Help Plumber Installed New Valves

sciprox

Plumber came today and replaced two twist valves that were stuck open on full blast. They replaced them with valves that stick out from radiator and now I am unable to get the cover back on. Is this even remotely correct? Should I have this fixed? See pictures attached.

Can I replace the handle on the valve to something smaller myself without causing a leak?

KC_Jones

Not only is the handle wrong the valve itself is wrong. That should have been a globe valve, that is a ball valve completely wrong. You paid money to a "professional" for that? Don't ever let that person into your place of residence again.

sciprox

My apartment building hired a plumber to do work on the building. They offered to replace room valves for a discount since they were draining the system. How about just leaving the handle off?

Bio

Yes you can be remove it and tie wrap it on the pipe so it doesn't get lost, you could also bend the handle upwards

KC_Jones

sciprox said:

My apartment building hired a plumber to do work on the building. They offered to replace room valves for a discount since they were draining the system. How about just leaving the handle off?

Beware of discount offers.

Gordy

Technically it works when the valve is in the open position. The only drawback to a ball valve is if throttling to balance the zone is needed. A ball valve should not be used to throttle flow. Has the building owner seen this to know what they are actually getting?

SWEI

Is this a parallel or series-piped system?

Gordy

Wondering that myself.

hot_rod

What is the purpose of the valve? It's rare to see a balance valve on fin tube, as Kurt suggested if it is a series loop? If so it seems like a useless valve.

If it is intended for balancing, remove the handle, adjust as needed. While not ideal, ball valves can be used for some throttling.

Gordy

i would suspect there is some wildness in the control of the heating in the building. Probably parallel piped. The valve gives tennets a means of some control. Otherwise as you say the valve is pointless in a series piped system.

sciprox

Apologies for my lack of knowledge.

The valve is there so we can control how much heat we receive in the apartment. We are told that can throttle the temperature and adjust as needed. We had our valve stuck open last winter and the apartment was about 100 degrees.

ChrisJ

Sounds like some TRV's would be a blessing.

hot_rod

No thermostat in your unit I assume? Adjusting the damper is another way to regulate the output.

Did the old wheeled handled valves fit inside the cover? How often do you need to make adjustments?

sciprox

Yup no thermostat. The old valve didn't turn unfortunately so it was running at full blast. I wish I could say how often it was needed to be adjusted but we never had that luxury.

hot_rod

Yeah, if it is a valve that you will need to adjust frequently, a wheel type globe or balance valve may be more user friendly.

The lever type ball valves get very finicky to adjust when you shut the down below 1/2 way.

Not the ideal way to regulate heat, seems neanderthal-ish in this day and age.

JohnNY

Fin-tube baseboard heaters, like you've got there, heat by convection. Close that long thin louvre panel and you'll greatly lessen the amount air circulating through the enclosure and thus the amount of heat given off by the radiator.
Alternately, close the valve by about 75% of the ¼-circle it travels from open to closed and you'll impede the flow of energy through the unit.
One manufacturer published a technical article years ago that said ball valves don't significantly affect the flow of BTUs through a heat emitter until they're closed by about 70%. So, I'm still going with that.