Wow, I just finally had to use the heat in the campus apartment. It didn't seem to be working, so I checked out the thermostat in the livingroom. It's an ancient thing with a bimetal coil and a mercury tilt switch. And there was a wire that came loose, which explained why there was no heat. Resoldered the wire on, and turned the heat on. The room went from 68F to 88F in about 10 minutes. So the heat in here is apparently a manual-control deal. Leave it to its own devices, and it either freezes or roasts the occupants.
The smell of burning dust is always nice too. Gotta love that first-heater-use of the season, followed by opening all the windows and hoping that the smoke detector doesn't go off - if it goes off in one room, it sets off the alarms in the entire building.