Threaded brass fittings ok in baseboard heating system?

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Friolator

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We recently built a deck off of our second floor kitchen. What was once a window has been opened up to become a rough opening for a door. Of course, there was baseboard heat running below the window, and I need to route that heat under the floor now so we can install the door. The floor and walls are finished and we're trying to minimize the amount of demo we have to do. The plan is to route the copper under the door itself, since there's more than enough depth under the door for both the copper and new framing for the threshold. This is in an outside wall, and will be thoroughly insulated with expanding foam to prevent any freezing. (we're in New England)

It's a really tight fit and I don't want to have to pull apart any more of the plaster wall than necessary. So my thinking is to sweat brass elbows on both ends of the horizontal run under the door, ahead of time. Something like this: http://thd.co/10VtQav This will allow me to slip that horizontal run under the door into place, then I can simply thread the short runs that come out of the wall on either side into those, using these http://thd.co/12w6FGQ

this would allow me to assemble the components ahead of time, making it easier to put together and avoiding major demo on the wall (and sweating the fittings inside the wall cavity, which I'd rather avoid).

So I guess my main question is - can I use threaded fittings in a forced hot water heating system like this, or am I asking for leaks?

Thanks!

-perry
 

hj

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copper

Yes you can use them, but whether you have leaks will depend on whether you can tighten them adequately. You may want to use brass nipple to extend above the floor then transition back to copper at that point.
 

Friolator

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Cool - thanks!

I think I'll go with your suggestion to use a nipple for that, since it'll give me a better chance of getting a solid grip on the pipe outside the wall, for a tighter fit. I replaced a lot of leaking, poorly installed copper in the basement when I bought the house, so I'm pretty confident with that (no leaks in 10 years), but haven't done too much with brass except for a few fittings here and there. With the amount of heat going through this system, am I better off using pipe dope or tape on brass-to-brass threaded fittings?

Thanks!
 
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