How to put meters for heating in an apartment: installing individual appliances

It is impossible to live in unheated rooms in winter and no one argues with this. Hot radiators in the cold months are a communal good of modern life. However, the bills regularly charged by heating experts are often overpriced, aren't they?

You decided to figure out how to put meters for heating in the apartment to get a real chance not to pay too much, but don’t know where to start?

We will help to study this issue in detail - the article describes the procedure for installing the meter and the owner’s interaction with the heat supply organization. The main types of counters and their features are also considered.

The material of the article is supplemented by thematic photos and useful video tips of the owners, who through the court proved their right to pay only for the heat actually consumed.

Purpose of installing a meter for heating

It is expensive to heat a house. But private homeowners at least have a choice of boiler equipment and fuel. Residents of high-rise buildings have no choice - central heating with tariffs set by the management company.

However, there is a tool to reduce the cost of heating an apartment - an individual heat meter.

When there is no high-quality heating, it happens that malfunctions of the home heating system force one to look for alternative sources of heat.

Or the reason for the coldened room radiators is the intention of the Housing Office management to save on common house heating costs.

Then the plumber tightens the valve of the stop valves, reducing the flow of hot water in the heating system of a high-rise building. Residents freeze and get warm heatersby increasing electricity bills. But the cost of heating does not decrease from this.

Do you also have to freeze in your apartment? We offer you to see information about insulation of the walls of the apartmentconsidered in our other article.

When there is too much heat, the superheated air in the rooms is unpleasant; you have to open the window to lower the general temperature level. But behind the seemingly simple methods are the money spent on “street heating”.

You can save them by installing regulators for heating batteries and heat meter - to the heating circuit of the apartment.

You may also be interested in information about comfortable room temperature, which you can read about. in this article.

In winter, airing an overheated room is the only thing that comes to mind to reduce uncomfortable room temperature

There are still hidden components of payments for heating. This is when the coolant enters the mains with one heating temperature from the boiler room, but at the input of the heating pipes to the houses its temperature is different, lower.

The delivery of coolant through pipes is accompanied by heat loss due to poor insulation, this is understandable. But these heat losses are paid by the final consumer - owners of apartments in high-rise buildings that are not equipped with heat meters.

Monthly payments for someone else's living space

Each apartment building should be equipped with a heat meter - Article 13, paragraph 5 of Federal Law No. 261-FZ of 11/23/2009.

The management company fulfills this condition and, based on the results of each month, removes heat consumption for the high-rise building under its jurisdiction.

The amount for thermal energy is simply divided between the apartments according to their living area. Although this approach cannot be fair.

Good money goes to pay heating bills. And half of them are wasted

The data on housing available in the Criminal Code are based on the technical passport of each apartment. However, in such data sheets, data on apartment redevelopments that increase the heating area are often not taken into account.

There is no information about the increase in the connection points of heating radiators.

Meanwhile, apartments with redevelopment and with an expanded number of heating appliances consume more heat than others.

And since the total energy consumption of thermal energy is divided by the passport housing, the residents of “ordinary” apartments pay for the heat consumed by the residents of the “improved” apartments.

Individual heat meter on the horizontal heating circuit of the apartment

A simple way out of the situation with the payment of someone else's heat - individual meters on the heating circuits of apartments.

The cost savings for thermal energy, the consumption of which is determined by the heat meter, will be more than 30% of previous payments for heating, tied to the size of the living space (normative).

Types of wiring of an apartment heating system

Apartments in high-rise buildings are equipped with either vertical or horizontal wiring of the heating system. In apartment buildings built before the beginning of the 21st century, heating systems were bred vertically.

Option # 1 - Vertical Wiring

The vertical circuit of the thermal system is single-pipe, less often double-pipe. But always with a sequential run of coolants along the interfloor levels - from bottom to top, then from top to bottom.

Especially vertical distribution of heating is common in Khrushchev.

