Contents
If winter is already on the doorstep, and your house is cold, you need to find out what is the reason. Roman Šidlauskas, an expert from the Italian manufacturer of radiators Global Radiatori, helps to figure out who is to blame and what to do.
1. The management company is to blame
And the weather. There is a possibility that severe frosts have not yet set in on the street, so the management company is not heating to the maximum yet. That is, it heats the coolant that enters the heating system, not up to 70оC, and, say, only up to 50оC. Then the heat transfer of the radiator section will be, for example, not 160 W, but 110 W.
What to do: unfortunately, there is nothing much to do for residents of houses connected to the central heating system, because the water temperature is set to be the same for several areas. But those who have a home boiler room can negotiate with their neighbors and the management company to increase the temperature of the coolant. This, of course, provided that all residents of the house are cold. Please note that this will affect your heating bills.
2. Blame the neighbors
It happens that someone in the entrance changed the heating batteries in the apartment without consulting with the management company, for example, they installed more powerful devices. For this reason, there is not enough pressure in the system to supply heat to all radiators in all apartments. Or just a neighbor turned off his batteries without putting a bypass, so your batteries do not receive heat at all.
What to do: talk with neighbors, persuade them to open ball valves if the reason is the lack of a bypass. And complain to the Criminal Code if the neighbors changed the heating system in their apartment without approval.
3. Installers are to blame
And this can be, especially if the masters were without special engineering education and knowledge of the nuances of the heating system. They could, for example, install too large radiators or choose the type of connection illiterately. Because of this, the batteries may not warm up completely and it will be cold in the apartment.
What to do: firstly, initially choose professional installers with recommendations, a contract and a guarantee for the work performed. And if the problem has already happened, you can contact the Criminal Code so that they send their own installer. But he will not necessarily be more experienced than the previous master, so it is better to find a competent, experienced specialist on the side who will fix the problem.
4. Blame the manufacturer
You can follow all the installation rules, but the radiator will heat poorly, simply because it is made that way. For example, aluminum radiators from China are often smaller in size than European appliances. Due to the smaller area, they give off less heat. Also, some manufacturers save on raw materials and instead of high-quality aluminum alloy, which transfers heat well, they use cheap metal with a large amount of impurities, which in the end can have a bad effect on the heat transfer of the device.
What to do: choose high-quality batteries with high heat dissipation. The best option is European radiators with a heat output of at least 175 W per section. By the way, they serve twice as long as Chinese ones.
5. You are to blame
Yes, without noticing it, you can reduce the heat dissipation of the batteries. For example, if you decide to “drown” them in the wall and close them with a blank screen, they block them with a wardrobe or a sofa. In this position, the heat from the battery simply has nowhere to go, so the room is cold. Even thick curtains can serve as a barrier to warm air, especially if the windows are panoramic and the radiators are on the sides and are completely hidden behind the parted curtains.
What to do: release batteries from furniture and curtains. If you really want to hide them, then use not blank screens, but decorative panels with many holes on all sides. And in order not to close the radiators on the side of the windows, Roman blinds can be used instead of ordinary curtains.