Gas boiler room for an apartment building: norms and rules of arrangement

Utilities are growing every year, and the quality of heating is poor. Therefore, many residents of apartment buildings are looking for another way to heat their homes, trying to abandon centralized heating.

One solution is an autonomous gas boiler house for an apartment building. And although this is a very serious and troublesome decision, it is quite realistic to install such equipment so that it provides heat to the whole house, and functions much cheaper than a centralized alternative.

Next, we will talk about the advantages and disadvantages of autonomous boiler rooms, the intricacies of their installation, and also we will figure out where it is better to place the equipment.

Advantages and disadvantages of autonomous equipment

An autonomous gas boiler house in an apartment building has several disadvantages. The equipment is quite expensive, and its installation must be performed by professionals. Next, you need to conduct wiring to each apartment. This involves spending a lot of money already at the start, which forces most residents to abandon this venture.

Many are also scared by the need to constantly monitor the system. Now, the specialists responsible for district heating will not be responsible for the quality of structures that supply coolant to each apartment. Residents will have to independently hire specialists who will do a routine inspection of the entire system and scheduled repairs, which entails additional costs.

Starting costs for an autonomous boiler room are high, but they quickly pay off. This can be seen by simple calculations

The benefits are more significant:

1. Greater freedom from monopolists in the field of district heating.
2. Minimumheat loss. The coolant loses about 30% of the heat passing through the heating main.If the boiler room is installed directly near the house, the losses are minimal.
3. It is much easier to adjust the operation of the boiler room to one house than to thousands. Residents will be able to choose the optimal power for themselves.
4. One compact boiler room can be serviced by only one dispatcher, as well as one or two adjusters. This is much cheaper than paying the cost of heating, including the work of hundreds of installers, as well as directors, secretaries, accountants, drivers and other employees of the housing office.
5. Residents of the house can include an autonomous boiler room when it is convenient for them, and not adapt to the framework of the heating season.

So, even though an autonomous boiler room requires more effort from residents than central heating, the benefits of its availability are much greater. Residents can save a lot of money, and the quality of heating will be much higher.

Very quickly, the initial costs will pay off and virtually all the disadvantages will disappear, and the benefits will continue.

Where can I place an autonomous boiler room?

It is very important to choose the right place for the installation of heating units. So, a gas boiler on the roof of a high-rise building is considered the most preferred option. Often they are also installed in basements or on basement floors.

To service the boiler room, it is enough to hire only one specialist, and this is a real money savings every month

Of course, the best option in terms of security and ease of maintenance is the construction of a separate building near the apartment building. Residents will not be threatened by possible fuel leaks, gas accumulation in the basement.

But you will have to build an additional building, lay the foundation for it, do a lot of land work, draw up a number of documents. This immediately scares off potential investors. Therefore, a basement or roof gas boiler room can be considered the best options.

Features of the basement boiler

Building a boiler room in the basement is usually quite simple. For this, it is not necessary to drag various equipment onto the roof, it is not necessary to carry out calculations as to whether the overlap can withstand the load from the weight of the boiler and its elements. But there are also disadvantages.

Firstly, explosive fuels, in particular gas, cannot be used in basements. After all, if it ignites or even explodes, it can destroy the entire building and lead to multiple deaths among residents. Therefore, in the basements it is allowed to build boiler houses on electricity or on solid fuel compositions (pyrolysis boilers And so on).

An autonomous boiler room in the basement is difficult to arrange and requires the creation of a well-thought-out ventilation system, so you will also need to invest in its arrangement

An electric heating boiler is not suitable for an apartment building. The cost of its maintenance, in particular, electricity, will be higher than the payment of central heating. As for solid fuel boilers, for their operation you need a stove, which will manually load fuel several times a day.

Another problem of the boiler room in the basement is the construction of a chimney. According to the rules of SNiP and other regulatory documents, the height of the chimney should be greater than the height of the house. It will be very difficult to build such a structure that will comply with this norm.

The reasons for the popularity of boiler houses on the roof

Due to the large number of shortcomings in the placement of boilers in the basement or in a separate building, the most popular boiler houses on the roof. Here you can use any type of fuel, in particular gas, which is the most economical, easy to use and energy efficient carrier.

The rooftop boiler room can be installed on an already built house, if you use a modular design. Something like this will look

If the boiler room is installed on the roof, it does not require a complex ventilation system, the construction of a huge chimney and other bulky structures.

Thanks to the use of gas as an energy source, the process of organizing an autonomous boiler room is greatly simplified. And the installation of a simple automation system allows you to set the range within which the temperature of the coolant (water in the pipes) should be.

This significantly saves both fuel and the money of apartment owners. Thus, you do not need a stove, who will constantly monitor the boiler room and turn it on as the temperature drops. Instead, everything will be done by automation.

An approximate scheme for arranging a roof boiler room. A small modular building on the roof holds all the elements to provide heat to a multi-story building

Gas boilers for boiler rooms are considered the easiest solution to operate. Even a simple user can understand how to handle the equipment so that it gives the desired result. Each resident of the house can learn how to adjust the temperature, turn the boiler on and off.

Varieties of roof devices

Depending on the type of roof, its various characteristics, different types of boiler rooms from the general list may be suitable for it, namely, built-in and block-modular.

Built-in boiler rooms are only suitable for buildings under construction. They need to be included in the project and build a separate floor of a multi-storey building.

