Adjusting an old cast iron radiator

taisce

I am renting an apartment in what used to be a large old home. The radiator in the master bedroom is very large and it is hotter than heck in there. The valve on it was leaking and a guy came out and fixed it and he told me the radiator could be turned down by turning a different valve at the top of the radiator. He did turn it down a little but it is still unbearable in there while the rest of the apartment is cool. How do I adjust this valve? Do I turn to the right or to the left?
Please help! I'm cooking in there!
Thanks.

Garret

Do you know if your building has a steam or hot water system?

If you have a digital camera, take a couple pictures of the radiator and upload them here... that'll tell us what we need to know.

taisce

radiator

Thanks for your response. It has taken me a while to get my son over here to take a photo for me.
The system is hot water, not steam.
I hope I attach this photo correctly.
Thanks for all your help.

lee_7

that valve is for purging air out of radiator. shut off valve should be on bottom side of rad. usually one sidehas valve and other is just elbow.

Brad White

Lee is right

That is a vent, not a controlling valve. The manual valve you see at the bottom is not recommended for partial closure, just totally open or totally closed (how it may have come to be leaky in the first place).

Do your landlord a favor and ask him/her to look into Thermostatic Radiator Valves (TRV's) which are ideal to control especially over-producing radiators. They will save energy and increase comfort. They will not help the under-producing radiators directly, but the flow not going to one will be available to the others. Ideally, I recommmend them on all radiators but of a bathroom or two does not have them, no one has complained!