Good Questions: My Apartment is Too Hot!

Hello AT,

My building's radiators were just turned on and it is so hot, I am BAKING in here!! Right now I have all the windows open, the ceiling fan on, the radiator valve closed, and I am wearing shorts and a tank top but still sweating. Last night it was in the 40s outside but I couldn't sleep because I was too hot. I am miserable! How can I make my radiators less, um, radiant?

Thank you! - Sweaty in DC

Dear Sweaty, If you're radiators are really turned off, then they should be cool to the touch and you have a situation where your building is one of those ovens we have so many of here in NYC....more after jump

(Note: Include a pic of your problem and your question gets posted first.)
Link To All Good Questions

If you're radiators are warm then you may have to work on the valves to make sure they are really turned off. You may want to ask your super about this.

For a simply hot building we recommend cracking your windows, using a humidifier to keep the air moist (dryness is one of the worst issues in the winter), and even looking into a small window fan that blows OUTWARD, to carry the heat out. Sucking hot air out will keep the temperature of your apartment much more consistent than blowing cold air in. Anyone else? (Pic: Delineated)

Comments (5)

If you cover the steam pipes with fiberglass, where does the heat go?? Will it be transferred to other apartments (not that I care, really), or is there a risk of overheating the steam pipes?

Thank you.

Before demonizing your landlords, all you New Yorkers should know that you're baking in your apartments when it's 40 degrees outside because NEW YORK LAW REQUIRES MINIMUM TEMPERATURES.

That's right. Your landlord will get fined if he doesn't turn on the heat when the temperature outside reaches a certain point.

It's not evil landlords. It's busy-body Nanny State over-regulated, Big Government policies that are to blame.

I think the suggestions to call the building owner or tell the super are hilarious. Oh, to be so young and innocent again! I've been baking away in Hoboken for over two decades and my old lungs can't take it.

The heat's on a timer, the sweat/freeze cycle. The window/fan thing is tricky. BUT I think I have a humidifier solution, I've gone through about 5 small ones that didn't last long. Got a big one, Holmes, stopped working, got annoyed, and took it apart which solved nothing. Kept taking the cover off and on, taking the water containers off and on, when it was running, not running, full, empty, plugged in.....I decided the wick is the problem. It gets too wet and collapses. I put two paintbrushes inside the wick (horizontally) to keep it held open. Works so far. I imagine something like a cut up bleach bottle, something with cutouts that can serve as a support will hold the wick up as well.

And I politely beg to disagree about the evil landlords. Some ARE evil. They wouldn't dream of looking for comfortable heat solutions that conform to state regulations when they know damn well making people uncomfortable increases turnover and the rents go up when people move. With this crummy economy and all, they're still playing if you don't like it, leave, move out, like there's anything affordable. If there is one thing I'm really sick of hearing, it's all the BS about how if people who pay low rents would just move out all the rents would come down due to market something or other. Only an idiot would believe that.

I always say, HOUSING IS NOT A LUXURY. Homelessness is created by real estate developers and city council people who allow them free access to build, destroy, evict, displace. And then they play innocent while the low rent and high rent tenants go for eachother's jugulars.

My company BattyBuilt specializes in designing and building custom radiator covers to suit any style, any room. We serve Westchester NY, Manhattan and Connecticut.

Here is a link to the website: www.battybuilt.com

stephamasha, NYC regulations require that apartments be heated to 68 during the day if it's below 55 and 55 at night if it's below 40. These are not the kinds of temperatures that the people in this thread are complaining about.

I have steam radiators and it is at least 90 degrees in my bedroom when the heat comes on. I wake up in the middle of the night in a sweat almost every night in the winter. It's awful. My landlord doesn't believe me that the heat is messed up, even though there are only 2 units in the building, he won't look into it.