My flat has a heating system with grills attached to the wall and there is a little knob that you turn to adjust the heat. Trouble is, most of the heat stays on the metal grill and the room remains cold. You'd have to be sleeping on the grill to get any heat. In the US, you had an electronic AC/heat adjust that would blast hot air throughout the flat and heat it up in minutes.
Anyone else living in a flat with this stone age heating technology? It's freezing here!

Put on a jumper. Buy a fan. Move South for the winter . I too have radiators bolted to the wall. And the heating is not on in the early hours, nor, I think, during a large part of the day. No thermostat in my appartement either.

Brrr.

I've always found the radiators work very well, even when it gets a lot colder than it is now. Make sure that all the taps (knobs) are turned fully on. If that isn't working then there is a problem with the system and you need to chase up your landlord.

it's not a stone age heating, it's very energy efficient compared to electrical warm-air heating. It just takes time to heat up the room, but once you're there it should be quite enough to hold a pleasant temp.

Radiators always seemed to work fine for me.

that is, of course only if your house/flat is properly insulated.

Suermel, you beat me to it. Electrical heating is an inefficient use of electricity.

And by the way, many radiators have a mechanical thermostat built into the knob.

Hi there
It doesn’t matter if it is energy efficient or not but the main problem is that you feel cold in your home and that is a pity.
As every closed pipe system it has one big problem the liquid will expand when it gets warmer and air will be blocking it.
There is all the time a heating boiler in your apartment/ house which heats up the water with some sort of energy (fuel, oil, timber pallets, gas or something else). Check if the boiler is already heating up the liquid. (May it is not on yet)
The pipe system expands and air will be on top of this liquid.
Therefore you need to release this air trough the little nipple on the opposite side of the thermostat (mostly on the top of the radiator).
You can turn the four edged bolt with two keys, army knife or with a “Vierkantschluessel” four edged key. Place a bole underneath the nipple because there is water in the system.
Check all radiators in your apartment and if it still don’t work you go to your landlord and explain your situation.
Hopefully it helps good luck.

Good point, but since he said the radiator does indeed get hot, I assumed that the heating is, in fact, working. Though it might not work as good as it should due to air in the system, as you said.

What temperature do you have in your rooms, then? If it's reallly too cold, the best option, IMHO is to call the landlord about it. Some don't like it if you mess with the heating yourself.

Sounds like an air block for sure. Had the same problem where the radiator was only been heated half way up and the rest was cold. did exactly what RomanCork has kindly explained and works great now...be careful though as the water can be extremly hot (if the heating is on).

If the complete radiator gets hot, then there is not a problem with the air, but mostly at the beginning of the heating period there is no circulation because of some air somewhere in the system.
My concern is that some other party in the house has air in the pipelines.

Here are my experience with German/Swiss heaters (the ones with the mechanical turning knob):

Turn the knob to the highest level, wait a few minutes.

1. If it gets quite hot (to the point of uncomfort if you put your hands too long on the heater), then it's working fine. Yet if after a few hours the room is still cold, then check if the windows are tight. You can check this with a lit candle put near the window. If it is flickering relatively widely, then most likely you have untight windows. It is also possible that the walls are not well insulated. Unless the landlord changes the window or reinsulate the walls, there's nothing much you can do about it.

2. If it gets only warm, then try to vent out the air inside the radiator as described in the previous posting. You vent the air while the heater is on (turning the knob to level 3 or beyond) until a bit of water gets out. If it still doesn't get hot after doing this, then most likely the main boiler for supplying heat to the radiators in your building is not turned on-> talk to your landlord/hausmeister.

3. If it stays cold, then most likely the main boiler is not on.

Closing the door also helps to keep the heat to stay inside the room. You may also make sure that all windows are closed during the day.

In my previous apartment (an old house, a semi-basement flat) it was so cold and there is nothing much I can do about the heater, that I decided to invest on a small electrical heater. You can buy them relatively cheap in Migros, Interdiscount, etc.

good advice there.

another thing I remembered right now (though it won't help you now, but maybe in the future) is to turn the thermostat all the way up during the time when the heating is turned off (summer). Otherwise the little pin that regulates the heat might get stuck and not come loose the next time you turn your thermostat up, meaning the heating will keep cold even then.

if the heating works correctly the radiator should get warm enough that it gets uncomfortable if you put your hand on it for several seconds...

How is this Switzerland-exclusive? You chose to move into an apartment that has an outdated heating system. Plenty of places I lived at in N. America suffered from drafty windows or poor heating systems. It just depends how updated the apartment you move into is.

The place I live in here has floor heating and it's very warm. Those wall heaters are pretty old fashioned and are generally not used in newly renovated apartments.

My recipe: dress more!
(I thought that I am the only one feeling cold ).

And I thought it was just me.
It's freezing in here. Maybe the neighbors didn't turn on the heating today. That helps sometimes.

Where are you people living?

You guys all sound like you're all sleeping on futons in some squat of a London apartment.

I've never encountered a badly heated swiss apartment.

Yeah, I have new radiators but it still takes time for them to heat up. I turn it up to max and it is still not warm enough.

Mike,

What room temperature do you measure when all radiators have been operating full at capacity for several hours?

Thanks for the suggestions folks. I will call the landlord as this heating system just does not seem to be doing what it's supposed to do. In regards to the other comments:

1. Energy efficiency is nice, but not when you're freezing.
2. This flat looks like it was built sometime in the 80s, so it's not that old. So I guess these landlords suck or the design is such that it can't be upgraded to a better system. Either way, the end result is unpleasant.


Already 3 people here have complained about the freezing, so obviously this is not an isolated problem.

Now this is funny and was also very helpful.

Fact 1: The US have the same stone-age heating technology.
Fact 2: There is also air im my radiators here in the US.
Fact 3: Now I know what to do.
Fact 4: That wouldn't happen with a modern Swiss style floor heating system...

I have never seen more radiator based systems in the US as I have seen in Switzerland. Even my 1950s apartment complex in the US had a proper thermostat control and heater.
Another nice fact: they turn off the heat for several hours in the day here
I pity the stay at home folks.

FYI a floor heating system is not a Swiss invention either.