Ecology of consumption. Home: How to abandon the city hot water supply system, and not only forget about weak water heating forever, but also do it as economically as possible. This article will reveal some of the pitfalls of such a transition and provide a real calculation of the payback.
Why is it worth abandoning city hot water supply?
The city hot water system is known to many for its dismal quality of services. Using it not only often costs a pretty penny, but in many apartments the water is supplied sub-heated to the established standards and its temperature practically does not rise above 40–50 °C. To this must be added a few weeks of absence hot water during the period of summer planned shutdowns, when owners are forced to heat water for domestic and sanitary needs using literally improvised methods.
There is an alternative: refuse to supply hot water to the apartment and heat it yourself using an electric or gas water heater. At the same time, interventions in rough plumbing are minimal; most devices have the simplest scheme strapping and can be installed even after finishing work is completed.
What to do:
1. Contact the ESO or housing and communal services with a request to disconnect from the city hot water supply system. If this is possible according to the house design, obtain technical specifications.
2. Install the water heater and tie it up.
3. Provide for the possibility of installing seals on each branch of each of the hot water supply risers. The best option- plugs with loops for sealing.
4. In the presence of the inspector, draw up a report on the disconnection and presence of a visible rupture of the pipeline.
Why is this considered saving?
Benefits of transitioning to self-sufficiency hot water seems obvious, considering that the cost of one cubic meter includes the total heat loss throughout the entire system. As an example, consider the special case for small apartment in the Moscow region. As of July 2015, regional tariffs for utilities are as follows:
| Type of service | Tariff, rub. |
| DHW, m 3 | 120,82 |
| Cold water, m 3 | 30,87 |
| Drains | 21,9 |
| Electricity at a single rate tariff, kW | 5,03 |
| Electricity for three zones, kW for 1 / 2 / 3 zones | 5,58 / 4,63 / 1,43 |
| Natural gas, m3 | 6,04 |
A family of four consumes 16 m3 on average per month 3 hot water, that is, he pays 1933.12 rubles for city hot water supply. per month. The cost of water itself in the DHW tariff is 493.92 rubles, the remaining 1439.20 rubles. - this is the cost of heating 16 m 3 water up to 50 °C, that is, 89 rubles. 95 kopecks for 1 m 3 .
As you can see, water heating installations in the city system are not very economical, because they consume 17.9 kW of electricity at a single rate rate or 14.9 m 3 of natural gas to heat one cubic meter.
Payback period
But will they household appliances economical enough to pay for itself in the foreseeable future? For the family of 4 mentioned above, about 500 liters of hot water per day is required. This task can be accomplished by a pressure instantaneous water heater with a capacity of 6–6.5 kW or a storage heater with a capacity of 120 liters with a buffer capacity and a total power of heating elements of up to 3 kW.
A good and reliable storage heater will cost approximately 10,000–20,000 rubles, and a flow-through heater will cost 15,000–30,000 rubles. Flow-through installation will be somewhat more difficult, since everything that has an electrical power above 3 kW must be connected with a separate cable with a core cross-section of 4 mm 2 with mandatory organization protective grounding and shutdowns, and this is an additional 3,500 rubles. For a boiler, you only need a differential machine that costs 1,400 rubles. and a regular socket on a separate protective group.
As for the plumbing, it is the same for both devices. Since a water heating device can be installed at almost any point in the hot and cold water pipelines, to connect it you will need a set of shut-off valves and 6–8 meters of pipe, which will cost another 3,000 rubles. Total costs for instantaneous water heater and its installation will cost 35,500 rubles, and the cumulative one will cost 30,400 rubles.
An example of connecting a storage water heater: 1 - incoming cold water valve; 2 - safety valve; 3 - drain valve; 4 - air valve when draining water; 5 - storage water heater; 6 - differential automatic; 7 - to the shield; 8 - water to consumers
A storage water heater with a volume of 120 liters and a power of 2 kW takes 2 hours to heat water to 50 degrees. To heat 1 m 3 he will need 1000 / 120 x 2 x 2 = 33.33 kWh. That is, for self-sufficiency it is necessary that the average cost of electricity to operate a water heater is less than 2.70 rubles.
