Top floor tenant wants to control radiator heat
Dear Brownstoner, My tenant lives on the top floor and requested that she be allowed to turn off the radiators on her floor as she says it too hot and the radiator makes a knocking noise. We just got a new boiler and our old pipes and return system work fine (despite a bit of…
Dear Brownstoner,
My tenant lives on the top floor and requested that she be allowed to turn off the radiators on her floor as she says it too hot and the radiator makes a knocking noise.
We just got a new boiler and our old pipes and return system work fine (despite a bit of knocking). Would we damage the system if we allowed her to turn off the two radiators on her floor? Also is there anything we can do to decrease the knocking?
Thanks to everyone in advance.
Faye
It would only make a difference if the boiler output is insufficient to the home’s heating requirements by the amount of that one radiator’s output.
If you need to turn off a radiator to “send more heat to the other radiators”, then you are using the wrong pump with your system.
hey Master Plvmber, does shutting radiators off in a hot-water system have any adverse effects? I generally keep the radiator in my garden level hallway off, out of the (possibly mistaken) impression that it will send more heat to the other radiators.
Yes, but although they’re out there, very few residential steam systems use traps.
They’re for use with 2-pipe steam.
Couldn’t it be inadequate steam traps as well?
Look for horizontal runs of piping that are not consistently pitched in a single direction or long runs that sag in the middle.
Master Plvmber, how would one find the spot where the water isn’t draining properly? Thanks so much!
Knocking in a steam heating system comes from steam meeting standing water.
Find the spot where water is not draining properly and you’ll be able to make the system work quietly.
For your tenant, give her thermostatic radiator valves (also called radiator thermostats) and her radiators will work at much lower temperatures without depriving the portions of the system they’re on of those radiator’s air vents.
Shutting radiators off creates imbalance and noise.