My apartment radiator recently started spraying water and water vapor. is this safe?

taagam

Recently, my apartments radiator started spraying water from its knob. Specifically from the bottom of the knob. I was wondering if this is normal? Or if it is safe? Its almost like the radiator is spitting but the aount of water is very small.

I actually don't even know if its water and hence I want to ask of this is water or some other liquid. Also, the gas I'm seeing, is it simply water vapor? Or some other liquid. I just wanna make sure its not something dangerous.

nicholas bonham-carter

Can you post a picture of the radiator, and its valve, as there are several different types of radiator systems.
Is there a bad smell?
Have you reported this to the management?--NBC

Abracadabra

The packing needs to be replaced/repaired. If you want you can shut off the valve to stop the water/steam, but it may hammer if the valve does not shut completely. If this is on a steam system, what you are seeing is water vapor and steam condensate.

taagam

nicholas bonham-carter said:

Can you post a picture of the radiator, and its valve, as there are several different types of radiator systems.
Is there a bad smell?
Have you reported this to the management?--NBC

Hey its kind of like this this one. except the valve is on the bottom and the steam trap is on the other side.

http://i.stack.imgur.com/UpvZK.jpg

the water is spraying from the valve/knob on the right side.

It doesn't really smell but I think I have a bad sense of smell.

taagam

Abracadabra said:

The packing needs to be replaced/repaired. If you want you can shut off the valve to stop the water/steam, but it may hammer if the valve does not shut completely. If this is on a steam system, what you are seeing is water vapor and steam condensate.

thanks for the reply, What does 'hammer' mean?

Abracadabra

taagam said:

nicholas bonham-carter said:

Can you post a picture of the radiator, and its valve, as there are several different types of radiator systems.
Is there a bad smell?
Have you reported this to the management?--NBC

Hey its kind of like this this one. except the valve is on the bottom and the steam trap is on the other side.

http://i.stack.imgur.com/UpvZK.jpg

the water is spraying from the valve/knob on the right side.

It doesn't really smell but I think I have a bad sense of smell.

uhm.. a picture of your radiator would be helpful. That radiator does not have a steam trap. Are you saying that the the radiator vent is on the bottom on your radiator? I think there's some confusion as to terminology. The little "can" on the left is a steam vent. The brass colored thing attached to the pipe coming out of the floor is a shutoff valve.

Fred

If steam/water is coming out around the black knob, the packing under the nut that the valve stem goes through needs to be replaced, as has been suggested. You can try to tighten that nut a little and see if that helps stop the leak

taagam

null

You are right, I didn't know my terminology. If what you described is the case, then the water is spraying from the bottom of the shut off valve.

Abracadabra

taagam said:

null



You are right, I didn't know my terminology. If what you described is the case, then the water is spraying from the bottom of the shut off valve.

From the part that connects to the radiator or from the part that sticks up and is connected to the handle?

nicholas bonham-carter

This is no doubt a system wide problem, and perhaps your neighbors are suffering the same symptoms-can you ask?
I think this is due to deferred maintenance on the part of the management. They may or may not like to hear about it, but this situation will increase the usage of fuel, and make everyone unhappy, especially when the fuel bills are reflected in increased rent or fees! Ask them to come here with these problems, and we can give them advice which will restore the system to its original state of comfort, and economy.--NBC

taagam

nicholas bonham-carter said:

This is no doubt a system wide problem, and perhaps your neighbors are suffering the same symptoms-can you ask?
I think this is due to deferred maintenance on the part of the management. They may or may not like to hear about it, but this situation will increase the usage of fuel, and make everyone unhappy, especially when the fuel bills are reflected in increased rent or fees! Ask them to come here with these problems, and we can give them advice which will restore the system to its original state of comfort, and economy.--NBC

Hey Thanks alot for your reply, It wasn't a system wide problem (atleast I don't think it was). what was happening was some of the hot air was leaking from a loose Nut. so as the air was coming out, it was quickly cooled and turning into water, hence a spraying noise/spray of air/water coming out from the nut. It just required some tightening.

I thought I'd respond with this in case someone else comes looking with the same problem in the future and

taagam

Fred said:

If steam/water is coming out around the black knob, the packing under the nut that the valve stem goes through needs to be replaced, as has been suggested. You can try to tighten that nut a little and see if that helps stop the leak

This fixed the issue guys, Thanks