A flow-through heater with a throughput of 3 l/min will heat 180 l of water per hour, spending 8 kWh. That is, its energy consumption is approximately 30% higher. It can be argued that a storage water heater consumes energy not only for direct heating, but also for maintaining the temperature, however, these are short-term starts and such an amendment can be neglected.
In fact, only gas water heaters are economical in this regard, and they are cheaper than electric ones. With a power of 24 kW and a flow rate of 14 l/min, the column will heat a cubic meter of water to 70–80 °C in about 70 minutes, spending less than three cubic meters of gas.
So which water heater to choose?
If the apartment project has the opportunity to install a gas heater, this is exactly what should be done. Even five thousand rubles a month for hot water supply is not money, but the water is at a stable temperature, under good pressure and in full volume. No electric heater can do this.
If the house is not gasified, what modern construction happens more and more often, the use of electric water heaters cannot be avoided. Yes, there is a slight overpayment, but life becomes much more comfortable! Moreover, you can not spend money on an expensive heater, but install a cheaper one.
The highest water consumption is observed in the evening and at night, when the electricity tariff is 4.63 and 1.43 rubles. for 1 kW. The average daily cost of a kilowatt for DHW operation is about 1.8 rubles. And at such a cost, the price of electric hot water supply is quite comparable to the city one. At least hot water doesn't cost more, and the whole system is reliable and durable. The most economical in this case are large-volume storage water heaters connected through a contactor with a timer to operate only during the night and half-peak daily zones. Their payback period is usually about 3 years; flow-through ones will pay off in 5–7 years. If water is supplied to the house underheated, then the payback period will be significantly reduced, because the consumption of hot water will be significantly reduced.
Tips for placing a water heater
Heaters, with the exception of non-pressure flow-through ones, are prohibited from being placed in the bathroom due to electrical safety requirements. That's why best place for storing storage water heaters - this is a toilet, and for pressure flow water heaters - a kitchen or a niche in a kitchen unit.
In both places there is a supply of both cold and hot water; you can easily cut into the pipes even with tees at the connection point kitchen sink. Do not forget that the storage water heater must be supplied check valve, and the flow one - with a mesh filter. published
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Tired of hot water being cut off every summer. Maybe give up central hot water supply altogether and switch to a water heater? Will this be more profitable?
The issue of refusing hot water supply is not regulated by law, so there are no instructions on how consumers can disconnect from water risers. At the same time, according to " Sanitary rules installation and operation of centralized hot water supply systems,” hot water (as well as cold water and heating) must be supplied to the apartment as required sanitary standards requirements for residential premises.
A specialist in the field of housing and communal services, the head of ANO "" Andrey Vorobyov, advises those who do not want to use hot water supply and pay for this service to simply install an individual metering device at home (if, of course, it still does not exist yet - editor's note). If you do not open the hot tap, the meter will show zero consumption, which means you will not have any charges on your receipts.
Having abandoned the centralized hot water supply, you can use several options for heating cold water: a storage or instantaneous electric water heater or a gas water heater. Let's figure out how profitable it is to use these devices.
Storage water heater
You can calculate energy costs manually, knowing all the necessary data, using the formula T = 0.00116 * V (T2 –T1) / W. Where V is the capacity of the tank, T2 is the heating temperature, T1 is the cold water inlet temperature, W is the heater power .
But Andrey Vorobyov suggests taking advantage of the electricity consumption for heating water.
To calculate the electricity consumed, you need to indicate the temperature of cold and hot water, as well as its volume. It is also necessary to indicate the efficiency of the heating device. According to the calculator, for a water heater this figure is 95-99%. The higher the efficiency of the device, the cheaper it will cost you to heat water.
To calculate the full cost of heating water, you must enter your electricity tariff in rubles. And to estimate how long it takes to heat up, you need to indicate the power of the electrical appliance you use to heat the water, in kilowatts (kW). The power is often indicated on the body of the device, as well as in its operating instructions or passport.
