HORRIBLE GURGLING SCRAPING NOISE -please help!!!

ekmbgm

I live on the top floor (6th) of an older building in nyc with about 30 units in all. We have steam heating system with one pipe radiators. The radiators in our apartment work fine and don’t make noise and or clang, but since the heat got turned on the pipes in the wall shared between the bedroom and the living room which are across from where both radiators are constantly making noise like a shovel scraping against the sidewalk. They is only about an hour during the day when it doesn't make noise (6-7pm) and then again at 1am -2am. 


The first time I complained the building manager came and took a look and said he could fix it from the boiler in the basement. The noises kept happening and we’ve texted him about it but he hasn’t responded! It’s driving me insane, I can’t concentrate on anything and I can hear it through my earplugs. Can anyone help me/ tell me what the issue is so I can tell him this is not normal when he tries to tell me it's fine. Please help me, I am going out of my mind! 
  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BSUPqyZvXA

nicholas bonham-carter

It’s probably an express riser to the attic which is elongating with the heat.
What is the vent in the picture, and can it be removed for inspection?
Maybe you can report the noise as rats to the health department.—NBC

kenlmad

The description is confusing me. Is the sound coming from the Radiators? Or is the sound coming from pipes in the wall that's across the room from the radiators?

Is the constant hissing sound part of the problem or just background noise?

Fred

It doesn't sound like scraping at all, to me. It sounds more like a radiator vent that is stuck open and steam (wet steam) is escaping, maybe into the wall cavity???

JUGHNE

Can you show us where this wall cavity is in your room in relation to the rads?
Are your rads piped from above or below? Pictures of that also.

ekmbgm

kenlmad said:

The description is confusing me. Is the sound coming from the Radiators? Or is the sound coming from pipes in the wall that's across the room from the radiators? Is the constant hissing sound part of the problem or just background noise?

The sound is coming from the pipes in the wall across from the radiators that are carrying the steam/water. The constant hissing is a part of problem for sure.

ekmbgm

JUGHNE said:

Can you show us where this wall cavity is in your room in relation to the rads? Are your rads piped from above or below? Pictures of that also.

Wall where the noise is coming from

Bedroom Radiator:

living room radiator :

Other Side of the Wall where noise coming from( you can see where wall is In conjunction w/ both radiators) 

What it looks like when I take off the vent plate of the wall:

ekmbgm

nicholas bonham-carter said:

It’s probably an express riser to the attic which is elongating with the heat. What is the vent in the picture, and can it be removed for inspection? Maybe you can report the noise as rats to the health department.—NBC

The vent is a vent in the wall that looks like this:
and when removed looks like this:

JUGHNE

Can you feel a pipe inside that cavity?....it could be hot.
Often there was a riser pipe exposed in small rooms that provided the heat for that area.
At the top of the pipe an air vent was installed. Venting this riser thusly would get the steam up to the upper floors. This was a pretty busy vent and often would sound so.

If there is a pipe in the cavity, then remove the highest grill on the other side of the wall and you may see an air vent. You would then see if it is venting air and spitting steam.

If it was an "express riser" to the attic it would be quite a large pipe and then your radiators would have (typically) feed pipes coming down from the ceiling.