Why is hot water turned off in summer? Turning off hot water: who is to blame and what to do

Shutdown of cold water - emergency and planned, causes and differences. How planned shutdowns are carried out, legal and illegal reasons for restricting water supply. How crashes happen. How is the recalculation of payment for water supply after a shutdown. Read our article - why there is no cold water.

from the article you will learn:

Uninterrupted water supply connected to central water supply houses and apartments is the responsibility of the resource supplying organization. However, in some cases, turning off cold water is still possible. These situations are stipulated in the legislation, and when they occur, the supplier acts in accordance with a certain algorithm.

Reasons for turning off cold water

When asked why there is no cold water, there may be several answers. It is usually disabled for the following reasons:

• previously planned repair work. In this situation, the residents of the building must be notified of upcoming events 10 working days in advance. The obligation to notify lies with the management company;
• accident on intra-house communications;
• failure on networks outside the apartment building.

In the event of unpredictable emergencies cold water is turned off without warning.

1. The plumbing in the apartment is in an unsatisfactory condition and the owner of the apartment does not fix the problem. In such cases, the water is turned off in order to prevent flooding of the premises below. Shutdown is not permanent, it is carried out urgently for repair work.

2. Unauthorized connection to the water supply system was detected. This is a violation of the law, it is promptly suppressed and punished with a fine.

3. Authorities at the local or federal level ordered to stop the water supply of the facility. The supplier implements this decision, and in case of disagreement, it is not his actions that are appealed, but the prescription that determined them.

By sanitary standards turning off cold water for debts is prohibited, as well as deprivation of heating in the cold season. Thus, drinking water can be turned off only in case of an accident, scheduled repairs, preventive maintenance and illegal connection to networks.

How long can they turn off cold water according to the law

Temporary restrictions are established by law for planned and emergency water shutdowns. Within one month, consumers can be left without water supply for a total of no more than 8 hours. The maximum duration of a one-time shutdown is 4 hours. This applies to all scheduled activities.

In the event of an accident, water supply organizations must repair the damage as a matter of urgency. In this case, the time standards will be different, they depend on the complexity of the accident, the depth of the pipelines and other factors.

If the planned shutdown of cold water occurs for a longer time, then this indicates the inadequate quality of the services provided. In this situation, the citizen has the right to demand that the supplier recalculate the payment for services.

Violation of the agreement on the supply of apartments with drinking water is not only its shutdown in excess of the established time limit. This also applies to the reduction of pressure in the pipes. If it falls by 25% or more, then this also becomes a reason for recalculating the payment in the direction of its reduction.

The consumer is obliged to regularly pay for water supply, for violations he is punished with penalties and fines. At the same time, the supplier is also responsible for the quality of the services provided. All shutdowns of cold water must be justified and carried out in in due course. Otherwise, the supplier is also subject to sanctions. There are a number of cases in which turning off the water supply is illegal:

• planned maintenance work is underway, but tenants have not received the necessary prior notifications;
• the water supply is blocked for non-payment, even if there are indeed debts. As we have already indicated above, even debtors cannot turn off drinking water. To combat them, public utilities must find other methods, for example, charge penalties and fines, go to court, limit the flow of other resources;
• unreasonable interruption of water supply or decrease in its pressure in pipes;
• delay in turning on the water after the problems have been fixed.

Emergency shutdown of cold water

In the event of an accident, the water is turned off immediately to minimize negative consequences and troubleshoot as soon as possible. Utilities are required to repair and restore water supply in as soon as possible. All forces are thrown into it. The estimated time to eliminate accidents on the water supply is determined in SNiP 2.04.02-84.

Emergency shutdown of water is carried out not only in case of pipe breaks and other damage to the system of its transportation. Another reason for this may be a significant decrease in quality. drinking water. In this case, it also turns off until the problem is fixed. This is a well-founded measure, since we are talking about the health of citizens.

In emergency mode, the shutdown of cold water also occurs during the elimination of fires, to which increased water volumes are directed. Extinguishing fires usually occurs quickly enough, so citizens do not experience any particular inconvenience.

A separate measure when water supply is limited is the supply of drinking water. It is delivered by road tankers in an amount corresponding to the water consumption standard for citizens. The specific delivery time is not determined. However, certain rules work here that allow minimizing discomfort for the population.