The contour of a one-pipe heating system covers several floors and apartments. Therefore, you can’t put a mortise heat meter on it

Vertical heating has serious drawbacks:

• Uneven heat distribution. The coolant is pumped along a vertically oriented interfloor circuit, which does not provide uniform heating of the rooms at different levels. Those. in apartments of lower floors it will be noticeably warmer than in rooms located closer to the roof of a high-rise building;
• Hard heat setting heating batteries. The need to equip each battery with a bypass;
• Problems balancing the heating system. The balance of single-circuit heating of the vertical wiring is achieved by setting the shut-off valves and thermostats. But at the slightest change in pressure or temperature in the system, you have to perform the adjustment again;
• Difficulties with individual heat consumption. There are more than one risers in the vertical heating system of the rooms of the apartment, so ordinary heat meters can not be applied. They will require several - for each radiator, which is expensive. Although for heating vertical wiring, another heat metering tool is available - the heat distributor.

The construction of a vertically oriented heating pipeline scheme was cheaper than horizontal wiring — fewer pipes were required.

Such savings in the era of mass typical development of urban areas of Russia in the XX century were considered quite justified.

Option # 2 - horizontal wiring in a high-rise building

With horizontal wiring of the heating system, there is also a vertical supply riser that distributes the coolant to the floors.

The pipe of the second riser, which serves as the return line, is located in a vertical technical shaft near the supply riser.

From both distribution risers, the horizontal pipes of two circuits - supply and return - are led out to the apartments. The return line collects the cooled water, transporting it to the heating station or boiler.

In the horizontal heating circuit, everything is simple - through one pipe the coolant enters the apartment, along the other comes out.

The advantages of horizontal wiring of heating pipes include:

• the ability to adjust the temperature in each apartment, as well as throughout the highway (installation of mixing units is necessary);
• repair or maintenance on a separate circuit heating without a complete shutdown of the heating system. Shutoff valves allows you to block the contour of the apartment at any time;
• quick start of heating on all floors. For comparison, even in a well-balanced single-pipe vertical wiring system, delivery of the coolant to all radiators will take at least 30-50 seconds;
• installation of one heat meter on an apartment circuit. With horizontal heating distribution, its equipment with a heat meter is a simple task.

The disadvantage of a horizontal heating circuit is its increased cost. The need to install the return pipe parallel to the supply pipe increases the price of apartment heating by 15-20%.

Features of the main types of meters

A group of individual heat energy meters is designed to operate in heating networks with 15-20 mm pipe channel diameter and a coolant volume in the range of 0.6-2.5 cubic meters per hour.

Calculations of the consumed heat energy are performed by heat meters and heat distributors independently, with the output of data on an electronic display.

Horizontal wiring of the heating pipes allows you to install the heat meter covertly, in a communication niche or shaft

The computing module of the device determines the amount of heat consumption for a given period of time (hour, day or month), storing and storing this information in the device’s memory for 12-36 months.

The most convenient installation of a non-volatile meter for heating (i.e. with an additional power source - a battery).

Depending on the model of the heat meter, the values ​​of its measurements are displayed as kilowatts per hour, megawatts per hour, gigajoules or gigacalories. For managers and other utility companies, heat readings in Gcal are required.

For conversion in gigacalories, you must apply the appropriate translation formula. For example, for kilowatts per hour - multiply the value by a factor of 0,0008598.

Each meter is a complex of several instruments. Its set may include temperature sensors, calculators of the volume of consumed thermal energy, as well as pressure, flow and resistance converters.

The exact equipment of the heat meter is set by the manufacturer for a specific model.

It is convenient to install the heat meter at the final stage of installation of the apartment heating system

Depending on the principle of accounting for the consumed heat energy, heat meters are equipped with an ultrasonic or mechanical (tachometric) flow meter.

Models of devices with flowmeters of other types (for example, vortex or electromagnetic) are also available, but they are poorly distributed. Heat meters are designed to collect information on heat consumption exclusively on the horizontal wiring of the heating circuit.

A separate group of heat meters are calculators and heat distributors that do not require a tie-in to the heating circuit. These devices are used to calculate the heat consumption of heating radiators for any heating circuit schemes.

Type # 1 - mechanical version of the flowmeter

The simplest type of design, so the cheapest (about 9000-10000 rubles) is a device with two wire temperature sensors, a water meter and an electronic calculator unit.

The main working element of the meter is the part (impeller, turbine or screw) that rotates when the coolant passes through the device. The number of rotations determines the amount of coolant that has passed through the meter.

The installation procedure of the heat meter is apparently simple, but the efficiency of the device depends on its quality

Contact thermometers are built into the supply and return pipes of the heating circuit of the apartment. The first thermometer is located in the counter, in a special socket.

