Project details
Skill
1 out of 5Easyonly basic plumbing skills and tools required
Cost
$10 to $20
Estimated Time
1 to 2 hours
In this video, This Old House plumbing and heating contractor Richard Trethewey silences a noisy radiator.
Steps for Quieting a Steam Radiator:
- Turn down the room’s thermostat to ensure the heating system doesn’t start up.
- Use a 48-inch level to check the radiator for level.
- Use a pipe wrench to loosen the nut holding the radiator to the steam pipe.
- Lift the low end of the radiator and slip furniture pads under each foot of the radiator.
- Raise the opposite end of the radiator and set it down onto furniture pads.
- Check the radiator for level, and add or subtract more furniture-pad shims, if necessary.
- Tighten the nut to reconnect the radiator to the steam pipe.
- Unscrew the old air vent from the radiator.
- Wrap Teflon tape around the threads of a new air vent, then install the new vent onto the radiator; hand tighten it only.
Shopping List:
- Furniture pads, used as shims to level tilting radiator
- Air vent, for replacing the existing air vent
- Teflon tape, for sealing the threads on the new air vent
Tools:
Tools & Materials
Pipe wrench
level – 4-foot