If the shutdown of cold water occurs in a planned manner, then the warned citizens make the necessary supplies at home. In this case, road tanks are sent to the site only in situations where repair and restoration or preventive actions drag on for more than a day. During an emergency shutdown, everything works differently. If the accident is not eliminated in the next few hours, then water supply will be organized to ensure the current consumption of citizens.

Recalculation of water charges after shutdown

Resource-supplying organizations can adjust the amounts indicated in the receipts upwards or downwards. In the case of shutting off cold water, we are talking about lost resources. Payment here, of course, should decrease. This is not done automatically, for adjustment it is required to submit an application for recalculation and back it up with good reasons.

Recalculation is carried out not only for apartments in which meters are not installed and water supply is paid according to consumption standards. In housing with metering devices, the amounts are also recalculated. This is one of the ways to influence the resource provider, who, when providing services inadequate quality receives less money for cubic meters actually used by consumers.

We will describe three main cases related to the shutdown of cold water and other violations in which you can apply for a recalculation.

1. Water is not supplied for longer than legal hours. Recall that this is 4 hours at a time or 8 hours in total during the month. Additionally, a 24-hour shutdown is provided for dead-end highways. If the specified standards are exceeded, for each extra hour of shutdown in the billing month, the payment is reduced by 0.15%. The reduced amount can be calculated according to consumption standards or in accordance with the readings of metering devices.

2. Water in its composition and properties does not meet sanitary standards. This is an unacceptable violation for which the supplier is severely penalized. If it occurs, then the fee for each day of water supply of inadequate quality is not charged. Meter readings do not matter.

3. The water pressure in the pipes decreases. Such a violation is also not allowed, because it does not allow citizens to partially or completely use the water supply. In the described situation, the residents of apartments on the upper floors suffer the most. For them, this becomes tantamount to turning off cold water.

If the pressure drops to 25% of the standard, then for each hour of operation of the water supply system in this mode, the monthly payment amount is reduced by 0.1%. A pressure drop of more than 25% is punished even more severely. In this case, for all the days during which such a decrease in pressure was observed, water supply is not paid. Meter readings here, again, do not matter.

Ten years ago, the authorities promised, if not to completely abandon seasonal shutdowns, then at least to reduce their period to three or four days. About when this will happen, Business FM asked the former mayor Yuri Luzhkov and MOEK

Almost a decade ago, the Moscow authorities promised that the shutdown hot water thanks to new technologies will be reduced to a few days. True, the townspeople did not notice any special changes since then.

In 2009, the term for turning off hot water was reduced from three to two weeks. This was then announced by Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov. At the same time, Petr Biryukov, head of the Municipal Economy Complex, promised that in a few years the duration of outages would be completely reduced to three or four days. Old metal pipelines of heating networks will be replaced with new ones made using modern materials. However, since then, the shutdown period has been reduced slightly - to ten days.

Business FM contacted Yuri Luzhkov. He explained that no one in his team named specific dates, so you should be patient, as the process of replacing pipes is long and difficult:

second mayor of Moscow“Repairs need to be done in turn, and if all at once together, then half of Moscow needs to change all these pipes. Hot water from this should not stop for the whole city. So it's all selective."

The Moscow heat supply system is centralized. Heat is produced at 13 large thermal power plants and several smaller thermal power plants, and is supplied to homes through heating networks. Their length is 16 thousand kilometers. For comparison, the length of the equator is 40 thousand kilometers.

Today, one third of the old metal pipes replaced with new ones. All pipelines are laid with thermal insulation made of polyurethane foam with a control system.

Where such pipes are laid, hot water could really be turned off for a couple of days or not turned off at all. But they are in common system, so you still have to turn it off for ten days. This is necessary in order to prepare the pipeline system for winter, explains Dmitry Filatov, head of the public relations department of MIPC:

Dmitry Filatov Head of Public Relations Department MOEK“These 16,000 kilometers of networks are divided into 594 stages. The stage includes a section of the heating main that is decommissioned for a ten-day period, and we carry out work on them: we apply pressure, relieve pressure, inspect and, if necessary, repair sections that are either damaged as a result of these hydraulic tests, or specialists assess them as potentially unreliable for work in the winter. They are being repaired and put back into operation.”