The second is installed on the return pipe, in a ball valve of a special design (with a socket) or in a tee equipped with a sleeve for a thermometer.

The advantages of mechanical heat meters:

• the cost of about 8000 rubles .;
• the design is simple and reliable;
• no external power required;

Attracts a fairly correct stability of indicators and the permissibility of installation in a horizontal or vertical position.

Cons of mechanical type heat meters:

• guaranteed work period not more than 4-5 years - every 4 years, verification is required;
• high wear of rotating parts - however, all mechanical meters are repaired for little money;
• pressure increase - a rotating element helps to increase the pressure in the heating circuit;
• susceptibility to water hammer;
• high demand for matching actual flow rate in the heating system, the nominal flow rate set by the manufacturer.

It is imperative to integrate into the circuit a coarse magnetic strainer in front of a mechanical heat meter. The device is extremely sensitive to the content of mechanical suspensions in the coolant volume!

Type # 2 - Ultrasonic Heat Meter

The flow rate of the coolant, these devices are determined using the ultrasonic signal emitted by the emitter and received by the receiver.

Both elements of the thermal ultrasonic meter are mounted on a horizontal heating pipe, a certain distance is established between them.

The signal from the emitter follows the flow of the coolant and reaches the receiver after a period of time, depending on the speed of the coolant in the heating circuit. Based on the time data, the flow rate of the coolant is set.

There are no rotating elements. Therefore, the service life of such a heat meter is longer, and the heat data is accurate

Over 10 versions of ultrasonic flow meters are available - frequency, Doppler, correlation, etc. In addition to performing the main tasks, an ultrasonic heat meter may have a function for adjusting the flow of coolant.

Advantages of ultrasonic heat meters for apartments:

• low price in the basic configuration - from 8000 rubles. (domestic models);
• data on heat consumption are called up on the LCD display by pressing a single button, which is convenient;
• the operation of the device does not cause an increase in hydraulic pressure in the heating system;

The strengths include a long service life of more than 10 years (verification is necessary every 4 years) and power from the built-in battery.

The main disadvantage of ultrasonic heat meters is their sensitivity to the composition of the coolant. If it contains air bubbles and mud particles (scale, scale, etc.), the readings of the device will be incorrect, and in the direction of increasing heat consumption.

For ultrasonic flow meters, there is one installation rule - the pipeline section in front of and after the device must be straight (the required total length of the straight section is more than a meter). Then the meter will provide the correct heat consumption data.

Type # 3 - calculator and heat distributor

These devices measure the relative costs of thermal energy. They have a thermal adapter and two temperature sensors in their design.

Every three minutes, the sensors measure the temperature on the surface of the heating radiator and in the room atmosphere, determining the difference. The collected information on heat consumption is summarized and displayed on the device screen.

Such a heat meter does not need to be hidden - it looks perfect in a modern room interior

Heat meters are programmed to work on a particular type of heating radiator at the time of installation on it.

All the necessary coefficients and power indicators of the radiator are stored in the counter memory, which allows it to display data on the heat consumption in kilowatt hours.

The numbers indicated by the heat distributors are displayed in arbitrary units. To convert them to kilowatt-hours, multiply the value of the readings by the nameplate power of the heating radiator and the coefficient corresponding to the type of heating battery.

The coefficient numbers are provided by the manufacturer of the meter according to the results of laboratory tests.

The heat distributor is similar to a heat calculator. They are distinguished by the inability of the distributor to calculate heat, like kilowatts per hour. In general, the heat distributor is simpler than the calculator

Heat calculators and distributors are placed for measuring thermal energy on one heating radiator. Those.in an apartment where heating is monitored by such devices, there should be as many meters as there are heating radiators.

Both types of meters are effective regardless of the layout of the apartment heating and the operating characteristics of the coolant used in the heating circuit.

Advantages of heat distributors and calculators:

• the cost of about 2000-2500 rubles. - i.e. their installation is advantageous in small apartments equipped with five heating radiators or less (but more than 2);
• long service life without verification - 10 years;
• simple and quick installation on or near the radiator casing;
• data transfer from several heat meters over the air to a single controller that summarizes them (the availability of a radio module depends on the model of the device);

A convincing argument in favor of installing such devices is the complete independence of the measurement results from the quality of the coolant.

