Personal experience: I live with a boiler. S.L

Instead of a preface

September was always the worst month for me, the nights were already getting cold, it was starting to rain, the temperature in the apartment fluctuated around 20 degrees, or even less, but the heating was always turned on in early October. Until they had to hold out. How?

I took out my faithful home “fur coat” from the closet - a bathrobe, put on woolen socks and bought packs of green tea. All this arsenal helped to somehow warm up until October. Especially this article will be appreciated by hypotensive patients, and in general by people with problematic vessels, who even in the heat have cold feet and hands.

A few years ago I decided to improve my living conditions and bought an apartment in a new building. But I became the owner of not a simple apartment, but with individual heating, or in a simple way - with a boiler.

Today there are more and more such projects. Not only townhouses are equipped with boilers, but also ordinary low- and mid-rise apartment buildings. In my house, by the way, 9 floors. In Moscow, all new buildings with central heating, but in New Moscow and, especially in the Moscow region, there are projects with individual heating: LCD "May", LCD "Pavlovsky Quarter" (OPIN), LCD "ZaMitino", LCD "Novogorsk Park", etc. .

So, if you live in an apartment with central heating, but are looking for an apartment (or townhouse) with a boiler, you need to know a few things about it. I will say right away that in this text there will be no praises for the boiler, because this type of heating is not suitable for everyone. But, if it does, then it will be impossible to get away from the boiler.

Advantages of an apartment with a boiler

I have a German Buderus boiler installed in my apartment. There are other common brands: Viessmann, Baxi, Bosch, Vaillant, Navien. There are also domestic brands - Rostovgazapparat, Lemax, ATON. As the owner of an apartment with a boiler, I now “sit” on several specialized forums where we all share useful information, pros and cons.

First, about the good, about the benefits. I have only 3 meters in my apartment: for cold water, for gas and for electricity. All. Not for central heating I don't pay for hot water. That is why I am not afraid of planned and emergency shutdowns of hot water. Operation "basin" is a thing of the past.

I am no longer afraid of September, when the apartment becomes uncomfortable, cold and I have to walk in three pants, socks and a bathrobe to stop chattering my teeth. I can set the thermostat to the temperature I want, whenever I want, and heat the apartment. When the thermostat fixes the set temperature, the boiler turns off by itself. And it turns on again when the thermostat "understands" that the apartment has cooled down.

But the main advantage of the boiler is, of course, savings. In the very first month after the move, I could not believe my eyes when I calculated how much gas I spent - I had to pay 400 rubles for April. This, along with heating water and taking into account cooking (and I often use an oven, which is also gas). In an old apartment (usual panel house) in winter I had to pay 2500-2800 only for central heating. Yes, the batteries were hot, and the apartment was always around 27-28 degrees (the guests said “well, you have Africa!”), But isn’t it preferable to make 25 degrees and pay less?

Isn't it great that the batteries can be turned off when it's a warm day? In a word, in a new apartment with a footage of 70 square meters. meters, I pay 350-400 rubles for gas per month in the spring, while in the former apartment of 50 square meters. meters almost 3 thousand rubles. Of course, even a cold spring is not a winter with 30-degree frosts, so I "tortured" the craftsmen who did the repairs for me - did they freeze in this harsh winter? Was the boiler working well? According to reviews, it was normal, they worked in T-shirts, no one died.

A big plus of apartments with boilers is that according to the project, the owner of the apartment can make himself not an electric, but a water floor. The heat-insulated floor is as batteries only horizontal. My friends who live in the townhouse did just that. According to them, the air in the premises warms up so quickly that a warm floor can easily replace batteries. I can only dream about it, because. i got an apartment with a screed, in which pipes were already laid (beam wiring), but, for example, the central part of the hallway turned out to be with this very warm floor, because. there are pipes to the radiators in the nursery and to the heated towel rail in the bathroom.

Consumption cold water, of course, it turns out more, but not by much. If in my previous apartment it took me 3-4 cubic meters of cold water and 2-3 hot ones (for two), then in this apartment I get 8-9 cubic meters of cold water per month.

Speaking of cold water. Recently, a block away from us, a pipe burst with cold water. And that's all - there was no water in the taps, and the repair of the pipe took almost 6 hours (well, the day turned out to be warm). But this problem is also true for houses with central heating, where, when repairing pipes in the yards, absolutely everything is blocked: both water in taps and batteries.

A big plus: heating in an apartment with a boiler does not depend on accidents - the water in the system (in batteries) is hermetic (watch the pressure in the system - it should ideally be 1.5 bar), so even if a pipe breaks in the yard - you have apartment, the water will spin in the batteries, passing through the boiler and heating up there, i.e. the apartment will be warm whenever you want.

But, yes, here I smoothly move on to the minuses of individual heating. Minus the second - if you live in an old area, there is a high probability that communications are outdated, which means that electricity can “jump”, unfortunately, boilers are dependent on power surges. Therefore, you will have to buy and additionally install a voltage stabilizer (in Leroy Merlin from 5 thousand rubles).

As for the fears that the boilers “eat” a lot of electricity, then you should not be afraid, on average, the boiler consumes 120 watts, i.e. like one light bulb (“washer” or slow cooker eat much more). But as for hard water, then you should be wary. Advertising about washing machines a heating element, which can become scaled and fail - is also relevant for boilers.

