8 Comments

1. ali_wildgoose  •  Nov 9, 2009 @10:46 pm

   With most NYC buildings, heat is all or nothing — the super/landlord has to turn it on for the entire building, and then you control how much of it is going into your specific apartment via the radiator. In MY apartment (and this is true for many) there's a pipe that runs between the floor and ceiling that the radiator's attached to, and even when the radiator is turned off that PIPE will be hot when the heat in the building is on.

   When the heat comes on, you'll know — a lot of the time it makes a loud banging noise for the first few hours. But if isn't on the for the building (which it may very well not be, with the unseasonably warm weather) then no amount of knob-turning on the radiator will change anything.

   Hope that's helpful! ^_^;

2. solipsistnation  •  Nov 9, 2009 @10:47 pm

   Check if there's a big valve on the side between where the pipe comes out of the floor or the wall and the actual radiator itself. Make sure that is open all the way.

   Then make sure there's water in your boiler (probably in the basement, depending on your building). You may have to ask your landlord about that… They usually have auto-refill thingies, but I've lived in more than one place with steam heat where I had to go down to the basement and refill the boiler every week or so.

3. Anonymous  •  Nov 9, 2009 @11:11 pm

   The heat probably hasn't been turned on for the winter yet. It'll make a bunch of weird clanking noises once it's on and it'll probably get uncomfortably hot.

   Welcome to NYC!

4. Anonymous  •  Nov 9, 2009 @11:32 pm

   Nah, that was all last week. SO much clanking…

5. ca_jas  •  Nov 9, 2009 @11:33 pm

   Oh god, I remember steam heat. Though maybe not bad for you we always had to crack open a window in the dead of winter because it got so hot.

6. cetriya  •  Nov 9, 2009 @11:58 pm

   I just have a portable heater

7. owen_the_og  •  Nov 10, 2009 @5:18 pm

   How cold has it been?

   NYC law requires your apartment to be at least 65 degrees between 6am and 10pm and (I think) 55 between 10pm and 6am. Considering the weather we've been having your heat's probably not on yet.

   Making sure your apartment is warm enough is a winter-long saga here in Brooklyn.

8. Anonymous  •  Nov 11, 2009 @5:42 pm

   Welcome to New York!!

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