Cons of apartment computers and heat distributors:

• the relative measurement error is up to 7-12% (the largest error is characteristic of heat distributors), which is higher than that of "mortise" heat meters;
• energy consumption data is correct if calculated from the results of measurements of several devices within the apartment. One computer is not able to correctly determine the heat consumption of the atmosphere from one radiator. A summary of several instruments is needed;
• effective work only on factory models of heating radiators. Those. Any modifications to the factory equipment of the radiator when measuring heat with such heat meters are unacceptable.

The mounting kit for installing the calculator or heat distributor is selected by the type of radiator on which the meter will be installed.

Handicraft methods for installing a counter will degrade the quality of data collection. If there is no specialized installation kit, it is more rational to fix the device next to the battery it serves.

The legal installation of the heat meter

The sequence of actions aimed at installing an individual metering device for thermal energy in an apartment consists of several stages.

Let's consider them in more detail:

1. Written appeal to the house management organization for permission to install a heat meter. The letter must be accompanied by copies of documents on the right of ownership of the living space, technical passport of the apartment.
2. Obtaining technical conditions to install a heat meter from a heat supplier (usually from a management company).
3. Project preparation individual heat metering and installation technical documentation. It is carried out by an organization that has the legal right to provide design services.
4. Coordination of design documentation with a heat supply company.

It is not necessary to purchase a heat meter before receiving an agreed heat energy project, because Failure is possible for various reasons.

Having all the documentation for the project, it remains to choose a heat meter - an ultrasonic, mechanical or external installation, for example, a heat calculator.

The device is required to save up to 50% of heating costs - it should be installed by the pros. And with a guarantee

For the purchased model, it is necessary to obtain checks from the seller (commodity and cash), instructions, warranty card and a copy of the current quality certificate.

The company installing the heat meter must be licensed for this type of work.

Before choosing a contractor, it is necessary to evaluate the data on the candidates (USRLE, certificates, SRO approvals), the professionalism of the installers (special equipment, the list of installation works, the availability of the installation kit), guarantees of the work performed.

The quality of the thermostat installed on the heating radiator is important. It is he who will allow you to control the heating of the battery, and therefore the cost of heat

Please note that in addition to the heat meter, additional devices and devices will be needed: bypass, radiator thermostats, pipe filters, tees, etc.

Sealing a heat meter or heat distributor after installation is mandatory.

Seals put by representatives of the heat supply company.

When is installation impossible or disadvantageous?

The installation of an individual heat meter will be refused by the management company if there is no multi-storey building common house heat meter. To calculate the coefficient for ODN, you need to know the heat consumption of the whole house.

Payments on the heat meter in the following situations will be higher than without it:

• input of the heat main into a multi-storey building is made according to an outdated scheme - through an elevator;
• the apartment is located at the end of the house, on the top or first floors;
• there are cracks in the window frames, in the box of the front door;
• the loggia (balcony) is not glazed - in such a situation it can help balcony insulation;
• purged entrance room (broken windows, ajar access door), etc.

Note that to minimize the cost of thermal energy, it is not enough to install a common house and apartment meter. Modernization of the heating system of the building is necessary - replacement of the elevator unit with AITP or AUU.

The ITP complex allows you to finely control the heating of the entire high-rise building. So - payments for heating will decrease.

Only in such an energy system of high-rise buildings will it be possible to achieve comfort in apartments with minimal payments for heating.

Conclusions and useful video on the topic

Installing a heat meter is a requirement of the legislation of the Russian Federation. But this norm does not apply to apartments in high-rise buildings.

The reasons why there may be problems with individual heat meters are discussed in this video:

A Petersburger installed heat calculators on radiators in his apartment in 2013 and was convinced of a 30% overpayment for heating.

But ZhSK-3 is in no hurry to compensate for its costs. Watch the video:

Legislation requires equipping a heating system in a high-rise building with a home meter, but only general (for the whole house).

And to managers of multi-apartment households individual meters are advantageous in the only case - if the house is new or reconstructed (heat-insulated) according to modern standards.

Have you installed a heating meter for yourself or do you have valuable information on this issue that may be useful to our other readers?

Perhaps your experience will help solve a difficult situation or inspire you to actively fight with a heat supply company. Share your story or ask questions on this topic - leave your comments under this article.