wrong way" — that is, away from the outlet end — some of the condensate — a very small amount — will get left in a shallow puddle at the low end. Doesn't hurt anything.

    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England

Categories