Radiators

[cimorene]

It's warmed up a little, but we're still in the edge of the cold snap. It's been down to 11° (in the low fifties) inside the bedroom a couple of times this week, which seems to indicate there may be a problem with the radiator in there. We haven't remembered to bleed the radiators the last two years and it's definitely got air in it, but I'm not sure that could account for it.

The individual thermostats on our radiators don't do much, because they're all controlled by the electronic thermostat on the geothermal pump. There's only one sensor and it's on the tenant side, which is already more insulated because it was built in the 70s and not 1950, so our side is always a bit chilly in contrast, since they would be roasting over there otherwise. And the bedroom loses more heat because of its location right under the roof. But normally in winter it's been more like 14-15° (58-59) in there.

In the last week I've been sleeping with three duvets (mostly under two though; the third one is sideways over the feet). This is actually not inconvenient enough to stimulate the executive function to try to fix it promptly though. We are at "Oh, ugh, I guess we have to do something at some point?"

Comments

[which_chick]

If your radiators are the stand-up cast iron kind, you can sometimes tell if they need to be bled by putting your hand on it and sliding hand up from bottom to top to see if there's a sharp-ish change in temperature. If so, that's where it changes from water to air. If there's a bleed valve, you bleed it out and you're golden. (If it doesn't bleed air or water, the system needs more water or the bleeder is dead, but that's pretty uncommon. Usually it's more water needed.)

[cimorene]

Oh, that's very helpful! Thank you!

[princessofgeeks]

HUGS

[cimorene]

😊💜

[ursamajor]

Uggggh, my sympathies. Our bedroom is similar (thanks, Bay Area 1920s house meaning zero insulation and HVAC!), and external overnight temps dipping towards 5C last week and this week mean the bedroom's been 12-13C at night. Brrr.

[cimorene]

Oh dear. Well, in a way that's worse because you have nothing to fix! On the other hand, at least nothing is broken...

[ursamajor]

Ha, indeed! The first step after saving up enough money is to at least insulate the damn walls. The longer-term plan will be more complicated and expensive (and afaict, will probably involve mini splits?), because we know we're going to have to put in some cooling options, with 90F days no longer unheard of around here in the summer, no matter that last summer was the coldest on record in decades.

It does make me miss the days where my radiator-heated Boston apartment was 85 degrees in the middle of the winter even if I left all the windows open when I went out. (The heat for the whole building was controlled by a couple of cranky and perpetually-freezing Russian grandpas on the first floor. I lived on the third floor, and the people on the fourth floor had it even worse than me.)

[cimorene]

I miss how cozy and easy it was living in flats too. But the regret is tempered because the only flat where the surroundings were nice had a constant sewer gas smell in the bathroom which is apparently not uncommon in the lowest floor of apartment buildings. If only we could've moved to the 3rd floor of that building instead of buying a house. Designing the perfect kitchen and bathrooms is fun but taking care of your own yard and maintenance is a nightmare!

[haphazardmethod]

I’m a big fan of an electric blanket at night, though I live in a temperate zone so I wish it had more finely graded low settings and fewer bake zones.

[cimorene]

I've been keeping my eye out fur electric heating pads lately, but I haven't seen one yet. Of course it could be argued that the current circumstances are more urgent so I should go looking, but research for online shopping is a whole big job and I've got a list of things to order that I can't keep up with.