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My husband and I are having another problem with our new apartment (the last two weeks, just after moving in, it was the terrible noise from the upstairs-that's still going on, unfortunately). the place is boiling hot now, it's like a sauna. It's a triplex, and upstairs (the bedroom) there are no windows, and it has to be at least 100 degrees. Even when all the windows are open on the middle floor, the living room, it does not get cool enough upstairs. and without the windows open wide, it's between 85 and 90 in the living room. I have asked the super several times to do something about it, to no avail. In addition to being extremely uncomfortable, it's just a terrible waste of energy. neither of us can sleep it's so hot...in addition to the noise, we are beginning to crack. I've done some googling but haven't found anything about a landlord's obligations wrt it being too hot. Does anyone know about this? Is there anything I can do to force them to turn it down? I have never had these types of problems with NYC apartments before, been here for nearly 7 years and lived in several places, this is my first really bad experience. the management is clearly completely incompetent and I'm really not sure what to do. Although we can't really afford it, we are thinking of moving. If the management is so unresponsive and awful, I know I can't depend on them if we really need something. any advice, either with regard to moving or ways to manage the heat? Thanks.
Do you have steam? You can usually close off the radiators. There should be a shut-off valve. A lot of NyC apartments are overheated or underheated. Welcome to the club.
hmmm, I'm not very educated about this stuff. I think it probably is steam (it puffs every so often). I'll look into shutting it off myself, I didn't realize it might be possible for me to do that. The super didn't mention it when I spoke to him (when he promised to come by the last several times and still has not).
It's also possible, if it's an old boiler / burner, that it isn't possible to regulate more finely. My understanding may be a bit spotty, but if it's a gravity feed rather than a circulator, you can set the water temperature, but can't control the ambient temperature in the space. My advice is turn off the radiator(s) until it gets colder outside.
they actually do call it a 1 bedroom. It's a triplex, so you walk into the kitchen/bathroom downstairs, upstairs into a living room, and then the next flight of stairs is the bedroom, which faces the hallway so there is no window. Of course we knew that moving in and thought possibly it might be a bit hot in the summer, but figured with AC it should be ok. Since we knew about the lack of windows upstairs, is there anything we can do about it?
It's also possible, if it's an old boiler / burner, that it isn't possible to regulate more finely. My understanding may be a bit spotty, but if it's a gravity feed rather than a circulator, you can set the water temperature, but can't control the ambient temperature in the space. My advice is turn off the radiator(s) until it gets colder outside.
if we can, will definitely turn it off...there's no need for heat at all now! I get the impression there is no way to regulate the heat more finely -- I imagine otherwise the super would have just told me that, although who knows. thanks for the advice!
Phase 1: Examine your heat sources for valves. Wear a pair of gloves to avoid burning yourself. They may be plain radiators, or tubing behind some decorative grating (often painted shut and old paint needs to be scraped out.)
Phase 2: Turn off all the valves you can. Those you cannot, have the super try. If he cannot turn them off they need to be replaced.
With all of them off you may be more comfortable but just the pipes in the walls can often make the place too hot.
To get the third floor more tolerable orient a powerful fan to blow air from floor 2 to floor 3 or vice versa.
We go through the same thing. One night a couple weeks ago the steam came up all night and the outside temperature was 68.
But top floor, no window sounds like an endless source of misery Winter and Summer.
(There are more tricks but try the first two first.)
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