There are houses in Moscow where hot water has not been turned off for several years in a row. True, one should not envy such lucky ones: when the water was finally turned off, heated towel rails leaked in many apartments. Neither residents nor utilities were ready for the flood. So some townspeople had to pay for hot water in summer high price- pay for repairs to neighbors below.

Everyone knows the famous saying that says that the sleigh should be prepared from the summer. The same can be attributed to the hot water system. And most of us are concerned about the question of why hot water is turned off in the summer. This is mainly related to the conduct technical work. And in order to keep warm in the houses on the most frosty day, hot water is turned off for a certain period in the summer. Is there really such a need? After all, we, as consumers, experience inconvenience, even if only relatively short span time. We will try to briefly talk about what the resource supplying organization does during the planned shutdown of the hot water supply.

Water supply is a complex and multi-kilometer network of pipelines. Before getting to our apartment, the water passes all the bends and metal joints. In addition, it is under high pressure in the system. As a rule, the heat carrier is supplied from a thermal power plant or a boiler house. In our case, Kirovsk is served by Dubrovskaya CHPP. Normally, the water temperature should correspond to 60 ° C, but in order to exclude heat loss, before leaving the CHP, the water is heated to 75 °C.

Centralized water supply and heating of cities was built back in the days of the USSR. By creating a single branched network, which is supplied with water from the CHPP, it became possible to quickly and efficiently solve the issue of hot water supply for residents of houses and deliver water to each apartment. All residents were in the same boat, which means that turning off hot water supply or heating during repairs or testing will affect all residents.

Abroad, a different water supply system is used. For example, in the UK, almost every house is heated individually. In Finland, two types of heating are used: centralized gas and individual electric. At the same time, centralized costs about 150 euros (half the cost utilities), and the electric one costs a little less - already 100 euros.

Let's go back to Russia Leningrad region. Everything is organized in such a way that it is simply necessary to check the status of the entire system as a whole before each heating season. In May are held hydraulic tests networks, and in August - the stop of thermal power plants.

From August 1 to August 14, LLC Dubrovskaya CHPP is stopped for preventive measures. Shutdown of the CHPP is carried out on the basis of the Safety Rules for Gas Distribution and Gas Consumption Networks, approved by the Order Federal Service on environmental, technological and nuclear supervision dated November 15, 2013 No. 542.

What does it mean? On the hidden from prying eyes territory, specialists carry out the necessary tests of boiler equipment. Periodically it is necessary to flush the boiler heat exchangers and replace the fittings. In addition, heat metering devices are checked, which, according to the rules, must be serviced every two years.

During this period, there is an inspection of equipment that cleans, heats and transfers water through the system. The delivery system is also being reviewed. technical water from Vodokanal, repair service gas facilities, preventive examination cooling system.

CHP plant operating on natural gas, carries out Maintenance gas pipelines and technical devices: checking the tightness of flanged, threaded and welded joints of gas pipelines, gland packings of fittings using instruments or a foaming solution.

All this work takes a certain amount of time, and also takes a backlog of time for troubleshooting. On average, in the regions, such a preventive shutdown lasts 2 weeks. Residents of cities are warned in advance about the shutdown of hot water supply through official websites, the media, as well as through the channels of Dubrovskaya CHPP LLC and management companies.

Recall that in Kirovsk, the scheduled shutdown of hot water supply will last from 1 to 14 August.

Press service of the administration of MO "Kirovsk"

Why turn off hot water at all?

This is a technical necessity, since in summer everything heating network preparing for heating season. If in winter minus temperature a breakdown in the pipes is discovered, then the population will have to do for some time not only without water, but also without heating. During a shutdown, preventive maintenance is carried out, during which utilities look for damage to pipes and equipment - for example, by pumping pipes cold water under pressure. Without turning off the water supply in the apartments, these works cannot be carried out.

How long will it be off?

In all regions of Russia it is different. On average, the duration of the outage is no more than 10 days. Many people think that there is nothing to complain about here - in the days of the USSR, it happened that the water was turned off for a month. According to SanPiN (Complex sanitary regulations and norms) now you can turn it off for a period of no more than 14 days.

What determines the shutdown period in a particular house?

Basically, from the time of construction of the house and the area. For example, in new microdistricts, preventive maintenance may take 1-2 days, or even not carried out at all: the pipes there, in theory, are new, they have not yet had time to wear out.

