new valves make it seem like I'm living in a tea kettle

dotac

Hello, I am a renter in a building with steam heat. After 2 years, my landlord has finally gotten the heat working properly in my unit. They put new air valves and did some other work in the boiler. Now when the air is pushed out of the valves they all sound like a tea kettle. Maybe the inside of a jet engine is a better analogy. I am used to some hissing, but this is way beyond that, and it lasts for the entire time the radiators are on.
Is there some kind of adjustment I can make to reduce the noise? I would even go out myself and buy different valves if it would make a difference. If there's something I can do rather than calling the landlord again, I'd like to just do it myself.

These are the valves that are now on the radiators: https://www.amazon.com/Midline-Valve-6J3I5-5-Regulator-Adjustable/dp/B08L5QQR3D/ref=asc_df_B08L5QQR3D/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=475746703349&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=416855479129621743&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9021731&hvtargid=pla-1169367697811&psc=1

Thanks in advance for your advice!

EBEBRATT-Ed

There is nothing you can do but call the landloard.

Chances are the boiler could be operating at a higher pressure than is needed.

Also, the main steam pipes may not have large enough or not enough air vents forcing the radiator vents to do all the work.

If the landloard could be talked into fixing this it might save him some $$$ in fuel cost

dotac

Thanks for the reply. So it seems like when the landlord had a new heating guy come out he might have cranked the pressure way up, since it didn't do this before. I wonder if the radiators in all the apartments are doing this now?
This situation isn't dangerous is it? I'm sure that's a stupid question but it sounds like the radiators are going to explode!

mattmia2

Not dangerous. May have destroyed all the new air valves they just bought. Some things weren't heating and instead of finding and fixing why they crank the pressure up which makes some things heat but causes many other problems.

ratio

Is it air or steam coming out of the vents?

ChrisJ

Cranking the pressure up isn't exactly how it works.

Restricting the air from coming out and stopping the steam from getting to the radiators fast enough is how I'd view it.


New, fast main vents and some respectable radiator vents should quiet things down under most conditions.

dotac

It's steam that comes out of the vents when the heat initially comes on. After a couple minutes it then seems to be air that's coming out.
It's also very hot- they say the heat in the building is set at 71, but it gets up the 76 in my apartment now after the heat comes on (maybe it would get even hotter, at that point I open a window (temp sensor for the building isn't in my apartment)).

KC_Jones

dotac said:

It's steam that comes out of the vents when the heat initially comes on. After a couple minutes it then seems to be air that's coming out.
It's also very hot- they say the heat in the building is set at 71, but it gets up the 76 in my apartment now after the heat comes on (maybe it would get even hotter, at that point I open a window (temp sensor for the building isn't in my apartment)).

Couple points to add clarity, as it's difficult to believe you get actual steam first then air later, there would be some physics violations there.

Steam is invisible for the most part, so to tell if it's steam you'd need a mirror or something cold to condense it to be sure.

Are you getting a fine mist of water at first? If so that's water trapped in the cheap vent and is another issue entirely.

Everything you describe is classic imbalance with poor venting. If they changed all the vents in the building and put smaller ones on, that will increase overall system pressure from before and start causing issues like you are seeing. Also if they used the same vent in the entire building, it's essentially impossible for that to work properly and will cause balance issues.

Proper balance starts with venting the mains, on taller buildings the main risers as well. Changing radiator vents will be an endless cycle with no success other than lining the pockets of a contractor that doesn't know how to work on the system.

That last word is critical here. It's a system and should never be looked at through single components, that almost always leads to misdiagnosis unless someone is really lucky.

Just because a problem is seen in one place, doesn't mean the problem is anywhere near that location.

dopey27177

As shown on the Amazon site your vent valve are adjustable.
Try to lower the adjustment to a smaller setting on one radiator. If that works do the same thing for all the vent valves.

Jake