It’s often recommended to put a board on top of the radiator (stained and trimmed, they make nice shelves, but don’t put candles on them…ask me how I know. :smack:) to protect kitty feet from the hot surface.
Every place I’ve ever lived with radiators has come with a strongly worded letter that the knob must be all the way tight - either on or off, no halvsies. It was suggested that knocking happens when you have them midway, but I can’t say as I noticed…we had lots of knocking from a couple of radiators no matter what we or the landlord did, and others that were silent as the grave.
Strange heating systems you have over there. My radiators are supplied with hot water from a condensing boiler. This is controlled by a programmed thermostat which allows me to have different temperatures in the living area at different times of different days. (My wife gets up early on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, so it comes on earlier).
Each radiator also has its own thermostat so that bedrooms can be cooler, and bathrooms warmer.
I’m not so sure if they’re strange so much as old and in multi-unit buildings which often used to be heated by coal furnaces. They stuck on a more modern natural gas boiler sometime in the 40’s and called it a day. My last radiator heated place actually did replace the boiler with a shiny new uberefficient type in 2005, but they still didn’t make the radiators controllable individually by each unit, much less by each room. Mrs. Rodriguez across the hall had the, singular, thermostat, and just try convincing her to change it!
Just open the windows. It’s easier, and it’s actually nice to have fresh air in February.
I’m familiar with old style steam radiators. They are a very efficient and effective method of heating. Normally, there are two valves, one on each side. With some radiators there is only one valve. In any event, the valves should be all the way on or all the way off. You should not try to regulate the heat by turning the valves partially on.
You can have a plumber install a thermostat that will regulate a valve that will go on and off. It’s not cheap (the cost of the plumber, not the valve). It’s not a DIY job because the whole heating system (or at least the line) has to be shut down and working with steam pipes is not for amateurs.
The thermostat valves are good because steam heat is likely to leave you too hot rather than too cold and then you don’t have to regulate the heat by opening windows.
The steam radiators will seem a little quirky at first but once you get used to it you will probably like it.
Can you restrict airflow around the radiator, to limit the heat is sends into the room? Cover part of it with a blanket, or build a cabinet to enclose it, with adjustable opening? Or is that a bad thing to do?
It shouldn’t be particularly dangerous. In a low pressure (not pressurized) system, the steam is made by openly boiling water, and should not Be much hotter than 212. It’s also self regulating… If the radiator is insulated, the heat will not escape, the steam will not condense, and the vacuum will not draw fresh steam to the radiator. It should just stay at around 212, which it would normally do anyway. Whatever you insulate it with needs to be ok with that temp, of course.
It is quite normal to box in a radiator with a wooden frame that has a grid in front, I would think that a solid box or a box with a removable panel would be every bit as safe.
It sounds like you have a hydronic (hot water) system, which circulates water under some pressure througout all the radiating baseboard units and can be controlled by zones. (Mine has three.) The old-style iron radiators are powered by steam, which condenses back to water and returns to the boiler system. The pipes and radiators are not filled with water as in a hydronic system.
