How To Put Meters For Heating In An Apartment, What Are The Pitfalls Of Installation And Metering

2023 Author: Philip Bishop | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-08-25 07:54

• The legal need to install a heat meter
• Installing meters in old apartment buildings
• Basic approvals required when connecting meters
• Drawing up an application, project, obtaining technical specifications
• Meter purchase, installation, commissioning
• Accounting for the distribution of heat energy in new buildings

Central heating payments are growing rapidly every year, accounting for almost half of utility bills. Installing a meter for heating in an apartment, gaining independence from standards, paying for a specific heat energy consumption is the dream of residents of apartment buildings.

It would seem that individual metering of heat energy consumption is beneficial to everyone. The management company will be able to track the heat consumption per apartment, identify non-payers. Residents get the opportunity to pay for the actual consumption of heat energy independently of other consumers.

Then why is the law №261-FZ not being implemented, what or who is hindering it. How to install a heat meter and pay only for your own heat consumption? Is this possible on a legal basis?

The legal need to install a heat meter

Do you need heat meters for heating in an apartment of a multi-storey residential building - this is not the correct question to pose. According to the law No. 261-FZ on energy saving, it is prescribed, if it is technically possible, to install apartment heat meters at their own expense by January 1, 2015.

What does Russian legislation say about energy saving?

At the same time, contrary to the law, decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 354 is issued, where each consumer is given the right to decide on his own the issue of using a common house heating unit for metering heat energy or to install a heat meter in an apartment on his own.

This, it would seem, is a completely democratic resolution, nullifies the efforts of residents who wished to install individual heat meters. At the same time, the management company and heat energy suppliers do not suffer at all, they take general house indicators and evenly distribute them over the area of the entire building.

The fact is that the method of payment for services for central heating is regulated by the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers No. 354. It is directly stated here that the meter readings on the heating battery in the apartment are considered legitimate if 100% of other consumers of an apartment or multifunctional building are equipped with similar heat meters. Collisions begin. Plus to this - a common house metering unit should be installed at the input.

In practice, there is always a consumer who, for whatever reason, does not want to install an individual meter. In this case, the laws of the Russian Federation are not formally violated. They do not oblige residents to install heating meters in the apartment, but, on the other hand, they do not prohibit doing this. As a result, the efforts spent on the settlement of legal issues, the purchase and installation of a meter turn out to be an empty undertaking for all other consumers.

Installing meters in old apartment buildings

Almost 90% of the housing stock of multi-storey buildings in Russia was built according to standard projects tied to local conditions. Typical design, in principle, did not provide for the installation of heat meters for heating in a separate apartment.

Here, the central heating system is based on the distribution of the heating medium in a riser scheme with an upper or lower distribution. All heaters are connected in parallel to common risers. What you need to know about the distribution of the coolant in an apartment building.

A heating point with a heat meter is provided at the entrance of the central heating main to an apartment building. The volumes of the coolant consumption are determined according to the meter readings, they are evenly distributed to all apartments according to their area. Payment is made according to the regulations.

So how to put meters for heating in an apartment? With a riser system, two options are possible:

1. Installing a counter for each battery.
2. Changing the heating wiring diagram so that all devices are connected to one riser. One counter is enough here.

Install a heat meter for a riser system on each battery.

It should be noted right away that the management office is unlikely to give permission to implement the second method. This disturbs the balance of the system, the coolant may simply not reach the upper floors. Any unauthorized changes made to the heating wiring diagram are unacceptable. You will be fined, the installed devices will not be accepted into operation, they will be forced to restore the wiring.

As for the first option. According to order No. 627 of December 29, 2011, it is forbidden to install individual heating meters in an apartment with a common house vertical wiring where one device is powered from each riser. Here the final decision is submitted to the management company. Usually the issue is resolved positively, but it will take 2-3 months for approvals in various instances.

Important! Try to go through all the stages of approvals, installation, connection between heating periods, this will simplify the insertion of devices.

Basic approvals required when connecting meters

From filling out an application to accepting a heating meter in an apartment, you will have to go through stages determined by legislation, each of which will require significant expenditures of effort, nerves, time, and material investments.

Is it possible to put a heating meter in an apartment - seven steps that must be passed so that everything is legal.

Before starting the process, finally decide whether to do it. Find out from the management company about the real number of already installed meters in the apartment building, if there are such precedents.

