Leak from above

DTMK

I own an apartment and recently had water come through my ceiling directly above my radiator. I am being told that the water is just leaking out the air valve and main water valve of the radiator above, but I suspect there may actually be a problem with the pipes that go to the radiator in my ceiling. I would like someone else's opinion as to whether or not I should press further on this issue.



When I contacted the owner of the above unit while the water was coming through, he said that his floor was "bone dry". He happens to be one of the trustees of our condo association, and he now claims that the boiler's thermostat was set too high, which caused steam to build up and water to come out of the air valve and water valve.



The night of the leak, I collected between 1/2 to 1 gallon of water in buckets over approximately 6 hours. Ever since the thermostat was turned down, I have not had water come through my ceiling.



At the time of the leak I also saw water coming through the ceiling in the basement in the same general location. I live on the 3rd floor.



The attached picture is of the damaged area, as some water is dripping through. Overall, the damaged area is at least 2ft x 2ft, which the paint peeled and some of the top coat of plaster missing in at least a 1ft x 1ft area.



Is there any way all this water could come from the above valves without leaving an obvious amount of water in the unit above?



Thanks in advance for any input.

Charlie from wmass

yes

leaks at the valve frequently follow down on the pipe. I would say if it were the pipe it would leak all the time. There may be other issues but I have nothing to base anything else on.

pipeking

tie

a rag around the pipe above the floor and run the heat. if the rag gets wet u know its the valve.

pipeking

tie

a rag around the pipe above the floor and run the heat. if the rag gets wet u know its the valve.

DTMK

Thanks

Thanks for the input.



Apparently someone had set the "aqua-stat" to 220 degrees in the days before the leak happened. The guy above had a little water come out of his air valve the day before the water came through my ceiling. Due to it being so hot, the guy in the unit above completely closed his water valve, which seemed to be when the leak really got bad. Hours after the "aqua-stat" was set back to a reasonable temperature, water stopped coming through my ceiling.



He wants to just fix my ceiling and that's all, which leaves me worried that it's just a matter of time before this happens again. Considering it has been weeks since the damage happened, I'll probably give up and just have the ceiling fixed. Considering my luck with other water damage the last few years, it will probably happen again, but hopefully it will not get worse.