Let's calculate the maximum possible cost of one trip to the shower. Let's say the volume of the water heater is 80 liters, the power is 2 kW. The temperature of cold water in the tap in winter can reach 5 degrees, and standard temperature hot water is 60 degrees. In Kirov, in an apartment with a gas stove, the electricity tariff from July 1, 2018 is 3.79 rubles. per kW. Let's say you want to have a good splash and use up the entire volume of water in the heater at one time. Based on these data and the water heater efficiency of 95%, as the calculator shows, one trip to the shower will cost you 20.42 rubles. In apartments with electric stoves, the electricity tariff is lower - 2.55 rubles per kWh. Accordingly, all other things being equal, the cost of washing will be lower - 13.74 rubles.
Using the calculator, you can also calculate the monthly costs of heating water using a water heater. According to the standard, one person spends an average of 5 cubic meters of water (5 thousand liters) per month. The amount comes out to 858 rubles per person in an apartment with an electric stove and 1,276 rubles in an apartment with a gas stove.
Now let's see how much this amount differs from what you would pay by simply turning on the hot tap.
To heat 5 cubic meters of water in central system A resident of Kirov spends 560.36 rubles per month for hot water supply, says Andrey Vorobyov. - This is one and a half to two times cheaper than using a storage water heater. Therefore, savings can only be achieved by reducing water volumes. A water heater has a limited capacity, and therefore people are forced to use water more economically, for example, they do not take a bath, but use a shower. This is very individual, so everyone needs to calculate costs based on their consumption,” comments Andrey Vorobyov.
Instantaneous water heater
The same Internet calculator can help calculate the electricity costs for this type of heater. You just need to take into account how much water per month you can run through it and what the power of the device is.
If you run the same average volume consumed by a person per month through a flow-through water heater - 5 cubic meters - then the cost of electricity will be about 700 rubles per month.
The peculiarity of a instantaneous water heater is that it has a fairly small degree of water heating. This indicator must be indicated in the documents. But on average, an instantaneous water heater heats the existing cold water by 40 degrees. That is, if the water in the tap is very cold, for example, 5 degrees, which often happens in winter, then the instantaneous water heater will heat it to a maximum of 45 degrees. So most of these water heaters are more suitable for household needs than for full-fledged water procedures. For example, they are installed in the kitchen for washing dishes.
Gas boiler
You can heat water gas boiler. Since gas in Russia today remains one of the cheapest types of fuel, some Kirov residents prefer to heat water with a gas boiler. Thus, Olga, a Kirov resident, said that a gas boiler was installed in her apartment - it was originally provided for by the design of the house. In winter it heats the room, and in summer it is used only to heat water.
In June we did not use a gas boiler to heat the apartment, we only heated water with gas. During this time, our family of 4 people received a receipt for gas in the amount of 220 rubles. This is what we spend on hot water in the summer. In winter, of course, more, since the water at the inlet has a lower temperature, and we also heat the apartment with gas,” says Olga.
But installing a gas boiler is associated with certain difficulties. So, the room where the gas boiler is installed must comply with the standards, including fire safety. For example, the room must have running water, gas, a window and an exhaust hood; in addition, the requirements for the area of the room and the distance to walls and corners must be met. Therefore, the bathroom is usually not suitable for installing a gas boiler, since it does not have a window with natural light, and the corridor, as a rule, does not fit in size - it is not enough from the corners or to the opposite wall. Also, in hallways there is usually no ventilation or it is insufficiently equipped. There is the same problem with storage rooms - there is no ventilation and windows, there is not enough volume. That's why gas boilers Most often they are placed in the kitchen, and the equipment “eats up” a decent piece of usable space.
To all the costs of heating cold water, you must, of course, add the cost of the device itself. Thus, a instantaneous water heater in Kirov can be purchased at a price from 2,800 to 10,000 rubles, depending on the model. Storage water heaters will cost more; the price will depend not only on the manufacturer, but also on the volume. So, a 50-liter device can be found at a price of 3,800 rubles.
Gas boilers are even more expensive, prices for which start from 16 thousand rubles, and the upper limit reaches 80 thousand. In addition, the gas boiler must undergo annual maintenance. This service in Kirov costs about 2000-2500 rubles. So the cheapness of gas is offset by the high costs of purchasing the boiler itself and its annual maintenance.
In addition, do not forget that we will heat cold water, which means we will increase its consumption and our costs for this utility service. This amount is not as large as in the case of hot water: on average in Kirov, a cubic meter of cold water costs 25 rubles. However, these expenses need to be taken into account.