Craftsmen write amazing stories on the forums about how to clean the heating element of the boiler citric acid and other sentimental posts on how to get rid of scale. I do not advise you to engage in "self-treatment", I entered into an agreement with a service company (accredited at Gazprom), whose employees come and service the boiler once a year. It includes descaling, dust removal and diagnostics of "electronics". The issue price is 2-2.5 thousand rubles. There are many companies that service gas equipment, you can find it cheaper.

You can also just install a filter and change it after a while - depending on how hard the water is in your area. Our developer did it easier - he installed a water treatment plant for all 200 apartments under the house. As soon as the house was 60-70% occupied, it was launched. But, as you understand, maintenance once a year does not cancel this. Dust, which accumulates a lot during repairs in the boiler, is just as harmful to it as scale on the heating element (tubular electric heater).

Some brands of boilers can work quite noisily - this is another minus. For example, my Buderus works quietly, but my acquaintances have a Baxi boiler, and although they have already got used to it for 3 years of living with it, they do not deny that the boiler makes noise from time to time (when you have to heat both water and batteries, i.e. work at full capacity). When I asked them - how noisy is the boiler? They answered that it was a little stronger than a refrigerator. So a small 1-room apartment with a boiler for an elderly person, especially if he is sensitive to noise, may not be the best option for living.

Well, the last disadvantage of boilers is that it is difficult to “hide” it when buying a kitchen. This, in my opinion, is both fair and wrong. In the process of selecting a kitchen set, I turned to 4 companies. Two of them drew me beautiful kitchens, but the functionality of the boiler was ignored. I mean that when a specialist from a service company or just a gasman comes to you with a routine check - he should easily gain access to the boiler. Therefore, various doors and cabinets must be opened or quickly removed so that a person does not have to diagnose the boiler in a half-bent form.

Keep in mind that gas workers can also be fined if you "brick up" the boiler, because "but it's so beautiful." Unfortunately, aesthetics take a backseat here. In addition, if because of the beautiful, but incorrect design the boiler will fail in winter - I'm afraid that beauty in a 20-degree frost will not warm you.

However, today the market for kitchen design is diverse, and hiding the boiler so that it is always accessible is easy enough. The cheapest and most minimalistic way, in my opinion, is an ordinary roller blind (pull the string, the boiler will open), however, there is a nuance: it is advisable not to install anything butt-to-butt to the boiler, and also not to attach at the top.

So, let's sum up.

Boiler advantages:

Hot water outages are not terrible;

You can turn on the batteries and heat the apartment at any time;

You can heat your home by setting an individual (convenient) temperature;

The ability to make a warm water floor;

Savings, significant monetary savings;

Now the cons:

Dependence of the boiler on power surges, due to which the electronics may fail and repairs will be required;

Water hardness can damage the heating element, and it will have to be changed;

Some brands of boilers are quite noisy;

- "hide" the boiler in kitchen set need to be easily accessible on demand.

Now a few numbers - we have the same text about personal experience. Now, in the spring, I spend no more than 10 cubic meters of gas per day (take at least the recently ended April), because. I heat the apartment before going to bed and in the morning, after I air it out. On warm days, when heating is not required at all, 1-2 cubic meters of gas per day are consumed. The price of one cubic meter of gas is 4.7 rubles - consider for yourself (in September 2018, a cubic meter of gas costs already 5.3 rubles - approx. Novostroy-M).

A cube of cold water costs a little more than 20 rubles, if it takes 8-10 cubic meters per month, then we get 200 rubles with kopecks. Boiler maintenance is carried out once a year and costs, as I wrote above, 2-2.5 thousand rubles, that is, as much as I paid per month for central heating.

Certainly in modern new buildings there are heat meters at the entrance to the apartment. However, here it’s like with ODN for electricity - no matter how much electricity is “burned”, the rest of the common house will be scattered over all the apartments, and you will have to pay. With the boiler, everything is strict - how much gas they used up, they paid for that much.

This text should not be taken as propaganda “buy apartments with individual heating!” Even I couldn't live in a small apartment with a noisy boiler. But the very fact that the modern market of new buildings offers an alternative to central heating is very pleasing. Tomorrow, here again they promise no higher than +4 degrees, I'll go hug my boiler.

Publication date May 10, 2017

Central heating in multi-storey buildings does not always fulfill its functions - often there is low temperature water in pipes, uneven heating during the heating season. It is almost impossible to solve this problem, since public utilities do not respond to applications and complaints. It was this that became the main factor for the transition to apartment heating of apartments and houses: schemes, reviews of which have become widespread recently.

Apartment heating installation

How relevant is this method of maintaining comfortable temperature in the apartment? At first glance, it seems that the cost of purchasing equipment, its installation and maintenance will significantly exceed the costs compared to central heating. However, by doing not complex calculations you can be sure that gas-fired apartment heating compensates for the initial costs within three to five seasons of operation.

For the objectivity of these conclusions, it is necessary to consider the positive and negative aspects of installing an autonomous system.

Advantages of apartment heating:

The ability to set a comfortable level of temperature in the room independently. For central heating, such a function can be implemented - it requires the installation of a special meter, which must be agreed in many instances;
Reducing operating costs for the coolant. On average, apartment heating systems cost residents 40-50% less than a central system;
Complete independence from work management company for the supply of heat. This applies to scheduled and emergency repairs, non-compliance of the temperature regime of the coolant with the norms.

