Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with radiators

What kind of radiators do I have, and how do I fix them?

schroedinger — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 10:33:18 -0800

What kind of radiators are in my house, and how do I fix them? They're broke, it's cold, and the radiators are so old I can't find any information about them on Google! Pictures here. I live in an old rowhouse. It has oil heat and uses radiators, really, really old radiators. I've been here for a few years, and the heating has gotten progressively worse--some radiators remain cold all winter, others are sporadic in whether or not they turn on.

I have talked with my landlady, but I don't think she knows what kind of radiators they are any more than we do. She said two years ago the oil company cleaned the boiler and bled it, whatever that means (though from what I remember the radiators weren't any warmer, and a few remained completely broken). She suggested the individual radiators needed bleeding, but I don't think our radiators are the bleedin' kind. It's my understanding that bleeding individual radiators requires a key, as well as a place to put the key. We don't have key-holes on our radiators, just things that look like they could be pressure valves but don't release even when fully unscrewed. There are also these things attached to the floor.

Can anyone tell us what these things are and how we take care of them? I would like to have a better idea of their operation so we don't just call for the oil company again--I get the feeling they weren't quite sure what kind of radiators we had either and just threw my landlady a bunch of BS when they were "fixing" it a two years ago.

turn off radiators in unused rooms?

stupidsexyFlanders — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 03:52:21 -0800

How can I turn off a hot-water radiator to avoid heating a room I never use? I've got three bedrooms I rarely use, and I would like to be able to "turn off" the radiators in those rooms. My understanding is that if you just turn one off, you're also turning off everything downstream from that radiator. Is there a way to install a bypass so that you can block the water from the radiator and allow it to chug on down to the next station on the line? If so, cost range?

I googled +radiator +bypass unused and I found this but I don't trust it.

How do radiators work?

RobotHero — Wed, 05 Oct 2005 07:35:14 -0800

How do radiators heat my apartment? I've always assumed that heated water went in one side and out the other. I've just moved into an apartment with exposed radiators on the ceiling, and there's only one pipe going in, so that theory's out.

For some of the radiators, when I turn them on, air starts hissing out of what I thought was a safety valve. Others remain silent. Which one of these means it's broken?

Home Heating

davy — Mon, 13 Dec 2004 09:24:53 -0800

Another heating question!

We just moved to another apartment. It turns out this landlord has the furnace set up oddly: usually the filter goes between the burner/blower and the ductwork to the rooms, but here he's put it on the incoming vent before the furnace. Does that make sense?

Generally, my experience with forced air makes me really miss radiators. I don't like the idea of having dust mite poo blown up my nose, for one thing. Is it that radiators are more efficient and/or cheaper than forced air, or is it that gas furnaces seem more "modern"?

Why are radiators so often painted white?

Mwongozi — Mon, 13 Dec 2004 07:27:41 -0800

Why are radiators (the things connected to your hot water system that heat a room) usually painted white, when white is the worst colour for heat radiation?

How do I stop this new noise with my radiators?

notsnot — Thu, 11 Nov 2004 16:59:16 -0800

Radiatorfilter: I've got steam radiators in my house. Recently, I took them all outside and repainted them, then put new inlet and exhaust valves on them. So far so good, but when I fired up the furnace, I got a godawful racket. I'm used to the occasional clank from years past (and I went to gradeschool in an old building, so clanking doesn't surprise me), but this clanking is persistent and hasn't stopped for 40 minutes. So: how to stop the clanking? (also: anyone know of a good online reference to how the system works, esp. the exhaust valves?)