Drawing up an application, project, obtaining technical specifications

The first stage is a visit to the management company, housing office or HOA. Here it is necessary to solve the following series of questions:

1. Write an application for the creation of a commission for the survey of an apartment in order to determine the technical capabilities of installing heating meters in an apartment, their location. Draw up a survey report.
2. In the case of a positive decision of the commission, write an application for permission to carry out this type of work related to changing the heat supply scheme and obtaining technical conditions agreed with the power supply organization. The TU form has a single shape, you can see which heat meter is better.
3. After obtaining permission and agreed in all instances of the TU, you can buy heat meters for batteries in an apartment or for other premises. Technical conditions are an important document, according to which they acquire, install meters, make a heat supply project.
4. According to TU, order a project from a specialized design organization, which will indicate the location of the installation of meters. In the case when the managing organization gives the go-ahead for the alteration of the heat supply scheme, bringing it to one riser, all the necessary changes are indicated in the project. The project is being approved by the management company, resource supplying organization.

The purchase of a meter is associated with material costs.

Meter purchase, installation, commissioning

The device is purchased only in specialized stores. Check the availability of the certificate for the products sold. The device must comply with the parameters specified in the technical specifications. The passport must contain a stamp about the passage of verification at the manufacturer's enterprise with the date indicated, a warranty card.

The best option for how to supply meters for heating in an apartment is to contact a specialized organization that has a certificate, permits for this type of work. The organization must be included in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities (you can check it for free here), have an admission-certificate for the relevant construction and design work (SRO). This is important when registering a meter with an energy saving company.

• Draw up a contract with the organization, a calculation, an estimate for the installation of a heat supply system and an insert of devices. Decide on the warranty periods, further support for the operation of heating meters in the apartment, conducting checks and eliminating emergency situations, meter faults.
• After carrying out installation work, checking the device, draw up an act with representatives of the management office and the energy-saving organization.

Write an application to the energy saving company for registration and commissioning of installed meters with a change in the heat supply system scheme. From this moment on, you will be fully responsible for the correct operation of the devices and their technical condition. The control is carried out by the power supply organization

Entrust the choice of a meter for central heating to the apartment of the organization that will be your executor. They will purchase such devices that fully meet the requirements of the technical specifications, taking into account the scope of the permissible cost.

Accounting for the distribution of heat energy in new buildings

Modern design and construction of multi-storey residential or mixed-use buildings is carried out in accordance with the requirements of Federal Law No. 261-FZ. It provides for the mandatory equipping of new buildings with apartment heat metering systems from January 1, 2012. The question of how to put an individual heat meter for an apartment for heating is not worth it in principle.

The project includes floor zoning of the central heating system with the installation of separate heating points. From here comes the wiring of supply and return collectors to each apartment. Such a centralized heating scheme allows you to legally install a heat meter in an apartment.

However, even in the case of a zoned floor heating system, legislation leaves a fly in the ointment. The builders did not install apartment metering devices, only the general house one. The tenants are obliged to do this on their own, at their own expense. Again, the solution to the problem was left to the mercy of the owners of the acquired housing.

Judicial practice officially interpreted that paragraph 7 of Article 13 of the Federal Law No. 261 states that the obligatory equipping of apartment buildings by the developer with heat meters is applied specifically to houses. There is no talk about the procedure for installing a heat meter in an apartment.

Since January 1, 2015, developers have installed heating meters in the apartment, otherwise it is interpreted as a violation of consumer rights. If the project, the estimate does not provide for the installation of apartment devices, the developer is obliged to mount them at his own expense, otherwise the house will not be put into operation. Residents, upon arrival, pay the additional cost of the device and installation work.

It is possible to install an individual meter for heating in an apartment in two ways:

• at the outlet of distribution pipelines from the heating unit of the floor heating system;
• at the entrance to the control cabinet located directly in the apartment.

If there are no heat meters in an apartment building, but the possibility of installation is provided, the apartment owner will have to go through the steps described above for installing devices with a riser heating system. The applicant receives permission automatically, the rest of the process is carried out at his expense, independently. The only difference is that one individual metering device for heating in an apartment is enough, this reduces material costs.

Be sure to equip the apartment heating system with thermostats. Otherwise, there can be no talk of saving thermal energy.

Arising collisions, disputes with those who do not want to install a metering device are resolved at the general meeting of residents. The energy saving organization has every right to force the home owner to install a meter if technically feasible. This is stipulated in the Law of the Russian Federation No. 261 on Energy Saving. In this case, the law is on the consumer's side.

Complaints about material difficulties are not accepted. The state grants loans for up to 5 years for the purchase of metering devices. This provides for the disconnection of the consumer from the central heating.

Installing a meter on a heating battery in an apartment helps residents to adjust and maintain a comfortable temperature during the heating season, systematically consume heat energy, and pay exclusively according to the readings of a heat meter.

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