The main negative point for any apartment heating system is the high initial cost of purchasing equipment and the laboriousness of its installation. In addition, to disconnect from the central system and install an autonomous one, it is required to issue the appropriate permits. All worries about ongoing maintenance and the repair of equipment also fall on the shoulders of the owner of the apartment.

Registration of permission for apartment heating

There is a misconception that the design permits for an apartment with apartment heating is almost impossible to do. However, for this you only need to know the basic laws and adhere to technical standards.

According to paragraph 44 of Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 307, gas boilers with the following characteristics are allowed for installation as heating equipment in apartment buildings.

Closed combustion chamber;
Flame monitoring device in gas burner- automation system;
The operating temperature should not exceed 95°C, and the maximum pressure in the pipeline is 1 MPa.

Obtaining Technical Conditions from Gorgaz

To do this, you must provide a package of documents confirming the ownership of the premises - a passport from the BTI, a contract of sale, personal data. Within 14 days, representatives of the organization are required to issue a technical specification, which includes an apartment heating scheme.

Be sure to get permission from the fire department, which will inspect the ventilation ducts in the house. If, according to the project, it initially provided for the installation gas equipment- there will be no problems with this document.

Design part

Having received the technical conditions and permission from the fire service, it is necessary to find a design organization for drawing up an autonomous heating plan. These services are offered managing organization, or any other commercial, having the appropriate certificates and permissions. You cannot do this part of the work yourself, since houses with apartment heating must comply with current safety standards.

The project document contains an apartment heating scheme, a list of equipment and Supplies. For each of them there must be a passport, and in case of its absence - Technical information confirmed by the manufacturer and seller. If before that the house had central heating, then the risers are most often left. The plan indicates the place of disconnection from the network, the location of the gas boiler, the scheme of the main line and radiators.

Installation of apartment heating

The entire package of documents is submitted to the administration, which must check their compliance specifications. After receiving a positive decision, you can proceed with the installation of equipment. It is noteworthy that most of the reviews about apartment heating at the design stage have a negative connotation, as bureaucracy and paperwork take a lot of time and money.

It is forbidden to independently connect the boiler to the gas main. This should be done only by representatives of Gorgaz.

Having installed the elements of gas per-apartment heating, you can proceed to the stage of coordinating the time of connection to the main. Representatives of the management company must check the status of the installed system and issue a certificate of conformity. Then the boiler is connected to the gas pipe and the integrity and correct operation of the system are checked.

Choosing an apartment heating scheme

A properly designed project for houses with apartment heating should include the location of pipelines. For apartments, a two-pipe scheme with parallel connection of radiators is most often used.

If the area of \u200b\u200bthe room is not large (up to 60m2), then you can use a single-pipe circuit (Leningradka), in which there is no return pipe, and the batteries are connected in series. It is best to deal with this task specialists. But the owner of the apartment also needs to know the basic requirements for drawing up the scheme and its calculation:

Boiler power. If the room has good thermal insulation of the walls, then when choosing heating equipment, you can use the ratio of 1 kW per 10 m² of area. For regions with extremely low temperatures in winter, 15-20% can be added to this indicator. That is, under normal conditions, for an apartment of 70 m², a boiler with a capacity of at least 7 kW is required. The best option would be 10 kW equipment. This applies to all types of houses in which apartment heating is planned.
Boiler location. It should be mounted in the kitchen, since it is this room that most of all meets the requirements and ventilation ducts are located in it.

The boiler must not be installed in a bathroom or living room. This is a gross violation of the rules. To set the optimal temperature regime, it is recommended to connect temperature sensors located in the rooms to the boiler. With their help, you can significantly reduce gas consumption, which is the main condition for any apartment with an apartment type of heating.

The choice of equipment for apartment heating

The basis for individual apartment heating is the choice of the right boiler. It is best to install pyrolysis models, the efficiency of which is as close as possible to 100%. Mandatory components of the heating system are centrifugal pump and expansion tank. Currently, you can purchase gas boilers that have these elements in their design.

Reading reviews about apartment heating, you can often find comments about a problem in the operation of the equipment. Often this is due to a discrepancy between its parameters and operating conditions. Therefore, when choosing a boiler, you need to pay attention to such characteristics:

Presence in design expansion tank and pump;
Device power;
The degree of regulation of the level of heating of the coolant and water for hot water supply;
Boiler manufacturer and cost. Products from NAVIEN, BERETTA, PROTHERM and VAILLANT have proven themselves well. The cost can range from 24 to 60 thousand rubles, depending on the power and configuration.

You also need to choose the right pipes to create a highway. Currently for houses with apartment heating the best option considered polypropylene products with fiberglass reinforcement. They have a long service life, are interconnected by soldering and are able to withstand water temperatures above 95°C.

In some apartments with installed apartment heating, metal-plastic pipes are used. But they have a low strength index.

Features of the operation of the apartment heating system

However, along with all the above advantages, the apartment heating system has a number of features. First of all, it refers to the operating conditions. For normal operation of the boiler, it is necessary to provide a water make-up system. To do this, the main heating through the shut-off valves must be connected to the central water supply. However, the use tap water as a coolant is not recommended, as it has a large amount of impurities. Therefore, it is necessary to install a filtration system.

Next important point, which characterizes individual apartment heating, is to ensure the removal of burnt gases. It is best to install boiler models with a coaxial chimney. It will provide air flow from the street to maintain the combustion process, timely removal of carbon monoxide.