Based on our calculations, it turns out that central hot water supply is not the most expensive option for the consumer, and it is worth buying a water heater not so much for the sake of savings, but because of the opportunity not to depend on regular hot water outages and accept water procedures when you want.
And now briefly about the main thing:
1. If you live in an apartment without a gas stove (you use a preferential electricity tariff), then water from electric water heater will be, on average, 1.5 times more expensive than central hot water supply.
2. If you have in your apartment gas stove, then for you water from an electric water heater, on average, will be 2 times more expensive than central hot water supply.
3. The most cheap way to heat water - use a gas boiler. But the cost of the boiler itself and the requirements for its installation make the benefits not so obvious.
4. Any water heating device provides not so much benefit as the opportunity not to depend on regular shutdowns of the central hot water supply.
If you have questions that you can't find the answer to, send them to us and we'll try to answer them.
How to avoid paying for hot water? Do I have to pay for hot water if I don't use it? Why do I receive hot water bills if I don't use water? These and many similar questions are asked by our visitors, we have prepared them for you ready-made solutions this problem, including the answer - how not to pay for hot water.
A typical situation is that one business person lives in an apartment, is at work day and night, washes his face in the morning - goes to work, has lunch and dinner in a cafe or restaurant, comes home, takes a light shower and goes to bed. Like everyone else business people he installed a hot water meter, or even a heat meter, in the apartment so as not to pay extra, because he practically does not use water. At the end of the month, the meter added 1.5 cubic meters of hot water.
In the apartment opposite, Grandma Dandelion, who has been saving for this apartment all her life, is alone, with a good pension, but out of old habit, continues to save on everything. He heats the water on the stove and takes it from the radiators to wash the floors. At the end of the month, the meter added 0.5 cubic meters of hot water.
Nearby is a beloved grandmother, for her grandchildren and children, of course. The apartment is always full of people. They have breakfast at their mother's, the grandchildren and grandchildren's friends have lunch and do homework at their grandmother's. Grandma cooks dinner for everyone and does laundry for everyone. She is used to living like this, take this away from her, and she will get sick without work and the usual noise. At the end of the month, the meter produced 15 cubic meters of hot water.
At the beginning of the month, all three received bills for hot water in proportion to consumption (1.5 0.5 and 15 m3) and an addition to them - exactly the same bill for some losses in heating hot water.
Where is the justice, what are the losses and why should I pay for them?
I won’t fool you with all sorts of diagrams, terms and definitions, but I’ll simply give the answer of one HOA chairman who came to see me. How does she answer this question to her residents?
You wanted to drink tea, turned on the kettle, it warmed up, you drank a cup - 180 grams, and at least 3 liters of water in the kettles, you drank tea - you didn’t drink it, after 20 minutes the water cooled down, she doesn’t care. A neighbor came, you offered her tea, sat for a while, she changed her mind, the main thing for her was to find out the latest gossip from you. These losses are called “hot water heating losses.” And in the house, hot water should come from the tap constantly. Yes, you can turn off the circulation around the house, and seemingly eliminate losses, but how much cold water will be drained while hot water flows? The meter will count all the drained water. And then you will argue with the house management that the water was lukewarm, we won’t pay for it.
As you can see, the chairman's answer is very accurate. I don’t even have anything to add to her words.
Well, now the answer to main question articles on how not to pay for hot water, more correctly for losses if your hot water meter does not count anything.
Hot water supply is a service that you order when living in a house with hot water. This means, from a legal point of view, if, for example, you are leaving for a long time on a business trip, you are obliged to refuse the hot water supply service in advance. As in the analogy with the kettle, do not turn it on and there will be no losses.
In other cases, you need to deal with losses collectively. Well, there is only one way - to insulate the pipes and supply risers in the basement, and not formally, as is our custom. Of course, it would also be nice to close windows and cracks in basements from drafts. Ask the designers to recalculate the recycling line, restore it where it was thrown away or does not work in order to save electricity. Install a general thermostat and regulators on the risers. Yes it's expensive. Your financial costs will be recouped in a standard four-entrance, five-story building in two years. But your health is more valuable, it’s not in vain that people say that nerve cells are not restored. Finally, normal hot water will come out of the tap, bills for losses will be almost unnoticeable, you will stop being nervous and swearing, which means you will add another year to your life. It's worth thinking about.
