Is it possible to install a heat meter in an apartment?

Heating meter for apartment

The current tariff schedule for heating payments obliges residents to pay not for the kilowatts spent, but for the heated meters. It does not take into account whether there is heat in the room or not. This situation does not suit an increasing number of people.

There is still debate about how economically beneficial a heating meter is for an apartment, the legality of this procedure and its feasibility.

How to install a heating meter in an apartment?

As many years of practice have shown in installing heating meters in apartments, several nuances need to be taken into account:

1. First of all, the heating circuit diagram is important. Thus, in houses that are more than 20 years old, vertical distribution of heating pipes is mainly found, which means that there are several risers in all rooms at once. As a rule, installing heat meters for heating in an apartment building with such a circuit is either impossible or incredibly expensive, since measuring equipment will have to be installed on each riser. In new generation apartment buildings, horizontal wiring is used, in which one riser runs to each apartment. With such a system, there are no legal prohibitions on installing the meter.
2. To install a meter, you will need appropriate permission from the organization supplying heat to the house. It must indicate all the technical parameters of the heating system of an apartment building, according to which the measuring device will be selected.
3. The purchased meter must be presented for evaluation by the regulatory authority , which will register it.
4. Representatives of organizations that have the appropriate permission to do so are required to install heat meters for heating in apartments .

Many consumers wonder how profitable all this effort and financial investment is, and how quickly the costs will pay off. There is no definite answer, since even if the heat in the apartment is regulated and it is saved significantly, its residents will be required to pay for heating the common area - the entrance, the basement, if there is one, the staircase.

The only thing that benefits the heat consumer when the meter is running is the ability to turn off heating in rooms where it is not needed. In this case, costs are significantly reduced, which will immediately be reflected in the payment document.

There is no need to install individual heating meters in an apartment if it has not had additional thermal insulation, for example, on the floor or walls, especially if they are external.

History of the problem with the apartment heat meter

Sergei Deminets lives in an apartment building. The building was initially equipped with a collective heat metering device. In addition, all non-residential and residential premises were equipped with individual metering devices. Over time, individual apartment owners dismantled their individual meters. This fact served as the reason for the management company to recalculate heating costs at the beginning of the 2016 heating season. As a result, apartment owners began to pay for heat energy according to the readings of a common building meter - a method of distributing heat energy that was consumed by the entire house, taking into account the corresponding proportions of the area of ​​​​the premises. At the same time, the readings of citizen Deminets’ working meters were not taken into account for the calculation. As a result, his utility costs increased significantly.

The demand made by this citizen to recalculate heating charges, taking into account the testimony sent to him, was rejected by the courts of general jurisdiction.

Installation nuances

In order for the entire procedure for installing a heat meter to be legal, the following sequence of actions must be followed:

• get permission;
• draw up a plan for installing the meter and the work to be carried out;
• choose a company that will install the device and register it;
• installation of the meter;
• signing an agreement with the organization installing the device on control and metering of consumed heat;
• test the equipment.

Unauthorized installation of a heat meter for heating in an apartment building will entail serious problems, which will most likely result in a large fine and dismantling of the equipment.

Dates

The meters undergo their first check at the factory that manufactured them before being put into operation. Household heat meters in apartment buildings have an inspection interval of 4 to 8 years. For such models as KM5, TEM-104, DU (25-50) and others. Operation from 12 to 18 years. Read about whether it is possible to refuse heating in an apartment building and how to do it here.

Apartment meters have an inspection interval from 4 to 8 years. The service life is from 12 to 18 years, for example, the STK MARS product.

The meter readings are considered correct throughout the entire test interval. After this period, all devices are considered unsuitable. Therefore, the heating bills issued are considered incorrect.

What should it be?

Are there heating meters in the apartments?

Today, 2 types of heating measuring instruments are known:

1. Mechanical , in which impellers that are immersed in water are used to determine the amount of liquid flowing through the system.
2. Ultrasonic ones , although more expensive, are reliable and provide more accurate readings. In them, the amount of liquid is determined using ultrasound.

As a rule, most companies involved in permitting documentation and installation of measuring instruments insist on purchasing ultrasonic models. This is due to the fact that such meters for heating batteries in an apartment are difficult to deceive in order to reduce their performance in any way.

In addition to such meters, there are so-called heat consumption analyzers , which are installed directly on the surface of the radiator. Their program contains parameters for reading the heat of the air and the heat transfer of the heating device itself.

The only thing that needs to be done is to enter the battery parameters into its memory, and if in Europe they have long been replacing the complex installation of heat meters for apartment heating, then they are just coming to the post-Soviet space and are very expensive.

Before installing heating meters in your apartment, you should understand how they work.

How does the heating meter work in an apartment?