The shutdown period may vary not only in neighboring areas, but also in neighboring houses. In houses built 10 or more years ago, it is impossible to quickly carry out maintenance work, as pumps, heat exchangers and other equipment may need to be replaced.

Where hot water is not turned off at all?

In almost every city there are separate areas where this does not happen at all. For example, in Moscow these are South Butovo, Kozhukhovo, Nekrasovka. Information about such areas can usually be found on the websites of the city administration.

Why is only hot water turned off?

First, pipes for cold water wear out less. Secondly, the law prohibits turning off the cold for more than 7 hours a month. Thirdly, for cold water, there are backup pipelines that operate when the main ones are turned off. Therefore, if necessary, cold water disconnected for a couple of hours in the middle of the working day - and then only in cases of emergency.

Why is hot water not turned off in other countries?

Centralized hot water supply systems have been installed in post-Soviet countries. The same systems are in some countries of Eastern Europe, Scandinavia and Canada. There is a practice of shutdowns.

All over the rest of the world central water supply only cold, and there are also backup pipelines in case of maintenance and repair. Hot water comes from special boilers, which are located either individually in the apartment or in the basement of the house.

And what to do?

The only one effective method get rid of the inconvenience - put yourself a boiler. The good news for Muscovites is that by 2021 they promise to replace all old pipes with new ones. Hot water shutdowns will then either stop completely or take much less time.

The planned shutdown of hot water is the subject of jokes for residents of most CIS countries. It seems that modern innovative technologies fundamentally bypass the problem of depriving the population of hot water supply. We figured out why hot water is turned off in the summer, and how things are going with this outside of Russia.

Ancestral inaccuracies

The problem dates back to the era of systems implementation district heating. It is designed without taking into account the conditions in which it will be operated. The quality of the water driven through the pipes and the control mode turned out to be too idealized during the design of the systems.

As a result, errors were made in the calculation of water activity, which destroys pipes to a greater extent. And the structures themselves are made of not the most best metal - heat the flowing solution corrodes inner surface pipeline.

Special attention should be paid to the water temperature - it is overestimated due to the enormous heat loss during transmission from the source to the consumer.

The inaccuracies of the ancestors led to premature aging of systems and, as a result, high cost heat supply and its low reliability.

Solution

This problem must be tackled on a large scale. And she decides why, after the hot water is turned off, the population has to run around the apartment with basins in the summer.

Ideally, a transition from a district heating system to full decentralization is required, when the source and consumer of heat are located in close proximity to each other (for example, a boiler in the basement high-rise building). The process is long and very costly.

So far, though a suboptimal system, but it exists, it is necessary to maintain it in working condition. Utilities do not just replace pipe sections unsuitable for operation, but modernize heating networks. Corrosion-resistant plastic pipelines are being introduced. It turns out vicious circle- residents are deprived of hot water in order to provide it in the future.

Selected for preventive maintenance summer period- the accident is more difficult to eliminate if you have to dig the frozen ground. In addition, for citizens, it is fraught with more serious consequences: you can be left without hot water and heating when the temperature outside the window drops below 0.

By the way, in countries with a more developed economy, a planned shutdown of hot water also takes place. But usually repairs are carried out in a shorter time. In addition, redundant heat supply is widespread - additional construction small boiler houses at each high-rise building or neighborhood.

But the modernization of heat supply is a problem for the leaders. So what to do ordinary people when is the hot water turned off?

What to do?

By the way, the law establishes that the duration of repair and maintenance work and related shutdowns of hot water in Russia cannot exceed 21 days. Therefore, it is useless to scold the housing and communal services if the water was turned off for 17 days instead of the 14 promised.

The most economical and easiest way is to humble yourself and temper yourself. Cold shower may be appropriate after a walk in the summer heat, unless, of course, it does not go to the detriment. Access to the amateur, so we offer other options.

Boiler. It uses both gas and electricity as an energy source. The first case is much more economical than the second, but more difficult to implement. It can be used both during the planned shutdown of hot water supply, and all year round.

Water heating. An old but proven way. Emotions and physical activity, as well as the likelihood of getting burned, are guaranteed. The procedure is simple - heat water in a container for cooker or with a separate electrical appliance, and then dilute to obtain the optimum temperature.

Ask for it. You don’t have to be “wise” with heating water in your own bathroom, but kill two birds with one stone - visit a wealthy hot water friend with a set of bath accessories.