kuniform

ok… So I am living in a water-heated boiler/radiator building for the first time in.. oh, 8 years? And this is the first one I’ve owned, so I am currently divining the purpose of 85 years of cruft and pipes which tangle in every imaginable direction in my basement.

So far, no matter what else has to happen in the house, I have dedicated 1.5 hrs, minimum, each night to labelling pipes as far as what they do, and where they go. Three nights into the process, I still have not found my water main, though I know where many other things lead. This could be considered bad, especially since we replaced a toilet downstairs without the benefit of this knowledge. One stripped screw and we’d have had a swimming pool in the basement.

Most importantly, I have figured out how all the radiators hook together, and I think I know how to control them, now. If that is the case, bleeding the system and the individual radiators should be pretty easy. I’ll find out if that is the case tonight. In the meantime, I’ve had great luck searching the internet and compiling tips.

Particularly helpful have been:
making a radiator reflector
and maintaining radiators

Do you know of any good links? Do you know anyone who lives in Ravenswood Manor, Chicago, IL who knows where their water main is?