When the building has already been built, only the block-modular type of the boiler room on the roof is suitable for it. As a rule, such a system is installed where current communications are already worn out and require repair with a complete replacement.

Connecting an autonomous boiler room in an apartment building involves laying new, modern pipes to the apartment of each tenant. And although this involves additional costs, you should not save on materials so that you do not then spend money on frequent repair of communications

Before creating a project for a block-modular boiler room, it is necessary to take into account the technical characteristics of the structure. Specialists determine in what place the building will be located, from which it will be built, what acceptable dimensions it can have.

Then they begin to build the block-modular boiler house itself and install it. Workers check the condition of the floors, walls and other capital elements of the building. Then, an enhanced sound insulation system is laid so that the boiler room does not interfere with the residents of the upper floors, and also strengthen security measures.

The next step is to connect the boiler room to energy sources and check its operability on the spot. If everything works fine, test the operation of all systems and connect residents to a new boiler room.

Features of installation of equipment

The rooftop boiler house creates an increased load on the entire building. And this means that some designs must be reinforced.

In addition, it is important to follow these rules:

• It is forbidden to put a boiler room over the ceilings of living rooms;
• the structure should not dock to the walls of residential premises;
• the boiler room must be equipped with technical means of automatic shutdown in case of an accident;
• The boiler room should not exceed the size of the house itself.

The boiler room iscommon house property, the ownership right to which is equally distributed among all tenants. Consequently, all the costs of its installation and maintenance should be borne by the same persons.

A protective coating is installed on the entire site, along the perimeter of which the boiler room will become. It can be a 20-cm concrete pillow or another option.

Sometimes a new boiler room is installed during the scheduled overhaul of a multi-storey building. Then the money is taken from the fund, in which tenants make monthly contributions for future major repairs. Sometimes these funds are not enough.In such cases, organize an additional fee.

To build a boiler room, you need to spend money on the project itself, the manufacture of a modular system, its delivery to the place, installation and debugging. As a rule, the total cost of a house is 5-10 million rubles.

Benefits of a Rooftop Boiler House

Thanks to the placement of the boiler house directly on a multi-storey building, the number ofheat loss. This allows you to save up to 30% on payment for heating and hot water. It is much easier and cheaper to maintain an autonomous boiler room than a huge urban branched system.

When the city has not yet started centralized heating, the owners of the house can, with a collective decision, turn on the heating of the house and not wait for the start of the season. Similarly, you can turn off the boiler if the house is too hot.

During the connection, the system conducts many checks, which guarantees residents its safety.

Disadvantages of roof boiler rooms

Today, a rooftop boiler house can only be built on houses no higher than 9 floors. During the operation of the system, the pumps vibrate quite strongly, which residents of the last floors can hear.

Also, a large amount will have to be spent on installing the boiler house itself and obtaining permits for it. But these expenses are incurred only once.

Norms and requirements for operation

There are requirements regarding the design and installation of roof boiler rooms, but they are minimal. All of them are based on ensuring safety during the operation of the structure.

In particular, regularly perform the following actions:

• It is necessary to constantly check the supply and exhaust valves, due to which boiler room ventilation.
• It is necessary to provide at the design stage installation of sensorsfixing any fire, gas leak and other emergency situations. Also need installationgas insulating flange capable of shutting down the entire system in case of fire.
• The roof of a multi-storey building should be equipped with an alarm system, which will immediately begin to notify others with sound and light signals about a fire in the boiler room.
• The boiler room should be equipped with windows and doors leading directly to the roof. Also need a special fire elevator and service exit. The boiler room lighting must comply with the standards.
• A separate chimney must be designed for each gas boiler, and they must all be the same height. The distance between the pipes can be any.

To ensure more stable and safe operation of boilers on the roof, a separate branch of electricity should be conducted to them. This will allow you to level out possible power surges in the house, which can lead to failure of the entire heating system.

It is also desirable to provide an alternative power supply, in particular, to purchase a diesel generator.

According to safety regulations, the chimney pipe must be at least 2 meters higher than the height of the roof of the boiler room itself

It is forbidden to install a gas boiler house directly above residential apartments. Between them and the roof you need to make a technical floor in order to comply with the mandatory list of conditions regarding boiler rooms. Gas units can only be placed on floors made of reinforced concrete slabs.

Remember that the boiler room is quite noisy, so it is important to make soundproofing in it.

As soon as the boiler room is designed and installed, it is necessary to organize its periodic maintenance. To do this, it is enough to hire one or two people. Periodically, gas inspectors will also come with inspections to monitor the state of the equipment in operation.

Conclusions and useful video on the topic

Those who at least once tried to purchase equipment for a heating system know that the market provides many options that differ from each other both in the subtleties and quite significantly.A heating boiler for a roof boiler room and its auxiliary systems is a very complex engineering solution, the selection of which should be entrusted to reliable specialists.

And what the roof boiler room looks like inside can be seen in the following video:

Engineers will make the necessary calculations, namely the average temperature for the winter, the minimum values, the degree of insulation of the apartments, the characteristics of the walls and windows, the frequency and strength of the wind and other characteristics. This will allow you to choose the most optimal boiler and other equipment so that it is warm in each apartment. Undoubtedly, this is a much better solution than paying a lot of money and using outdated central heating.

Still have questions about the topic of the article? Or can you share useful information about installing a roof boiler with our readers? Leave your comments, share experiences, ask questions - the communication block is located under the article.