The principle of operation of a heating meter in an apartment:

1. The flow meter determines how much water flows through the heating system. It is mounted in the supply pipe and gives readings for a certain unit of time.
2. Temperature sensors indicate forward and return flow data.
3. The electronic computer summarizes all the indicators and displays the resulting figures on the amount of heat consumed on the display.

Consumers who use an individual heat meter for heating an apartment note a significant reduction in the cost of paying for heating using the meter in an apartment building, but this is not due to a reduction in tariffs, but to their personal control of heat consumption.

How to install the counter?

Experts believe that before installing a heating meter in an apartment, it is better to consult with your neighbors in the house. The fact is that installing a common house meter is more profitable. Then all consumers will not overpay for heat that was not supplied to the building. But the downside is that such a device is not cheap.

When connecting such a device, proceed as follows:

1. A general meeting of residents is held.
2. A protocol on the decision made is drawn up and signed.
3. An application for installation of the device is submitted to the management company.
4. After installing the meter, consumers are selected who will be responsible for timely readings.

If the residents of the house do not come to an agreement, you will have to think about whether it is possible to install heating meters in the apartment.

Meter installation

As a rule, installation and installation of heating meters in an apartment building does not take much time, but requires compliance with a number of rules:

1. A place must be selected for the device to which there will be free access for checking it and taking readings.
2. For installation, choose a flat place on the pipe , since any bends will negatively affect the measurements.
3. The temperature sensor is installed with its clamp extending to the middle of the cross-section of the heating pipe.
4. To prevent airing of the system and thus changing the accuracy of the readings, a fitting must be installed in front of the meter .
5. To simplify the removal of an already installed measuring device, ball valves must be installed before and behind it .

For many consumers, the most pressing question is how much a heating meter costs for an apartment. As practice shows, this concept includes not only the cost of a heating meter in an apartment building, but also permits, installation, and maintenance. Therefore, in each specific case the cost may be different.

How to properly obtain permission to install a heat meter and install the equipment

Before installing heat meters in a house or apartment, you first need to contact the company that is the service provider, in this case the heat supply organization, in order to obtain the necessary technical conditions:

• heating system performance characteristics;
• pressure level in pipes;
• average coolant flow;
• maximum temperature values;
• type and quality of coolant.

At the same time, you must submit a written application for permission to install a heat meter.

Based on the data obtained, you can start purchasing a certified metering device, which is selected based on these parameters. In this case, it is imperative to clarify the question of whether there is a recommendation list for metering devices - often purchasing a device of the wrong type or brand can jeopardize its commissioning with the argument that such a meter cannot be used under the appropriate technical conditions.

The next stage is the preparation of project documentation, which must also be carried out by specialists from companies with the appropriate license and certification. After this, the project is agreed upon by the service provider company and installation work can begin directly. To do this, you should enter into an agreement with a company that has all the permits to carry out this work.

After the installation of the metering device is completed, it should be “handed over” to the service provider company, whose specialists will check the correct installation and seal the meter. Technically, you can handle the work of installing a heat meter yourself, but in this case there will be difficulties with putting it into operation.

When installing a meter, you need to know some nuances and try not to violate them. The most important thing is that the installation must be carried out in strict accordance with the project or plan: any changes, even minimal and insignificant, require new approval. The installation location should be chosen taking into account the possibility of access for control by company specialists, therefore pipes located in the corridor are often selected for installation, although installation in the apartment itself may be allowed as an exception. In addition, it is imperative to comply with the condition of straight sections for installation - this is necessary to “calm down” the coolant, that is, creating conditions that ensure the most accurate measurements, without affecting the process, for example, the presence of air chambers.

Technical restrictions on installing an individual meter

Before installing heating meters in an apartment, you should familiarize yourself with a number of technical restrictions. A heat meter for individual use is installed on a drain that leads directly to the apartment. In old-style multi-apartment buildings, as a rule, heating pipes were laid out with a vertical modification. This means that there may be more than one riser in an apartment. Each of them will have to install a meter, which will cost the owner quite a lot.

The solution to this problem is to install specially designed meters on heating devices. But the installation of such a device is not yet practiced in our country, although a similar method has become widespread in European countries.

Manufacturers of metering units offer a solution to this situation. In order to avoid installing several meters, they resort to installing distributors that measure coolant flow based on the difference in temperature on the surface of the radiator and the air in the room.

Another way out of the situation lies in the installation of a common home device, which was described above.

In buildings in which the wiring is horizontal, the installation of meters to control heat consumption is not limited in any way. Compact devices are mounted on a pipe that supplies heat to the room. In some cases, installation is carried out on a pipeline.

Heat meters operate with flow meters of various modifications. Depending on the conditions of use, one of four options can be used. Let's look at each one separately.