Question about hot water radiators (in my dorm)

Every time the thermostat kicks in, this thing makes noises that sound like a submarine being crushed under pressure. It wakes me up every time it does it, and it's absurdly loud.

I haven't lived in a house with a hot water radiator for a while, but I do recall the occasional groan and whine.

Is this typical?

My grandma's house had them. I recall they can be pretty loud.

sounds like an airpocket somewhere in the system

There is usually a resonator in there to catch the air pocket, so there's no banging. I was looking at a house a while back with one. It attaches near the boiler.

since you mentioned dorm, maint is probably rather lax. Sounds like air in the system. Expansion under heat also possible source of noise.

Most have a bleed valve on the top of them somewhere, to let air out. But usually, you need a special key-type thing to open it, and the school probably wouldn't be wild about you doing that yourself.

N Sperlo wrote: There is usually a resonator in there to catch the air pocket, so there's no banging. I was looking at a house a while back with one. It attaches near the boiler.

Dude! It's a dorm. There's going to be banging.

Dude! It's a dorm. There's going to be banging.

Not when I was in college. It was strictly one sex dorms and if you were caught banging in the dorm you were kicked out of school.

carguy123 wrote:

Dude! It's a dorm. There's going to be banging.

Not when I was in college. It was strictly one sex dorms and if you were caught banging in the dorm you were kicked out of school.

The good old days suddenly don't seem so good.

Weird, we shared bathrooms in our co-ed dorm.

carguy123 wrote:

Dude! It's a dorm. There's going to be banging.

Not when I was in college. It was strictly one sex dorms and if you were caught banging in the dorm you were kicked out of school.

Did you go to BYU or something? It was requested that no one had sex in the showers in my freshman dorm, but I don't even think was a rule. The RA and AF were required to have condoms to give out.

I have radiators in my apartment and they are DEAD silent. How old are these things?

Being on a college campus are you sure that it is a hot water boiler and not steam? Water hammer from steam can drive ya nuts.

Jay wrote: I have radiators in my apartment and they are DEAD silent. How old are these things?

I bet your apartment is better maintained than most college dorms.

MG Bryan wrote:

carguy123 wrote:

Dude! It's a dorm. There's going to be banging.

Not when I was in college. It was strictly one sex dorms and if you were caught banging in the dorm you were kicked out of school.

Did you go to BYU or something? It was requested that no one had sex in the showers in my freshman dorm, but I don't even think was a rule. The RA and AF were required to have condoms to give out.

Not back in the day. Coed dorms were a thing of the future and RAs even looked out for people from other floors in the dorm being on the wrong floor.

It could definitely be steam. I'm not well versed on heating systems. It doesn't look like the typical "monster" looking looped radiators.

In reply to Taiden:

If it is a steam system, which I believe it is, the t-stat when satisfied will close a solenoid shutoff valve to the rad or supply piping. Steam when deadheaded in a pipe, valve etc. will start to condense as it cools. A single drop of condensate when caught up in the inrush of steam (100 mph kinda inrush) will cause the water hammer as the drop hits any obstruction as pipe fittings, coil etc.... yea, a single drop. If you leave the t-stat turned up so the valve doesn't close I bet the hammer stops.

Any large campus will have a central steam boiler where high pressure steam is piped to individual buildings and pressure reduced to operating pressure at point of use, a quarter mile or more is not uncommon. Not much you can do to eliminate the condensate (and hammer) at the rad inlet unless there is a bypass around the rad to the trap, which you ain't got.

Beer. Drink 3-4 beers before you go to bed. You'll probably wont wake up from the noise. If you do, increase the dosage.

fasted58 wrote: In reply to Taiden: If it is a steam system, which I believe it is, the t-stat when satisfied will close a solenoid shutoff valve to the rad or supply piping. Steam when deadheaded in a pipe, valve etc. will start to condense as it cools. A single drop of condensate when caught up in the inrush of steam (100 mph kinda inrush) will cause the water hammer as the drop hits any obstruction as pipe fittings, coil etc.... yea, a single drop. If you leave the t-stat turned up so the valve doesn't close I bet the hammer stops. Any large campus will have a central steam boiler where high pressure steam is piped to individual buildings and pressure reduced to operating pressure at point of use, a quarter mile or more is not uncommon. Not much you can do to eliminate the condensate (and hammer) at the rad inlet unless there is a bypass around the rad to the trap, which you ain't got.

And this is why I love GRM

Zombie thread resurected by canoe.

carguy123 wrote:

Dude! It's a dorm. There's going to be banging.

Not when I was in college. It was strictly one sex dorms and if you were caught banging in the dorm you were kicked out of school.

Oh, hell. I lived in an all-male dorm my freshman year. People used to pull fire alarms at 2:00a just to see how many half naked girls showed up in the courtyard.

[edit] Wups, sorry.