When it comes to heating systems, everyone has his or her own opinion–what’s too hot for one resident is too cold for another. And while our heating skill and know-how for maintenance and repair are second to none, we don’t cover tenant conflict resolution. With Fred Smith on the job, you can rest assured we will keep your heat, if not your residents, running smoothly.
Steam Leaks
If the steam is not getting to where it should, neither is the heat. Steam leaks at piping and valves are the kind of problem we see and remedy quite often. We’ve also replaced our fair share of expansion joints, broken radiator valves, and trap or air valves
Steam Knocking and Banging
They say NYC is the city that never sleeps. A romantic notion to be sure…unless of course, you are trying to sleep and can’t due to clanking pipes in your building. Unexplained noises at night can make for grumpy tenants and board members. Fred Smith’s sought-after heating technicians can quickly determine the cause of these disturbances (improperly pitched piping is one common cause) and return the peace and quiet.
Under- or Over-Heated Apartments
Due to defective main valves, imbalance in steam or hot water heating systems, main steam traps, or improper steam pressure, steam or hot water sometimes doesn’t flow evenly through a heating system leading to too-hot or too-cold apartments and unhappy residents. Fred Smith can find the problem and solve it once and for all, lowering complaints and in most cases your fuel bills at the same time.
Uneven Heating Within a Building
There are a number of things that cause uneven heating in a building. Outside exposures are one of the first things to consider. Does one side of the building face the windy river? Does the other side have a southern exposure? Uneven heating can also be caused by a defective vacuum system.
Fred Smith Plumbing and Heating has been solving steam heating problems in NYC buildings for so long that we’ve developed a sort of intuition for it. There’s no problem we haven’t seen or been able to solve.