Do your radiators go above 30 degrees (C)?

anna7602 · February 2012

I realize once I do the conversion that this is pretty high, but even with every radiator in the apartment set to the maximum of 30 degrees, it's still really cold in here. I have the big metal shutters drawn over the windows, have been trying to close the doors to the bedrooms and even then, we're still freezing. DD actually started crying 20 minutes ago over how cold she is, despite wearing tons of layers.

Brrrrr!

ooolalalolo · February 2012

Gosh, that sounds pretty unpleasant!

I've never set mine that high, but a few tips on keeping warm:

DH bought weather stripping and did this around our front door, and that has made an unbelievable difference in terms of warmth. It is not destructive and can just peel away when you leave if your landlord doesn't want to keep it. It's fairly inexpensive too. Check and see if you could do this around your windows--mine are so drafty, but they are sash windows so not much can be done about that (although on cold days, sometimes we duct tape like rockstars).

You can also use curtains to help hold in the warmth. It can make a big difference.

myblueangel19 · February 2012

wow! That is crazy. Does your radiator not work well? Or are there not enough radiators for the amount of space you have? We have 4 units in our 39m sq apt. Anywho, we set ours at 17 in this weather but I still have to wear house shoes to keep my feet from freezing. The apartments here are really poorly insulated.I hope you get something figured out soon, or even better, that this cold front will go away!

ETA: I forgot to add that we have the knobs on the radiators, a general thermostat and an additional thermostat setting attached to the water heater that controls the gas settings in the apartment. Is it possible that you have that additional setting somewhere that is not on high enough? Ours is near the fridge in the kitchen. We have it set to ECO but we can change that setting to higher or lower for the water and heating.

Pseudonim · February 2012

My parents house had the same problem. They bought the weatherstripping and we always had our curtains drawn in the winter. We had the heavy material with the insulating lining behind them.

Emily and Martin · February 2012

Is it possible that the knobs on the radiator are not accurate? Meaning, could you think you have it turned all the way to 30, but it's the wrong way?

I ask because the knobs on our radiator are not accurate at all. We don't even know which way is warmer or colder to be honest (they are really weird)... it's always so hot in here in the winter and we can not seem to change it no matter which way we turn them.

Otherwise, I would try the weather stripping the pp's talked about.

Good luck, that does not sound fun.

glitterfart · February 2012

I?m going to guess that the 30 degrees is not accurate, because you would be sweating if it were. We keep our house pretty warm in the winter (20 in the bedrooms because that?s as low as we can set it) and more like 22-23 in the living areas. Our thermostats just have numbers from 1-6, but we have radiant floor heating and no radiators.

Are the radiators too small for the space they are supposed to heat? They may need to be bled (have trapped air released). Are they gurgling? If you can hear them gurgling then you need to have your LL bleed them which makes them work properly and get as hot as they should be. Just a couple of things I can think of off the top of my head.

NLfoodie · February 2012

My previous house was poorly insulated and just wouldn't get warm until I just put curtains/cloth against every drafty area.

Possibly a stupid question, but do you have a thermostat, or just the radiator setting? I lived in an apartment building where it was always insanely hot as soon as I even opened the radiators barely. The thermostat was central for the whole building and I couldn't reach it and they just put it on insanely high. Yours might be located in a weird place or not accessible to yourself (only your LL) and set to a low temperature. If that's the case it doesn't matter how high you put the radiators, as it won't get warmer than whatever that's set to.

Also, check if there's too much air in there and/or too little water. You might need to both let the air out AND refill the water to get it to the right heat.

PittPurple · February 2012

We keep our flat at around 17-18 and I think it's freezing. With the horrible lack of insulation it's impossible to get it warmer. We're actually moving in a couple months primarily for this reason although we've dealt with it for 6 years now. DH puts up plastic wrap on all the windows to block some of the draft and I agree you should check your radiators - all of ours had mysterious things wrong with them our agency had to sort out after we moved in, I don't really know how it all works but it did help.