Consumer opinions and reviews

To create an objective point of view on the advisability of installing such a system, it is recommended that you read the reviews on apartment heating:

After years torment with central heating decided to install autonomous. I had to run around with the execution of all the papers - it took about six months. But in the end, our small two-roomed flat does not depend on the whim of the heating system. The only thing is that you need to monitor the condition of the boiler yourself. Fortunately, from the very beginning they took a reliable Beretta. Lyudmila Pshenichnaya, Eagle;
Finally, our gas apartment heating started working, although it could have happened 2 months ago. At the stage of drafting the project, I insisted on a cheap gas boiler. However, after the installation, Gorgas employees did not issue a permit for operation. Therefore, it had to urgently buy a new boiler. But in the end, everything works fine, although it could have been done faster and cheaper. My advice is to listen to the experts. Sergey Lisichansky, St. Petersburg.

Is it worth it in practice to implement a scheme providing for apartment heating? Of course - yes, but you need to prepare in advance for additional costs. The cost of services of a design organization ranges from 10 to 50 thousand rubles. depending on the complexity of the work. But no one has canceled the laws of the market, so when discussing the cost, it is recommended to raise the issue of discounts and bonuses.

The transition to apartment heating systems is increasingly typical for new buildings. However, even with centralized heating, new houses are also being built enough. This article is addressed to those who are now looking at new housing and are considering which option is better to stay.

What is this about

The main idea is clear: new house not connected to central heating. What is the result?

The developer, thus, saves on the wiring of communications and the installation of heating appliances; in addition, complex calculations and countless agreements with heat energy suppliers are not required.
The fact that they do not sell housing with an already concluded contract for the supply of thermal energy should also be beneficial for a potential buyer of an apartment. At a minimum, he himself can choose the source of heat and the temperature regime of heating.

However: in practice, most of the new buildings are rented with pre-installed double-circuit gas boilers. It is clear that their price is included in the cost of housing.

Apartments with connected communications, but without a pre-installed heating system of any type, however, can also be seen on sale. Let's look at both cases.

A gas boiler

It should be said right away: gas REALLY is the cheapest source of heat for heating. At least for now. Let's weigh the pros and cons of this scenario.

Advantages

Practice shows that the difference in payment between centralized heating and autonomous heating, using gas, ranges from 2 to 3 times with the same temperature regime.

Why is DH so expensive?

It is clear that the first, already almost unconditional reflex is to blame the greedy officials for everything. However, the tariffs for heat housing and communal services have, in addition to someone's evil will, and quite sound justification.

Gas, which is used for the production of heat by boiler houses and CHPPs, they pay at a higher rate than private individuals.
Depreciation of equipment has not been canceled. Boilers need periodic repair and maintenance; in addition, the tariffs are forced to include the planned replacement of equipment.
Annual repairs and planned replacement of heating mains also put a burden on your pocket.
Your heating system needs to be serviced. This item of expenditure includes the planned replacement and repair of risers, the elimination of radiator leaks, the revision and replacement of valves in elevator node, checking and boring the nozzle, monitoring the temperature regime of the elevator and a hundred more various works which we often don't notice.
Finally, all heat losses: on a heating main with torn off thermal insulation, in an open entrance, even in the CHP plant itself, you pay ... that's right, you too.

Another important advantage that an apartment heating system has is independence. It seems that anyone had to freeze at home waiting for the heating to start and suffer from stuffiness on a hot April day. implies that you provide at any time the temperature regime you need, in accordance with ONLY with your own comfort.

disadvantages

Of course, not without them.

Using the removal of combustion products through a coaxial duct to the facade of the house means that it is better not to open the windows once again. The soot that is inevitable during the combustion of gas will get inside the premises.

However: in houses, the design of which was initially optimized for individual heating, a more complex scheme of boiler operation is often found: air is taken from the facade, and combustion products are discharged into the ventilation duct, throughput which allows all boilers in the riser to operate at full power at the same time.

The photo shows the new building. The façade has air intake ducts.

Gas consumption in the corner and middle apartments of the house will vary. In the case of central heating, this, albeit somewhat comical, problem of social inequality is solved by the same amount of payment for heat.
The greater the total amount of gas equipment in the building, the greater the likelihood of a gas leak with the corresponding consequences. Yes, modern boilers much safer than gas stoves Soviet sample; however, in general, the gas is still explosive.

Apartment without heating equipment: solving the problem of heating

Well, what options are possible when buying an apartment without a pre-installed boiler? Are there heating schemes that are at least close to gas in terms of convenience and efficiency?

Actually, the choice is small. Most of the heat sources in a city apartment are not applicable.

Solid fuel boilers disappear not even because of the need for frequent maintenance, but because there is no place to store firewood and coal in the apartment.
Solara is VERY loud burner noise and a capacity of at least a couple of cubes. And then, imagine the process of filling it in apartment building…
Heating with electricity (more precisely, direct heating with its help) is very expensive. All energy-saving technologies (heat-insulated floors, infrared emitters, and even more so various electric radiators and others like them) are capable of best case reduce costs by a couple of tens of percent. The costs will still be 6-8 times higher than the cost of gas heating.

What remains? Actually, only heat pumps. And only two types - air-air and air-water.

Costs in budget option it is easy to estimate: for example, for a two-room apartment with an area of 60 squares, two household heat pumps C [email protected] Nordic CH-S09FTXN worth 22,000 rubles each. It was this model that was chosen not only for its low price, but also for its excellent energy efficiency combined with a wide range of operating temperatures for heating (up to -25C).

