new to radiator heat

casey

Just bought a house with radiators. do I need to do anything to them as general upkeep. one of them has a little key in a baggie attached to it. what do I do with that. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

GusHerb

sounds like you have hot water heat that key is to bleed every radiator of its air at the start of every heating season.

Brad White_41

But of course jh speaks of tradition, not best practice....

It would seem that you have a hot water system given what seems to be an air vent key. You do have two pipe connections to each radiator, right? Probably HW.

The annual ritual of bleeding radiators then draining the expansion tank has gone on for too long.

If your system is properly piped with the circulator pumping away from the expansion tank and has an air separator such as a Spirovent, generally you will only need to bleed air if you ever work on the system. Ideally you should be able to fill the system up, get all the air out, top it off and live with air-free water for years and years.

There are a lot of things you can do to improve the system of course, such as outdoor re-set, adding thermostatic radiator valves, special control strategies to increase comfort and efficiency, but that is another question or series of questions entirely!

Service on the fuel side is the same for most any heating applicance with different protocols for gas and oil. And you probably have a circulator to oil if it is not water-lubricated... Not a whole lot to do.

But for the love of God, just dust the radiators once in a while, would you??

casey

thanks from a new radiator user

I have never been onto a website that offer such easy and freindly help. Thank you so much for your replies. At least now I know I should dust them. Ha Ha.