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Hi all,

I moved into a brownstone in the Park Slope neighborhood about 6 months ago. This is the first time I have lived in a place with steam radiators, and I have a question about a piece of the system. In our bathroom, there is a pipe that runs from the floor, about 5 feet tall. It is topped with what appears to be a steam valve (see attached image), I am assuming to allow air to bleed out of the system. When the heat/steam is on, the pipe gets hot, and a thin trickle of steam comes from the top. It also makes quite a racket, both from the steam escaping from the top, and what sounds like a clinking rattle inside the device. It’s loud enough that you can hear it with the bathroom door closed. My question is twofold–what is this thing, and is there any way that I can quiet it down? Is the valve faulty? Or will it always make such a racket?

Thanks for any help!