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Problems with radiator

Dr_Acula
Dr_Acula Member Posts: 5
in Strictly Steam
Good day,



I rent a 100 year old suite. I have two steam radiators, one which works, and one which doesn't. Naturally, it's the one that doesn't that I'm concerned with. I have asked my land lady several times to look into it, and I keep getting the run around.



Here is the background from what I can tell:

It is a two pipe steam rad. It seems to be correctly pitched. In rare cases when it's VERY cold, it warms up a bit right by the valve on the top (in coming) side. When I remove the steam trap (on the bottom left where i imagine the condensate returns to the boiler), it hisses and spits, does nothing for 10 minutes, then it starts to hiss and spit again, then another pause- and so on... About a liter or so later, the whole radiator is nice and warm- much warmer on the top, still rather cool on the bottom. As soon as I put the cap back on, it gets cold within an hour. Also, the water coming out is cold at first, after a few hours, the water that comes out is warmer. i've never left the cap off for more than a few hours at a time for fear of flooding and pressure loss. It' seems to me that something is blocking the return path, probably years of calcium and rust build up. Since I don't have access to the boiler room (nor any experience with boilers whatsoever), is there anything I can do from here? Would pouring a can of CLR down the trap be a really bad idea? Compressed gas to flash it out? A garden hose? There is also a small standard screw on the top left above the steam tap opposite the incoming. I'm not sure what it is, but should i try to adjust it?  I don't know when the system was last cleaned out, but I'm willing to be it's been more than 10 years. My other rad in the other room works fine other than the occasional water hammer. The clanging on the working rad seems to be in time with the sputtering on the broken rad when I have the cap off. Don't know if that's useful to know or not.



Ok, that's all i can think of to write. Thanks in advance for any help!



S

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