apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I had a similar radiator that i removed in my kitchen last year. Not a problem. They'll just cap it off, and it'll be fine. And it only cost me $200 for the plumbers.

I missed the part about you living in a condo. In my case, they capped it off beneath the kitchen floor, which was easy for them to do because the basement, with a drop ceiling, was direclty below the kitchen.

I don't know how they would cap off your radiator beneath the wood floors. As for the banging sound, have you tried bleeding your radiator?

whoa, that seems like a VERY large project. since it's clanking, it's clearly still hooked up, so this would potentially affect the entire building, or at least removing it may require disturbing service to the entire system. and while you may have determined the bedroom "doesn't need" it, the next buyer may disagree with removing heat from a room, "for good".

I've lived in many apartments and have had at least one radiator removed in all of them. Very simple to cap off, usually a super can do it. Takes 15 minutes, altho the floorboards that have been hiding under there all these years may need some help.

Clanking stops when removed, a new radiator can always been installed, and most buildings encourage this -- fewer radiators make for a more efficient building.

Usually the banging runs up the entire line of the building -- the super must bleed the pipes periodically.

I had our bedroom radiator removed last year -- had begged for years -- finally slipped the super $100 (they were threatening to fire him, so he stopped towing the line for the landlords . . . ) and voila.

Still needed to cover the heating riser (exposed pipe to apts above me) cause the heat was excessive!

I actually removed one myself, but I wouldn't recommend it. You have to get a special wrench, and you may have to cut the wrench off. I did it with the guidance of my local hardware guy. You must do it in the summer when the heat is off, and you will be left with a pipe coming out of the floor about 4 to 6 inches. And you need to make sure you have a pan to catch the water that is in the unit. Then it will be really heavy, because it is cast iron. For me, it was a NYC renter's adventure, but if I had it to do over again, I'd pay the super or a plumber to take it out.

Thanks for all the comments.
I thought about the next buyer wanting it, but the apartment is very warm in the winter, I have another radiator in the bathroom on the opposite wall, in the kitchen and I probably get heat from the downstairs tenant also. I will add an electric heater in the drywall(http://www.homedepot.com/catalog/productImage/8c05690e-fc31-4aa9-a4b6-ea052056d1a5_400.jpg)
for few cold nights. But right now that radiator is keeping me from turning the bed and wasting too much space in my 350sq foot apartment.

As for the knocking. I complained a few time and my great super told me he's tried everything. He's bled the lines but can't seem to fix the problem. It's only the one in my bedroom that knocks. I should have him look at it now that it's summer.
Will the pipe stick out from the floor board once it's capped?
Thanks,

Tatiana

Yes, the cap does stick up. The ones I have now are about 3" tall and round and not a big deal -- you can place furniture over it, etc.

And bleeding sometimes doesn't work. Depends what kind of heat you have. I know with the place I have now, there is no bleeding. The knocking is cold air trapped in there. Sometimes you can help it by tipping one side up a tiny bit, like by putting a shim under the feet on one side (I forget which) -- search here or online, it will explain it.

Mid-C Frank, how did you cover your heating risers? I have the same problem (too hot!) and my wife and I are at a loss for how to do it tastefully.

I'm not sure about the code in NYC, but where I am (60 miles north), there MUST be a dedicated heat source in every bedroom before a house/condo can be sold.

I highly suggest you look into this before removing the radiator. At the very least, put the radiator in storage in case you need to reconnect it one day.

If you do remove it, it should not affect the heating elsewhere in the building. If anything, it will make the rest of the radiators more efficient.

Yes, a pipe will stick up, but it isn't a big deal to work around, and a future owner may want to use it. They could just put a replacement radiator back.

Michael G -- You can buy (at Home Depot and elsewhere) pipe covers that are fiberglass covered with white paper -- they look kind of like shipping tubes, but split down the lenght. They come in 3 foot lengths -- it took 3 of them with one cut down by a few inches to cover the entire pipe. The paper can be left white or painted.

I put them on "loosely" -- they grip the pipe tightly and never moved a bit. That way I as able to take them off on teh 1 or 2 nights when I really did want the extra bit of heart. But a neighbor down the hall wraps them in tape and leaves them in place all year.

My one warning is that when I took them down at the end of winter, some patches of paint stuck to the fiberglass (it's "raw"/exposed on the inner side -- a word of caution in terms of handling, too). So a little touch-up painting was required. Next winter I plan to wrap the pole in aluminum foil first, to see if this helps with the paint -- and I also figure it will help cut/reflect heat as well.

I have those same fiberglass tubes on my riser, and I just leave them on all year. Used to have a folding screen hiding the pipe, but now it is in the open.

My super, who has the nicest apartment in the building (pre-war NYC rental bldg.), has replaced his cast iron radiators with new baseboard units, but that probably wouldn't solve your need to place furniture there.

When I lived in a 1939 coop, my super simply turned off the radiator in one bedroom that was much too hot. Removal was not necessary.

Agree heating system throughout building must be bled periodically to prevent knocking. This is routine maintenance and should be done regularly to keep the system in good condition.