Let's try to estimate the costs in this case. Do-it-yourself calculations are more than easy:

According to SNiP, heating 10 m2 requires one kilowatt of thermal power.

Please note: new houses are being built with active use energy-saving technologies, so in practice this value can be safely divided into two. However, we will proceed from the worst-case scenario.

For an apartment of 60 M2, therefore, 6 kilowatts will be required. The rated power of one CH-S09FTXN is 3600 watts; but inverter technology control allows you to flexibly adjust the power without stopping and subsequent starts of the compressor.
The C.O.P. parameter, which means the ratio of effective thermal power and electric power, for our air conditioners is 4.2. In order to provide a rated power of 6 kW, they will have to continuously spend 6 / 4.2 = 1.43 kilowatts.

Let us dwell on this value: on the one hand, as practice shows, with a correctly calculated thermal power, the AVERAGE power consumption per heating season does not exceed half of the nominal, on the other hand, the efficiency of heat pumps depends on the outside temperature.

It is clear that at +15 and at -25 per kilowatt-hour taken from atmospheric air heat and electricity costs will be different.

At the current cost of a kilowatt-hour, a day of heating will cost 1.43 kW * 4 r / kW / h * 24 hours = 137 rubles. The month is in 4110.

Is it a lot or a little?

On the one hand, the costs seem to be comparable to the costs of central heating. From other sides:

In reality, in a house with an insulated facade, the costs will be MUCH less.
The heating season starts when it suits you.
It is worth considering the future prospects. It is not difficult to predict the exponential rise in fossil fuel prices in the coming years. But electricity prices will grow much more slowly: the energy industry of all countries is switching to renewable sources.

Which heating scheme is better to stop on is, of course, up to you to decide.

How to switch to autonomous heating

Is there an instruction for documentation transition to autonomous heating for houses with central heating?

Here is an example procedure.

The owner of the apartment clarifies the technical possibility of disconnecting the apartment from the central heating. You will have to communicate either with the housing organization, or, which is more reasonable, directly with the heat supplier. Under the current communal legislation, the theoretical possibility of switching to individual heating provided.
Technical conditions for the installation of gas equipment are being prepared - consumption calculation, gas supply drawings, etc. Of course, if you switch to gas. When using electric heating of any type, your path lies to Energosbyt.
The act of fire supervision is being prepared. In city apartments, the walls are usually made of non-combustible material, so there should not be any obstacles.
If you plan to use a coaxial duct with an outlet to the facade of the building, you will need permission from the Sanitary and Epidemiological Supervision.
Next, you need to contact a licensed installation company and prepare a package of documents: certificates for the equipment to be installed, installation instructions, a copy of the installers' license, and a service agreement.
After complete installation of the system gas heating you will have to invite a gas service specialist to connect and start the boiler for the first time. In the case of heat pumps, this, of course, is not necessary.
It remains to put the boiler for service and inform the gas service about the transition to autonomous heating.

However: under certain circumstances, the costs and terms of preparing documentation may turn out to be such that a reasonable question arises: is it not easier to exchange an apartment for a cottage?

Conclusion

You can learn a little more about how individual heating can be implemented in an apartment building from the video attached to the article.

A large number of companies today offer their services in the supply of equipment for individual heating. In Russia, the market for apartment heating in multi-apartment buildings is mainly being expanded. In particular, there are firms that work fruitfully with the Gosstroy of the Russian Federation and other large construction organizations. The time has come when individual heating should be on a par with central heating or even higher in importance. The task is to draw the attention of construction investors and consumers to this area. Construction segment residential buildings with apartment heating, although new, but quite promising.

In Russia, they began to talk about individual heating for residential buildings relatively recently, in the late 90s of the last century. And already in the early 2000s, the first objects with software appeared on the territory of our country, including in Smolensk. It is necessary to pay attention to the number of storeys of houses with apartment heating. The fact is that for this technology it does not matter how many floors the house has, at least two, at least ten. Available technical solutions for buildings of any height. The problem exists, perhaps, for fire services, but not for construction companies and not for equipment suppliers. In northern Italy, for example, there is a complex of three seventeen-story buildings that has been successfully operated for more than two decades.

In this article, we will comparative analysis various heating systems and we will prove why houses with apartment heating are more promising for the consumer than all the others.

Apartment heating in apartment buildings and central heating: comparison

The comparison will be carried out on the basis of the main criteria for assessing the feasibility of different types of heating. Namely, these are investments, efficiency, property, availability of maintenance and comfort for the consumer. We will not consider cases of district heating, which uses free heat sources, as, for example, in Denmark, where garbage is used in the DH.

Central heating

Investments in this area are practically not invested, as is known, the authorities never have money for DH. Therefore, new equipment is almost never used, and what is available is worn out. The efficiency factor for central heating in Russia is 45-50 percent. The owner of the central heating is understandable, this is the state, that's why it is central heating, that is, general. Maintenance is carried out, but irregularly and not always with high quality, the management companies are responsible for it. Let's take a closer look at comfort. What kind of comfort can we talk about if people have to either open the windows, or, on the contrary, use additional heat sources in the form of heaters? It is clear that central heating cannot be called comfortable for the consumer.

