ive lived in chicago apts since 2001 but this year is my first experience with living in a place with radiator heat.
i wasnt sure how this was going to work, but i guess they just turned it on today.
so i cannot control this at all eh? just all you can do to “turn the heat down” is open windows?
i am a hot blooded bastard, and usually have the heat pretty low during the winter. this might be a long annoying winter if the only way i can lower the temp is opening windows.
any tips / info from people who have lived in apts with radiator heat very welcome.
These are steam radiators, the kind with a big chunk of funny-shaped iron in each room? There’s usually a valve or knob on them, on one of the pipes coming out of the floor, that you can use to regulate the flow of the steam.
The cheapest way is probably to buy 3-4 drop ceiling tiles. They are made of spun fiberglass. Just attach them in a box around the radiator. They will keep most of the heat away from the room. Tape the top one in a hinge so you can open it up if you do get cold.
MODERATOR COMMENT: Since this is a general question about steam heat radiators, I suggest that you also post this in the General Questions forum. I give you permission to repeat the post in the other forum, in hopes that you’ll get some additional info and answers.
As noted there should be a knob to adjust the flow.
I agree, you should call the super.
Let him deal with it and if he manages to break the valve it’s his problem not yours.
I have had both hot water heat and steam. Pretty much the only way to tell the difference is that the steam radiators have a valve that sticks out the side, which makes a hissing noise sometimes (if they whistle or spit/drip, they need to be replaced). The best way I’ve found to regulate these and not create clanking and other loud noises from the radiators, is to either turn them off all the way or on all the way. I have four rooms, kitchen, living, bath and bed, and the only radiator that’s on all the time is the one in the kitchen. Sometimes I’ll turn on the one in the living room, but that’s only when the wind and winter storms are just right that it gets chilly due to high winds and unusual direction it’s blowing.
If you’re on a higher floor, you may find it comfortable just to keep them off until it gets into the low 40’s and 30’s outside. I’m on the fourth floor and just keep them twisted down shut until it’s truly cold outside. I’ve also gotten used to it being about 74 in my apartment most of the time. if I’m cooking a bunch and have the oven on all day, sometimes I have to open the back door to the kitchen and/or run a window fan to keep it from getting up to 80 or beyond (like when I’m cooking a big dinner for guests).
And it may sound dumb, but remember - righty tighty (closed) and lefty loosey (open).
And your air will get Sahara desert DRY - you need to find a way to keep the air slightly humidified unless you like bloody noses and painful sinuses. My mom did it by setting a teakettle on top of the radiator with water in it so it would gently add water vapor to the air. Don’t do this, of course, if you have small kids around or pets that will knock it over.
Depending on the age of your building, you may not be able to turn your radiator off. There’s a little valve that lets you have less or more, but there may be no setting at which the radiator will be cool 24 hrs a day.
Also, depending on what floor you’re on, it may not make any difference, because you get so much heat from downstairs.
In this case, the ONLY way to regulate the temp is to open windows. I used to live in a building where every window was thrown open because the place was wildly overheated. Here in NYC, some landlords are a little paranoid about the statutory duty to provide 68F during the day and provide about 97F, just in case.
You know, I’ve heard this many times, and while I’m not arguing that it’s wrong, I can’t figure out why radiators would dehumidify the air at all (it takes condensation to do that), and why they would be worse at doing so than any other form of heat. All forms of heating I can bring to mind expose a scalding-hot metal surface to air, whether by convection or forced movement, which would do whatever the surface of a radiator would do.
If anything, the tendency of radiators to leak a little and blow a little steam out of pressure valves would make them a damper form of heat, no?
It’s not any worse. Heat dries the air, regardless of the source. In Europe, you find ceramic water containers in most every home; they’re designed specifically to hang on the radiators and provide some moisture to the home during winter when everything is closed up.
Does it? Warm air holds more moisture than cold. Where does the moisture go when it’s essentially 100% humidity outside and people create more by bringing damp or wet clothes in and respirating more humidity with every breath?
In climates with low winter humidity, humidifiers (whether a kettle on the radiator or a unit within a central HVAC) are useful, but in wet winter zones… how do building interiors get so dry from any form of radiated heat?
In my experience, skin-cracking low humidity is a facet of hot weather and continual AC operation, which can indeed create interior humidity much lower than outside. Our hot-water heat (just fancy new-tech radiators) doesn’t.
Right, hot air holds more moisture. Humidity percentages are a measure of the percentage of the moisture the air can hold, that it is currently holding.
So if you take 40 degree air that is holding 89% of the moisture it can hold, and heat it up to 70%, it is now holding only 40% of the moisture that it can hold.
Air at 40% humidity is going to suck the moisture out of your nasal passages in a way that air at 89% humidity never would. Even though technically there is the same amount of moisture in the air as before.
In Michigan, and I’d assume in Chicago, forced air heat typically comes with a humidifier attached to the furnace. Without that, the air would get very dry. Radiant heat won’t give you the same opportunity to humidify the air of the entire house from a single source. (I’m assuming steam heat doesn’t intentionally give off steam to humidify the air, but fight my ignorance if they do.)
With a steam system, don’t bother trying to turn the heat “down” by closing the big valve. The most you’re going to accomplish is getting water trapped in the radiator, the steam can make it through a fairly small gap. Once the radiator comes up to temp, there’s no way to slow it down*. You can try to block, or reduce the size of the air vent, which will make it take longer to get up to temp. You can turn it off all the way, maybe, if the valve isn’t too old.
*Once the radiator is full of steam, the condensing steam creates a strong vacuum that sucks fresh steam into the radiator, even a very small opening in the valve will let in as much steam as the radiator can use.
That makes some sense. Although I lived in nominally 30-40% humidity year round without issues. Here, 60-80% humidity is the norm and only cool temps make it bearable. (Meaning: August sucks.) I’ll have to monitor the indoor humidity this winter to see if our hydronic heat (and fireplace insert) really turn the house into a desert.