New to Germany and my apartment is starting to get cold and I’m not sure how to work these radiators? 5 is hottest? Do I push the red in and pull the blue out?

by Tristan_TheDM

2 comments

  1. You don’t need the blue and red thing for it to function – you can use those to block how far the knob can turn.

    The knob, while it doesn’t look like one, is a thermostat. So it’s not a “5 puts out maximum heat, and 1 puts out a fifth of that”. Rather, the number sets the target temperature, and the heater regulates itself to keep that temperature as constant as possible. That also means that the heater can be on a setting other than zero, but yet cold, when the room has the target temperature.

    So unless you want 28 degrees or thereabouts, you shouldn’t set it to 5. Normal room temperature is somewhere in the range between 2 and 3.

    ETA: Look at the info box. It says which level certain symbols on the scale correspond to, and how much the steps are (4 degrees in this case).

  2. Yes, 5 is hottest (3 is generally plenty). That’s all you need to do in theory. If it’s not getting hot, it’s because it isn’t being supplied with hot water. The solution for that depends on the supply source. If there’s a boiler for you apartment, you may need to insure the radiator supply is turned on. If there’s a central boiler for the building, you’d need to talk to your Hausmeister

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