Block boiler house in a residential building

Situation for of this type heating systems looks much better. Funds are being invested, as construction companies must hand over the house, and without a heating system, this will not be possible. As heating network put forward high requirements for heating systems, you have to meet them. The efficiency is quite high, since there is no need to transport heat. But as far as ownership is concerned, the question arises. On the one hand, the owners are all owners of apartments in a residential building. But in fact, when equipment breaks down, people do not want to invest in it, since after all it is common, and not their personal. Maintenance of block boiler houses is carried out, private companies are responsible for it, which are ready to take on such work. Usually these are the same companies that were engaged in the installation and commissioning of the system. Another question: who will pay for it? Let's leave the question unanswered, since this type of activity is not very profitable and requires significant costs. The level of comfort, however, heating systems with block boilers give a high, but not individually, although higher than in the case of central heating. To do ideal conditions for yourself personally, you will have to buy quite expensive equipment, such as thermostatic heads.

Apartment heating in an apartment building

The investments required are the same as in the case of the block boiler house described above. Calculations have shown that PO and BC for a standard ten-story building are almost equal and vary by 10-15 percent in one direction or the other. It all depends on what equipment is used and what the cost is. installation work. The efficiency of the system is very high, in fact, it is equal to the efficiency of the boiler. There are no problems with the property, since the entire heating system is owned by the owner of the apartment. The issue of service is also practically resolved: young firms act as service companies. True, the owners of individual heating systems do not yet think too much about the need for maintenance. Comfort for the consumer in this case is very high. Each person can customize the settings they need. For example, one will need a temperature of 19 degrees, while the other feels good at 25 degrees. It is enough just to set the required temperature on the boiler or on the room thermostat, nothing else needs to be done.

Investment attractiveness of apartments with apartment heating

Often the question arises about the investment attractiveness of houses with apartment heating. We have already mentioned above that software and BC are almost equal in terms of investment, and DH is much more expensive. The difference between software and BC is exceptionally comfortable and solving the problem with the ownership of heating equipment. Real studies were carried out and the costs of individual heating were calculated in order to compare them with the calculations for BK and DH. It turned out that in terms of investment, that is, at the construction stage, apartment heating is a little cheaper than BC, and much cheaper than central heating.

Saving gas and money

Turning to foreign experience, we note that in Italy tax benefits are provided to citizens who switch to apartment heating. In this case, they disconnect from the boiler room and put a wall-mounted boiler in their home. However, even before this mechanism of "sponsoring" the population was launched, the country's authorities conducted a rather interesting study.

In two nearly identical housing estates in Milan (one with a block boiler and the other with a wall-mounted boiler), over a period of four years, measurements were made on a wealth of data related to the costs of operating the system. In particular, the absolute volume of gas used in one apartment was taken into account. In the process of research, the equipment became more and more perfect, thermostatic heads and wall thermostats were installed in the apartments. As for the results, it turned out that the software saves up to a third of gas. Quite an impressive result of the experiment, you must agree.

At present, there is similar data, but already from Russian sources (for example, an article by V.A. Eltsov, first deputy. Director General JSC "Smolenskoblgaz", "Flame", number 4 of 2000 considers an example in the city of Smolensk). It is important to note that the consumer also pays significantly less for utility bills with the software, since he consumes less gas.

Let's return to the Western experience

Installation of wall-mounted boilers is popular in Italy, as this equipment has a perfect design and has many useful functions. Approximately one million wall-mounted boilers are sold annually in Italy, and around four million throughout Europe. And the entire fleet of existing equipment is approximately 15 million boilers. And there is nothing strange in this, because apartments with apartment heating are really beneficial for the consumer, and most importantly, they are comfortable.

Of the million boilers that are installed in Italy every year, about 800,000 replace old systems. Statistics show that on average every family in Italy changes the boiler once every 8 years. The service life of the boiler is much longer (15-20 years), however, the equipment becomes morally obsolete over time. That is why it needs to be replaced. It can be assumed that after a certain number of years, mass replacement of wall-mounted boilers will also be needed in our country.

What do consumers think about houses with apartment heating?

Let's return to Russian realities and turn to a survey that was conducted in Smolensk, where there are a lot of houses with apartment heating. His results were very encouraging. 250 people answered the questions, their housing had an area of up to 70 squares (there were 25 percent of them) and from 70 to 150 squares (71 percent). A question was asked about how they assess their financial situation, 93 percent rated it as prosperous. The family of 62 percent of the respondents consists of three or more members. At the same time, individual heating systems are used by citizens for up to one year (a quarter of respondents), up to three years (67 percent) and more than three years (all other respondents).

Based on the above, the average respondent is a person middle age(41-55 years old) who has permanent job and more than average income, lives in an apartment of about 100 square meters and has a family of three, and uses apartment heating for about 2 years.

Then the most important question was asked, which, in fact, is the subject of our entire article. The respondents were asked what influenced the choice of this particular apartment. It was necessary to build several factors based on their significance. There were eight factors in total, ranging from the layout to the location of the house. Among them was the presence of apartment heating in the apartment. The results were as follows: software came in second place in importance! Recall that the questions were answered by citizens with an income above the average. As you know, they determine the state of the investment climate in construction in general. And a study conducted in Smolensk suggests that apartment heating has already ceased to be experimental and has become a factor in growth and success. construction firms. Representatives of companies need to realize that the cost of houses with apartment heating is not higher, and often lower, while selling apartments in them can be at a higher price, since they are more attractive to the consumer. As a result, the construction company will be able to earn much more.

