How nice it is to return to a warm and comfortable home after a long day, however, cold batteries can become an unpleasant surprise in a winter evening. Indicators of heating standards for apartment buildings for different rooms have different meanings. What are they? Why can the heating be turned off and what to do in this case?
About the heating season
In most regions of Russia, this period lasts for six months - from mid-October to mid-April. Legislatively, the start of heat supply to apartments is regulated by Government Decision No. 354 of May 6, 2011. The document states that the heating season begins when for five consecutive days the ambient air temperature is below +8 º. Otherwise, the heating supply is delayed and this is completely legal.
Similarly, the cessation of heating occurs when for more than five days the air temperature is above +8 º. Heat supply or its termination is carried out on the sixth day after the fixation of stable temperature readings.
To receive heating before the period prescribed in the decree can social facilities: kindergartens, schools, educational institutions. For this, the management turns to the local heating network with a request for start-up.
A few months before the start of the heating season in apartment buildings, a test run of heating is carried out, which residents must be notified of. This measure is necessary to check the health of the system, detect malfunctions and eliminate them before the onset of cold weather.
Legislation
The heating temperature standards are regulated by the "Rules for the provision of utilities to owners and users of premises in apartment buildings and residential buildings", as well as:
- GOST R 51617-2000 on the general technical conditions for the provision of housing services.
- GOST 30494-2001, which fixes the optimal level of microclimate in residential premises.
- SP 23-101-2004 - a list of rules for builders of residential premises.
- SNiP 23-01-99 - a set of hygiene rules.
- SNiP 31-01-2003, which sets the temperature level in the apartment.
What does the temperature depend on?
The heating standards for apartment buildings depend on three indicators. They are as follows:
- The type of heating used in the living room. If it is centralized, the standard depends on the location of the apartment in the house (angular or not) and the temperature of the coolant. If the heating is autonomous, then there is no norm as such, the residents individually adjust the temperature in the house.
- The region of the country and its inherent climate.
- Type of heated room (living room, kitchen, bathroom, etc.).
Housing problem
What is the norm for the concept of heating? The norm is a temperature range at which the human body will not be supercooling or overheating, in other words, a comfortable temperature. However, according to the study, children and women feel good at ambient temperatures from +23 to +25 º, men - from +21 to +23 º. Are these values taken into account when developing heating standards in an apartment?
It should be noted that most people experience a comfortable state when the temperature is in the range from +21 to +25 degrees. Experts have found that a person feels best at an average room temperature of 18-24 degrees above zero, can be without warm clothes without harm to his health.
The standard for heating premises in the cold season, regulated by law, is +18 º (for residential premises). For colder regions, the figure is two degrees higher. According to GOST R 51617-2000, the minimum temperature level in an apartment, depending on the type of room, may be as follows.
Type of premises | Minimum temperature, º |
Living room | 18-20 |
Living room in the region with air temperature readings of -31 º for 5 days | 20-22 |
Kitchen, individual washroom, combined washroom and individual heating bath, shared washroom in dormitories | 18 |
Private or shared bathroom, shared dormitory shower | 25 |
Shared restroom in dormitories, lobby, front and stairwells in the apartment building | 16 |
Lobby, staircase, shared hallway in the hostel | 18 |
Laundry, ironing and drying room in the hostel | fifteen |
Elevator engine room, garbage collection chamber | 5 |
In corner rooms, whether it is an apartment or a dormitory, the heating standards should be two degrees higher than indicated in the table. In the period from 00:00 to 5:00 hours (night time), the air temperature in the house can decrease by a maximum of 3-4 º. The reason that employees of the service company reduce the temperature is that in a dream, the needs of the body are reduced, and by reducing the heat in the batteries, the company saves resources. By law, lowering the temperature in the living room during the day is unacceptable.
The heating service standard is also used for payment. If for some reason the batteries do not sufficiently heat the apartment, the tenants have the right to apply for clearance, so as not to pay for a service that was not provided. In order to avoid large bills for heating, you can put an individual heat meter in the apartment and pay for it, and not according to the heating standard per 1 sq. M. m
How to measure the temperature in the apartment?
You need to do this as follows: select the largest of the living rooms and place the thermometer at a distance of half a meter from the outer wall with the battery and at a height of one and a half meters from the floor.
If the room is cold, it is advisable to measure the temperature of the batteries, for which you can use several methods:
- Use a conventional thermometer that records the ambient temperature. When choosing this method, it is worth adding 1-2 degrees to the readings. To measure, put the thermometer on the surface of the radiator.
- Apply an infrared thermometer, the error of which is only half a degree.
- Using an alcohol meter.
- A special electrical device used by specialists.
The measuring device must have a quality certificate. If the battery temperature is low - this is an occasion to contact the management company for a control measurement of the parameters of the circulating fluid.
Why is there no heat in the apartment?
The heating season has begun, but is housing still cold? The most common causes of lack of heat in a house:
- General breakdown in the heating system of an apartment building.
- The pipes that bring heat to the house are airy.
- Incomplete repair of heating systems.
If the cause of the breakdown is common, it remains only to wait until the repair is completed. If air gets into the pipes, you must contact the management company, whose specialist will help to fix the problem. According to the law, the master must, within 24 hours after the tenant’s appeal, come up to the call and eliminate the airiness.
Why is the heating supply interrupted?
Yesterday it was impossible to hold the hand of the battery, but is it barely warm today? Why is the heat supply unstable?
The beginning of the heating season does not mean that it will be continuous. Employees of the local heating network monitor the temperature of the ambient air and adjust the rate of heating consumption depending on the readings of the thermometer. The employees responsible for supplying heat to apartment buildings can quite rightly turn off the heating:
- maximum for a day if the outdoor temperature is +12 º and higher;
- for 8 hours maximum at an air temperature of 10-12 º;
- no more than four hours if the thermometer on the street showed +8 º and lower.
What to do if heating standards are not met?
First of all, noticing the cold batteries in the apartment, you need to understand the reasons. It is possible that there is an accident on the heating main, and specialists are already working to eliminate it. You can find out the reasons why the heating standards are temporarily underestimated by phone, contacting your local emergency dispatch service. If specialists do not report a common problem, it may be local.
To solve such difficulties with heating, it is worth contacting the organization that provides the house with heat, or the repair and maintenance department. An application for inspection of a living space can be made in writing or orally by phone. In this case, the person accepting the application must provide his data - position and full name.
A commission is sent to the living room, where the heating standards are underestimated, which measures the temperature and draws up an act. This document certifies that the heat supply service is not provided in full, which is the reason for recalculating the payment for the service. If the temperature in the living room is below +18 º in the cold season, the heating system should reduce the payment by 0.15% for every hour.
Next, employees of the heating network and repair and operational management should identify the cause of the malfunction and eliminate it. After repair work, the temperature is measured repeatedly and an act is drawn up confirming that the interruptions in the supply of heat have been eliminated.
How to file a complaint
If, after contacting a service organization, no action was taken on its part, this is an occasion to hold administrative responsibility due to a violation of the rules of public services for the population.
You can make an individual or collective complaint if the neighbors have similar heating problems. Refusal to accept a document by a service organization is an occasion to go to court, which can seriously fine a company that supplies heat to the population.