For reference - in accordance with SP-41-1O1-95, losses in buildings with uninsulated hot water risers and heated towel rails after ITP (the interface between you and the heating networks) are 35% of the incoming amount of hot water, and with insulated ones only 15%!
You can determine the costs of installing DHW temperature regulators and weather-compensated automation by our company yourself by reading price list, or by calling us at contact details.
Paramonov Yu.O. Rostov-on-Don. 2011-17 Exclusively for PC Energostrom LLC
IN apartment buildings old buildings, in which hot water circulation is not provided, there is such a problem: since there is no return riser where the water would return, then in the absence of consumption it cools down. In order for the water to “heat up”, consumers have to drain cold water, and at the same time pay hot water tariffs according to the meters.
Is it possible to help residents who are faced with a similar problem? Let's try to figure it out...
Regulation of the issue
According to Government Decree No. 354 and the Rules for the provision of public services, temperature regime hot water systems district heating should be within 60-75 degrees Celsius (no more, no less) with permissible deviations at certain daytime and night times of 3-5 degrees.
At the same time, the time for draining the water until a constant temperature is established is no more than 10 minutes (Guidelines of the Federal Center for Hygiene and Epidemiology" of Rospotrebnadzor, paragraph 7).
Therefore, having measured the temperature of hot water at the entrance to the house and detected a deviation from the norms and requirements, we can talk about the provision of utility services poor quality. In this case, residents have the right to file a claim with the resource supply organization and ask for a recalculation for the poor-quality service.
How to fix the situation?
In our opinion, appeals and recalculations are not enough, because this will not eliminate the problem - we need to look for prompt solutions.
1. The problem can be completely resolved by replacing risers around the house. By ensuring circulation and “return” throughout the house, residents will be able to breathe easy - they will not have to drain useless water for a long time and at the same time pay for the resource. However, this method is not easy - it is too expensive, and in most cases you will have to pay from your own wallets.
2. Installing a meter that takes water into account by temperature is another solution to the problem. Let us repeat that, according to the Rules for the provision of public services, the temperature of hot water at the point of collection should not be less than 50 degrees Celsius (excluding permissible deviations of 3-5 degrees). At the same time, owners have the right to install meters that take into account only water of a certain temperature. So, for draining unnecessary water, the consumer will pay at cold water tariffs.
3. And finally, installing a water heater in the apartment will help solve the problem. To do this, the apartment owner needs to contact the resource supply organization and ask to turn off the hot water riser as it is unnecessary. The riser is welded by representatives of the management organization, and the owner can install the boiler. Now, in receipts for utility bills, the line “payment for hot water” will be absent, and the owner pays for the resource consumed according to the tariffs for cold water and electricity, taking into account meter readings.
In the receipt for utility bills, charges for apartment hot water supply are usually the highest. Over the course of a year, a decent amount accrues, which can be spent more profitably. We will tell you how to do this without depriving yourself of your usual comfort in this article.
Advantages of not having a centralized hot water supply
Residents of multi-storey buildings often face problems with hot water supply.
Among them:
- Water supply at insufficient temperature, due to which its consumption increases and, accordingly, the numbers in the payment bill increase;
- Cooling of water in pipes, as a result of which you have to wait a long time for cold water to drain and hot water to flow;
- Poor water quality– it may be mixed with rust or have an unpleasant odor;
- Frequent planned and unscheduled outages, causing not only domestic inconvenience, but also financial losses. Indeed, in the absence of a meter, it is very difficult to achieve recalculation during the absence of DHW.
You can try to prove that the standards for hot water supply in apartments are violated by ordering an examination of its composition and drawing up a report in the presence of utility workers about the actual temperature of the water flowing from the tap.
But even if you win, it is not a fact that the problems will be solved. And this will not save you from planned shutdowns of the water supply system for repairs.
But there is a way out, and it is very reliable: you need to install a water heater in your apartment and become your own supplier of hot water.
- It will always be pure, since its source will be drinking water from ;
- You can regulate its temperature yourself;
- Interruptions in supply are possible only when the energy supply or cold water is turned off;
- Impressive sums for .