In general, even before the survey described above, there was scattered data on the assessment of consumer properties of software. Including, these are numerous conversations with residents, installers of wall-mounted boilers, builders, representatives of service companies. Here is one illustrative example. In one of the cities of the Moscow region, apartments in houses with individual heating cost 500-550 dollars per square, and in houses with central heating - 350-400 dollars per square. It would seem that the latter should be more attractive because of the price, however, in reality, apartments with apartment heating are much more popular and sell out faster. One more example. When the construction company completed the settlement of the first ten-story building with the software, people overwhelmed her with questions about when the new objects with wall-mounted boilers would be available.

Here is a rather interesting and revealing moment. In the same Smolensk, almost 90% of apartment owners know what brand the boiler installed in their home has. Whereas in Italy this figure does not even reach 30 percent. We can conclude from this: since people are interested in the brand, it means that they look at this factor when choosing an apartment for purchase. Accordingly, some brands are more prestigious.

Finally, all the same survey participants from Smolensk had to tell in their own words about the advantages of the software for them personally. The respondents were divided into three large groups. The first mentioned savings, the second talked about comfort, and the third about a variety of reasons. It should be noted that the second group also noted independence from central heating as one of the comfort components.

Features of apartment heating in Russia

With the results of a sociological survey, everything is clear, but what kind of boilers are generally installed in our country by construction companies? Statistics show that about half of the boilers purchased are equipment with an open combustion chamber. And this is not good, since many have heard about the low culture of building systems. supply ventilation and smoke removal. In addition, plastic windows are popular today, and the boiler needs a large amount of combustion air. It is known that boilers with an open combustion chamber take air from the apartment where they are located, and devices with a closed chamber - from external environment. Of course, the second type of boilers is more expensive. However, it guarantees safety and comfort to the fullest.

We go further. The bulk of the installed boilers has a capacity of 24 kilowatts. Do not forget that Russians use a lot of hot water, as well as the fact that wealthy people live in apartments with apartment heating (this was shown by the survey mentioned earlier). Recall that in their families, according to statistics, from three people. It is clear that at the same time in the apartment they can take a shower, wash dishes and do other household chores. Equipment with a capacity of 24 kilowatts gives about 12-13 liters per minute at Dt \u003d 25. And this, you see, is not enough for Russian winters and the habits of our compatriots. Therefore, it would not be superfluous to switch to boilers with a capacity of 28 or 32 kilowatts. AT heating circuit equipment for 24 and 28 kilowatts is interchangeable, and the latter gives higher comfort. Moreover, the price in terms of square area changes very little.

In conclusion, we add that 90% of the boilers have practically no additional options, although they are in high-comfort apartments.

Let's summarize. Definitely, consumers put comfort and efficiency, which provide apartment heating systems, in the first place. When purchasing apartments with software, they are willing to pay more. At present, individual heating has ceased to be only a forced measure for abandoning central heating. Now apartment heating in an apartment building is necessary to meet the high demand of wealthy consumers. So, it is necessary to pay close attention to it to all construction companies.

To date, one of the most important criteria determining the choice of housing is the availability of apartment heating in the house. Sociologists argue that this criterion takes second place, bypassing even the cost, layout and building materials. Above it in importance is only the location of the house. It is also known that the cost of heat and water per inhabitant of our country is about three times higher than European standards. At the same time, central heating, unfortunately, does not give the Russians the proper level of comfort. Among the most common problems, it is necessary to highlight interruptions in the supply of heat and the low temperature of the heating batteries. In addition, prices for heating services in residential buildings only grow. Another thing is also important: the heating networks in Russia are worn out by approximately 60-70 percent, and the equipment of the central heating and boiler rooms - by 70 percent. For this reason, heat losses on the way from the producer to the consumer are about 50 percent.

All more specialists conclude that in the current situation, the ideal solution is a complete transition to apartment heating as one of the methods of autonomous heat supply apartment buildings. It is cost effective and efficient.

What is an apartment heating system? This is nothing more than a mini-boiler room, which is installed in each apartment. At the same time, it is possible to individually take into account the amount of consumed resources and control the temperature regime. Among the main units of apartment heating are elements such as a heating boiler, heating appliances, equipment for air supply and smoke removal. The cheapest option autonomous heating is heat supply using natural gas as a source of energy.

The pros and cons of apartment heating have already been fully realized in the countries of Europe and Asia. And in Russia it is quite widespread, gaining more and more popularity every day. Of course, numerous advantages overshadow small disadvantages, and this is the reason for such an active spread of this technology in our country.

Since 1999, the Gosstroy of Russia has been experimenting with the construction and use of apartment buildings with autonomous heating. Including, there are houses with apartment heating in Smolensk, St. Petersburg, Kaliningrad and a number of other cities. Wall mounted boilers with an open chamber are actively exploited in the construction of commercial real estate in cities such as Kazan, Ryazan, Samara and even the northern regions of Syktyvkar.

The Gosstroy experiment showed that the use of apartment heating significantly increased the level of comfort in homes. Problems with interruptions in water supply were completely eliminated, and residents gained the opportunity to save on heating bills. A significant result of the experiment was the publication in 2004 normative act which has been awaited for a very long time. This act controls the design, construction and operation of autonomous heating systems. Namely, this is the Code of Rules for the Design and Construction of Joint Venture 41-108-2004, which was approved by the Gosstroy of the Russian Federation. At the same time, territorial building codes (TSN) came into force in some regions. They made apartment heating systems completely legal locally.

Every year, the geography of apartment heat supply is becoming wider. This means only one thing: this system has shown itself to be effective in operation and therefore can be further used to solve the problems of housing and communal services.

