Brand new supply valve wont shut off?

foxonwheels

Hi.  I live in a ye olde high rise that uses steam heat.  I complained to my maintenance manager about a wretched steam hammer and a constantly hot radiator.  It's a two pipe radiator and they replaced the trap (cause of the banging) and the supply valve.  The good news is that the banging is completely gone!  The bad news: Even with the new valve cranked all the way down, my radiator is still extremely hot!  My room is rather small and it heats up like an oven.



I've taken the plastic knob off the valve and cranked the SOB down with a wrench, but it still hisses quietly.  I know that steam is entering the radiator and it is not latent heat in the pipe because while the top of the radiator's drain side is only warm, not hot, the drain itself is screaming hot.  This tells me that steam is entering and making its way through the entire radiator.



My question is, why would a brand new valve not shut off all the way?  Are they for some reason designed to let a certain amount through even when cranked down?  I'm thankful that the clanking has ceased, but I was really hoping both my troubles would be fixed.



Here are some pictures of what the new parts look like:



Supply:

<a href="http://www.steamshop.com/RA-1-AP.jpeg">http://www.steamshop.com/RA-1-AP.jpeg</a>



Trap:

<a href="http://hdsupplysolutions.com/wcsstore/B2BDirectStorefrontAssetStore/product_images/ThdsMroUs/21/212734_K_L.jpg">http://hdsupplysolutions.com/wcsstore/B2BDirectStorefrontAssetStore/product_images/ThdsMroUs/21/212734_K_L.jpg</a>

TomM

maybe

1.....Maybe the trap is still bad and the steam is entering from the trap side.  That is likely.

.

2....You say "it still hisses quietly".  What is hissing?  there should not be an air valve w/ a trap.

.see here:  http://www.gwgillplumbingandheating.com/webapp/GetPage?pid=260

.

3....i would doubt that the valve is bad if new. 

nicholas bonham-carter

Radiator too hot?

That hissing you here may indicat that the pressure is too high preventing the trap from working. Likely this system has some easily correctable problems. Are you renting, or owning? Someone is probably paying too much for fuel waste due to bad controls, or bad pressure, or bad traps. Ask the maintenance people what the pressure in the system is. These old systems were quite comfortable when first installed, and can be returned to their original excellence of operation without too much trouble or expense. The original occupants of the building would never have tolerated the over-heating, or the people response for the lack of maintenance!

Sloppy maintenance people often keep their jobs by convincing the owner that the repairs will be just too expensive, and that only they can "fudge" the system along.

Go higher up the chain with your complaints-the owner/neighbors will be happy when the system finally works properly.--NBC