Landlord Not Providing Adequate Heat
Hi Brownstoners: I am a renter in brownstone Brooklyn. When the furnace is on it does a great job heating the basement and the first floor, a somewhat less good job heating the 2nd floor and a non-existent job of heating the 3rd floor (where I reside). I complain to the landlords – they live…
Hi Brownstoners:
I am a renter in brownstone Brooklyn.
When the furnace is on it does a great job heating the basement and the first floor, a somewhat less good job heating the 2nd floor and a non-existent job of heating the 3rd floor (where I reside).
I complain to the landlords – they live on all 3 of the floors below me; my apartment is freezing at all times. They won’t raise the heat because they are “dying” down there.
Last year they called National Grid because I was flipping out and bothering them constantly and they were told that unless they keep the thermostat up there just won’t be enough oomph to get the heat up to my floor (they used more technical terms).
What’s a girl to do? I pay a lot of money for the apartment and it’s basically unheated unless I pitch a fit and they temporarily send some heat up. I use a space heater but I think it’s unfair – it doesn’t do a great job in a 2 BR apartment and it increases my electric bill.
They replaced the furnace about 2 years ago so the unit itself is new, but it’s just not doing the job. The older one was actually better.
Any suggestions/guidance/advice is most appreciated!
I’m not familiar at all. I am just saying what the LL said. Not even what National Grid personally said. I do know that they did not go into any of the apartments, certainly not mine.
I would love to call a good plumber but as I said earlier, it will create gigantic problems. I think I have to somehow convince THEM to call a plumber. They don’t like to spend money, the people who have done work in the building are “I know a guy who knows a guy”.
The only reason National Grid came into the picture is because the LL had a credit and figured it wouldn’t cost any money. It also didn’t solve any problems.
I appreciate everyone’s input and I’m inspired to get tough this year. I will ask them to call Master Plumber or others who have replied to my post for an estimate. Let’s get this done with once and for all.
Thanks everyone!
Are you familiar with what’s involved in balancing a steam heat system? Did National Grid really go through the entire building (every floor, every apartment, every radiator), checking the heat distribution to each radiator and adjusting the vents accordingly? If not, they may have done something, but they did not balance the building’s system. Call a good plumber like Master Plvmber (Gateway), or others who have replied to your post.
Wow – a lot to absorb.
I will say this – I had my annual-beginning-of-heating-season-freak-out and now am receiving heat. So I can’t take the temperature at the moment. Soon, they won’t be able to stand it and shut me down and THEN I will take my internal temps.
I do use a space heater because I have no choice. But I’m smarter than open oven doors! Plus I pay for gas.
The apartment isn’t illegal because last year they had ME calling National Grid as an emergency when they truly didn’t understand what the issue was. They came out, bled the system, re-balanced it and told the LL’s to keep the thermostat up or it wouldn’t reach me (which leads me to believe that perhaps NG knew the boiler is too small?)
311 has to be a VERY last resort for me because these are the type of LL’s that will never forgive/forget and I have to live with them – literally. They have either tried to help me or given up over their own discomfort so I’m not 311 mad. Yet.
Lastly, I think it’s illegal(?) to stop paying rent or reduce the amount, but I’m sure it gets a lot of attention!
Okay this one is not that simple. The posts about the different air vents for different floors is correct, sort of. The radiator closes to the boiler has a vent with more restriction and the furthest have less. You really need to know how the building is piped to do this correctly. This must be done by a qualified licensed plumber. Just being a plumber does not assure you they now what there doing in this case. Also in a building with multiple apartments a thermostat is not going to work, there are to many variables. What needs to be installed is a heat timer or similar control. This device reads outside temps and monitors when the last radiator in the system gets heat by detecting temp. on the last return line to the boiler Good luck
Dear OP, as other have said before me, please record temperatures taken at different times of the day and the night and compare to NYC regulations (68 daytime, 55 night time).
Same in our brownstone. I don’t complain unless it’s really cold — like, when I was wearing coats inside — because my rent is very good, so I accept some below-market services for below-market rent.
LLs have found that calling plumbers and tweaking the system helps a lot. My apartment will always be cooler than the LLs, but there is definitely something professionals have been able to do to balance it. It’s worse at the change of seasons, when the temp outside fluctuates so much. We get more of an equilibrium in winter.
I am surprise in all the technical answers and especially in suggestions to use oven or space heaters or gel burners. As a tenant you should not do any of these. Modifying heating in your apartment in any way could be taking against you. Any of the heating methods are fire hazard. So I would keep record of the temperature and talk to landlord. If he need help – people on this forum will provide plenty of it.
If the situation would not resolve you always have option to call 311. But this is a last resort.
I had a tenant from Texas who was always freezing. This was wierd to us because the tenant below her was too hot. We got a thermometer and the temperature was over 70 in the hallway. So we knocked on the door to hang the thermometer inside the apartment so we could get a reading there. She answered the door in boxershorts and a camisole.
I explained to her it was winter in North America, and I didn’t care what they did in Houston in January, in NYC we wear clothes.
The problem is, the boiler is not bled properly. I have the same problem with mine. He has to bleed the air out. What happens is they bleed it, run the water through it, but it doesn’t get over the hump at the top and start syphoning back down. If it doesn’t get over the hump there will always just be air in your pipes and so you’r will be cold.
If they do this PROPERLY, the system will be balanced.
Stop paying rent until it is done.