Please note. On the other hand, payments for cold water and electricity (or gas, if the water heater is gas) will increase. How profitable such a solution is will depend on the type and power of the boiler, average water consumption and other factors. But in any case, even in the absence of savings, you get greater comfort.
Design options for autonomous hot water supply
There are two ways: installing a meter on the hot water pipe with monthly transmission of zero readings and officially disconnecting the apartment from the hot water supply.
Option with counter
Nowadays, most houses require that meters be installed on all communications. If you already have meters, there will be no problems.
If they are not there, do this:
- Install the boiler by connecting it to the cold water supply system;
- Buy a hot water meter and turn off the tap at the inlet.
Advice. When choosing, pay attention to performance characteristics– some devices are installed only on cold water supply.
- Install it on the DHW pipe. To do this you need to write an application to management company for installation of metering devices;
- Call representatives of the management company to seal the meter and transfer the initial readings to the computer center.
This option has a great advantage: if the water heater breaks down or if there is a power outage in the apartment, you will only need to open the tap on the hot water pipe and use hot water from the central system.
When using such a scheme, the following rules must be observed:
- Submit meter readings monthly, even if they have not changed as a result of not using the centralized supply;
- Once every six years (check with your supplier for the period), check the device by calling a heating network representative to your home.
Advice. Instead of checking, you can replace the meter with a new one. It is inexpensive, and the sealing service is provided free of charge.
Option with disconnection from the system
You can completely turn off the hot water supply in your apartment by cutting off the pipe or making a rupture in it.
The algorithm is as follows:
- First you need to make a request to the management company or housing and communal services to disconnect from the city hot water network;
- Then, using the departmental plumber, make visible breaks in all outlets from the hot water supply risers and plug them;
- Call a representative of the supplier to seal and draw up a report on disconnection from the network. From this moment on, charges for hot water supply stop;
- Install a water heater with piping.
The disadvantage of this option is complete absence hot water in case of power outages or boiler breakdown.
Pay attention! The fact of disconnection from the city hot water network must be confirmed annually. Why is it necessary to call a representative of the supplier to draw up a report on the disconnection and the presence of seals. Otherwise, after a year, the payment column for hot water supply according to the standards will return to the payment bill.
Selecting a water heater
Which boiler to choose depends on many reasons. First of all, they consider the economic one, and in this regard there is no equal to a gas water heater or water heater. Therefore, if the project provides for such an opportunity, and you want to save a lot of money, choose this type.
The only disadvantage of this solution is that you cannot install it yourself, since the instructions require technical conditions for connection, and a certified specialist must install the speaker.
But gas equipment itself costs less than electric equipment, so it will pay for itself faster. If the house is not gasified or you are against the presence of gas equipment in the apartment, buy an electric water heater.
It comes in two types:
- Flow-through– water heats up as it passes through heating element. It should have a good stable pressure. The advantages of such devices include small dimensions and ease of installation with your own hands. The disadvantages are high power consumption (5-27 kW), which sometimes completely cancels out the benefits of disconnecting the city network. In addition, wiring in older homes is often not designed to handle this kind of power and may not be able to handle the load.
- Cumulative– heats up a large volume of water in the tank at once. Makes it possible to regulate the temperature and maintain it at a given level. Compared to flow-through, it consumes very little electricity (1.5-3 kW), but has impressive dimensions.
Another factor influencing the choice of a boiler is its placement in the apartment.
The easiest way is to find a place for a flow-through electric heater. It is usually installed in the kitchen at the water connection point of the kitchen sink. It is also possible to embed it into the pipeline at the entrance to the apartment to provide hot water to all water taps.
Storage and gas boilers cannot be placed in the bathroom. Therefore, the former are most often hung in the toilet, and the latter - in the kitchen, in the place of supply gas pipe. And from this point they make a connection into the existing hot water pipeline, or lay wiring to all devices that consume hot water.
Conclusion
If you are tired of overpaying for low-quality service and do not want to be left without hot water even for one day, refuse it. An autonomous water heater will become great solution problems. The main thing is to arrange everything correctly.
The video in this article shows how a hot water supply system is installed in an apartment from a water heater. Once you learn it, you can do most of the work yourself.