Radiator Sounds Mean Cozy - Dr. Ed Iannuccilli
Monday, November 15, 2021
These days, there is a cozy sound that bops, bleeps, and knocks, through our house after the furnace kicks on; throw-back noises that remind me of my childhood. It’s the waking cacophony of our steam radiators. Yes, we had them in our three-tenement house when I was a kid, and we have them now. And I love them.
Diane and I play a late fall game trying to keep the heat off for as long as possible; a contest with little to win at its end but to stave off a chill (hmmm. . . that’s a win). We soon relent, bump up the thermostat, hear the poof of the furnace below, the groan of the heating system and, with it, comes those sounds of old.
When I was a kid, we went to sleep and woke in winter to the hiss, and bangs of working furnaces that clutched the steam heat from deep in the bowels of the cellar and pushed it up high through waiting pipes into solid, silver, cold steel radiators in our third-floor tenement.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTRadiators were important for more than heat. They were wonderful places to dry our winter mittens, warm our pajamas or keep our cup of hot chocolate hot. Sometimes Mom came in with a pan of water and placed it on our radiator. “It will keep the room nice and moist.”
But more than that, those sounds promised security and, combined with tucking our noses under the covers, that security lulled us to dream. On many evenings before drifting off, I looked at the curved rim of ice on the bedroom window and knew the radiator was doing its job, taking the steam from one pipe, curling it through the radiator, heating our room, and pushing it off to another pipe. And when the heat hit the glass, the ice magically appeared.
On occasion, Dad came in to turn something at the bottom of the radiator. “Dad, what is all that noise?”
“Trapped air in the system. Don’t worry. One of these days, I’m gonna bleed the radiator and change all the valves.” Bleed a radiator? Well, he knew what he was doing. It was of no matter to us.
That steam heat was so efficient that sometimes, when it got too hot, Mom came in to raise our window just a tad, push out the wooden storm and latch it in place for the night.
Even today, as the radiators hammer away, I am comforted by the first groans that move quickly on to click, clank, knock, hiss, bang, and Wow, the heat is coming. On those frigid days, there is such a nice feeling to walk into the house, take my jacket off and stand with my back to a steaming radiator. How very comforting.
Oh sure, on occasion, the noises can be distracting, particularly if it starts when you want to hear the news. No matter. We’ll never get rid of those old radiators. Will you?
Dr. Ed Iannuccilli is the author of three popular memoirs, “Growing up Italian; Grandfather’s Fig Tree and Other Stories”, “What Ever Happened to Sunday Dinner” and “My Story Continues: From Neighborhood to Junior High.” Learn more HERE.
