Can someone help identify this noise? Plus a few questions

cluelesschick

Hi. I am a college student living by myself in a 50 unit apartment complex. My apartment heat is controlled by radiators. I dont know much about radiators so I will also include a pic because Im not sure of the proper terminology of the various parts and I have a few questions:



1. I have heard that radiators can make banging sounds but one of the radiators in my apartment is making a strange noise. It sounds as if something is scraping/scratching the inside of the radiator pipes. Sometimes it gets really loud to the point where it almost sounds like a power saw, other times it is quieter but still sounds like someone dragging a shovel down a sidewalk. It usually goes away after a few minutes but then it comes back again. Does anyone know what this noise could be from?



2. Im not sure whether I have steam or heat radiators (I thought they were steam however when I went to turn the black dial on the noisy radiator to the "open" position to turn the heat on a few drops of water trickled out if that means anything). But, it seems as if the long pipe on the left side of the radiators (see pic) gets hot periodically throughout the day/night even when the dial is closed tightly yet the rest of the radiator remains cold. This happens on all 3 of my radiators, not just the noisy one. Is this normal? If i turn the dial to the open position then the whole radiator gets hot, but im not sure if the pipe on the side should still be getting hot when the dial is closed.



3. When turning the heat on, how do I know if the dial is open all the way? lol. I was told that in order to turn on the radiator i had to turn the dial all the way open, but Im afraid if i keep turning it I will go too far and it will come off?



Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!

Jamie Hall

The outlet pipe

on the lower right is kind of in shadow, but it looks a lot as though there is a trap on it -- a device which opens for air and water, but will close on steam.  In which case what you are looking at is a two pipe steam heating system.



And you can safely control the heat with the valve on such a system.  Many of those valves only turn about 3/4 of a turn from on to off -- but some may take a number of turns.  I would be rather surprised if you could turn it far enough, though, to make it come off (although almost anything is possible, I find).



It is quite normal for the feed pipe -- that long one -- to get hot even if the radiator is off, although it will probably be hotter if the radiator is on.  Steam can still rise and condense in the pipe, making it hot.



As to what the noise is?  Haven't a clue, sorry!

pipeking

THIS IS SOMTHING U CAN'T HANDLE

 the noise your having that sounds like a shovel dragging on a side walk is going to be a hard fix. it sound like u have steam bunnys, and once u get SB'S u got to get pro in there. your gonna have to get maintenance involved, tell them u think u got steam bunnys, and to call a plumber.

pipeking

lol!

i'm just kidding!!!

Steamhead

That's a Vapor system

Jamie's right, the return connection has a thermostatic trap on it. The noise might be thermal expansion.