Important pros and cons of apartment heating

Let's start with the benefits, since there are more of them.

1. With autonomous heating, the consumer can independently control the level of hot water temperature in the heating system, while the problem of interruptions in the supply of heat and water for various reasons disappears.

2. With apartment heating, consumers get the opportunity to save gas by 30-40 percent and, as a result, spend less on utility bills.

3. It is much cheaper to build houses with apartment heating systems, since it is not required to install expensive heating networks, equip heating points, and so on. In addition, it becomes possible to build residential buildings in those areas of the city where there is no developed heating network infrastructure, if there is a stable gas supply. Finally, the problem of the payback of the heating system disappears, since the cost of apartment systems is extinguished already at the time a person purchases an apartment.

4. It is important that autonomous heating systems are completely environmentally friendly. They use boilers with a closed combustion chamber, as a result of which it is possible to solve the problem of ventilation of the apartment. In this equipment, the combustion air is forcibly sucked in by means of a built-in fan from the outside. Combustion products go there. Since the boiler works intermittently, the products of combustion are easily dispersed in the air. In normal operation, equipment with a closed combustion chamber and forced draft emit about 80 -110 p.p.m. combustion products from carbon monoxide which fully complies with European standards.

When designing and equipping apartment heating systems, it is necessary, first of all, to think over a reliable and safe removal of combustion products.

We will separately consider the advantages of apartment heating systems for certain groups.

Benefits for consumers:

the price of hot water and heat supply is reduced by more than two times;
You can independently monitor the microclimate in the apartment.

Benefits for construction companies:

it is not required to install expensive heating networks, equip heating points, install heat metering devices;
you can build houses in any area of the city, even if there are no heating networks.

Benefits for service companies:

easier to produce Maintenance, since in this case, a certain number of similar gas boilers are serviced at one facility;
it is possible to replace pipelines, shut-off and control devices and heating devices in separate rooms in case of redevelopment or in case of an accident, while the operation of heating systems in other rooms is not disturbed;
it is easier to pay for the consumed heat resources, following the data of the gas meter.

Benefits for executive authorities:

finances are saved, since there is no need to build heating plants and heating points;
finances are saved, as there is no subsidy for utilities;
there are no heat losses in heating networks;
the state is not required to take into account and pay thermal energy, since this responsibility is shifted to the owners of the apartments.

It is impossible, speaking about the pros of apartment heating, to bypass the cons. Let's add a small fly in the ointment to a barrel of honey and consider the disadvantages of autonomous heat supply. Firstly, these are difficulties with the organization of smoke removal. In our country, coaxial emissions of combustion products through the facade of apartment buildings are prohibited, which means that there is a need to equip a single chimney, and this is a rather expensive and lengthy process. Another disadvantage is the high danger of apartment heating systems. Indeed, in this case, in each room there is heating equipment that runs on gas, which, as you know, is an explosive fuel. However, this problem can be solved if boilers are used High Quality, endowed with ionization control of the presence of a flame, sensors for controlling draft and temperature, as well as automatically turning off the gas valve when the fire disappears.

In high-rise buildings, there may be difficulties with traction on the lower and upper floors. In this case, the inhabitants of the lower floors will face too high a level of traction, and the upper ones, on the contrary, with too low a level. As a rule, boilers with a capacity of 24 kW are installed in apartments, but they correspond to a very large area of \u200b\u200bhousing. Consequently, equipment operation will almost always be intermittent. The fact is that the calculated load for the heat supply of an average residential building (two-room apartment) is less than five kilowatts. Whereas the load of hot water supply, for example, to fill a bath hot water, should therefore equal 24 kilowatts, even for one-room apartments. As a result, you will need to select the boiler power based on the peak load. At the same time, the thermal block operates even at minimum power, which is why condensate forms in the gas duct without good thermal insulation at low temperatures outside. Therefore, the chimney should be equipped with equipment for collecting and eliminating condensate and a device for neutralizing it before draining. The total capacity of wall-mounted boilers in a building with 200 apartments is 4.8 MW, which is more than twice as high as that for district heating. At the same time, if capacitive heaters are installed in DHW system, it will be possible to reduce the installed capacity of the equipment, but the price and the occupied volume of the entire system will increase. Accordingly, such a solution is unacceptable, because it completely eliminates all the advantages of wall-mounted boilers.

As a result, the boilers during installation are regulated to reduce the power by half. Naturally, the devices are owned by the residents, so no one is involved in measuring the efficiency and composition of the exhaust gases, emissions are also not controlled.

Finally, in the case of using autonomous heating systems, the basements of buildings, attics and stairs are not heated at all, which causes freezing of the foundation and a decrease in the life of the house in general. Also, residents of apartments in the central part of the building receive a significant advantage, because they can get part of the heat from neighboring apartments. It also happens vice versa - in new buildings there are many uninhabited apartments, because the walls of neighboring rooms are cooled, which, in turn, entails additional costs for warming the apartment.

From a legal point of view, the boiler is owned by the owner of the apartment, which means that he will have to decide how often to service this device. Despite this, do not forget: the boiler is a complex device that needs service at least once a year, and preferably more often. It should be noted that the service is carried out by specialized service centers, and the prices for these services are low and will fully pay off with significant savings on utility bills.

Summing up, it becomes clear that there are pros and cons of apartment heating. But there are more pluses, and the minuses are rather features that, in principle, can be eliminated in various ways.

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