Bad valve?

Ivaylo

I just rent it this vintage apartment with steam radiators, unfortunately the radiator in my bedroom can hassle for hours when the heat hit back on....I really don't know what to do, I wanna do some maintenance to the valve myself/ probably never done before/ do I really have to shut down the boiler? It's residential building?

Jamie Hall

Hassle is a bit vague. Can you describe more accurately or completely? And is this one pipe steam (that is, one pipe with a valve on it entering at the bottom of one end of the radiator, and a small thingy -- sometimes bullet shaped, sometimes round like a small can -- about half way up the other end) or two pipe (one pipe entering high at one end, usually with a valve, and another pipe exiting low at either end) or -- rarely -- two pipe air vent (two pipes entering, one at the bottom of each end, usually with valves, and one of those bullet or round thingys part way up one end).

The bullet or round thingy is called a vent.

If it's one pipe, or two pipe air vent, the valves need to be fully open. The vent is used to control the amount of heat, within reason.

Better yet, a picture of both ends of the radiator...

With a better description of "hassle", and possibly pictures, we can be more helpful.