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I live in a 1920s six story apartment building that has a steam heat system. My super has told me that two of my radiators have leaks and should be replaced. Here's a picture of one of them. The other has a leak on the bottom. I haven't seen any steam coming, water on the floor or any other signs of damage.
My super has given me two options. He can buy new radiators and he's quoting a price of approx $800 per radiator. How do I go about determining if that price is fair/reasonable?
The second option is to replace it with another cast iron radiator from the building, so no radiator cost. (when owners renovate they sometimes remove the old radiator and the super still has them all in storage.) Can they be tested in some way to determine if they are leak free?
I have the same in my house...if they are in fact leaking, you might be able to have the leak repaired. But since you say you see no evidence of water pooling, or steam escaping, what initially called attention to it?
The other (and probably more cost effective option) is to replace it with another cast-iron radiator. Yes, they can be checked for leaks---but since this is a rental, shouldn't your landlord be taking care of this, or the costs anyway?
Those old cast iron radiators can last a lifetime, so a repair should be first considered if its one small to moderate break of some kind...sometimes the valve leaks, so that should be looked at too.
It's not a rental - I own the apartment. The building is a co-op.
To answer the question of what caused attention to it, when the heat was first turned on in the building this fall I didn't seem to be getting much so my super came to take a look. That was when he told me I had signs of leaks on two of my radiators - the rusty stripe in the picture above was what he pointed to. He encouraged it as a precaution because other owners had had leak problems this season and basically said it was just a matter of time before I had a leak. So he recommended repairing with a new radiator, which he would install for me so I don't need to go to the plumber - how helpful!
My feeling is that I'd rather not do anything if I don't need to, so it sounds like I need to have a professional take a look at it to determine if I really need to do anything.
It's not a rental - I own the apartment. The building is a co-op.
To answer the question of what caused attention to it, when the heat was first turned on in the building this fall I didn't seem to be getting much so my super came to take a look. That was when he told me I had signs of leaks on two of my radiators - the rusty stripe in the picture above was what he pointed to. He encouraged it as a precaution because other owners had had leak problems this season and basically said it was just a matter of time before I had a leak. So he recommended repairing with a new radiator, which he would install for me so I don't need to go to the plumber - how helpful!
My feeling is that I'd rather not do anything if I don't need to, so it sounds like I need to have a professional take a look at it to determine if I really need to do anything.
well, it could be a very, very small, slow leak or it might be nothing. It does look like the radiators have not been repainted in a while. If is a very small leak, then patching it (that is, a repair) is probably the most cost-effective and practical means of handling it. A replacement with another cast-iron radiator is another fairly cheap option, though those often run about $200, for the radiator alone....installment is not especially expensive in most cases. Personally, Id wait on it since there does not seem to be an active leak with water and/or steam coming out of it and pooling on the floor. Get a second opinion if you feel some kind of repair or replacement is warranted....I would advise getting a second opinion.
Note that a true steam system is very different from a radiator hot water system.
If true steam the replacement radiators are very expensive. $800. at least. What
you might to is call a Local of the Operating Engineers. They could tell you who
locally inspects/repairs these rads. If you need further work that that, they could
direct you in that direction as well.
It's a 1920s 6 story building, so I imagine it is a true steam system based on what I've read about the type of heating that was installed at the time. But I'll check to make sure. Thanks for everyone's input - I'm going to make a few calls this week for a second opinion.
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