How the heating system works in an apartment building

It’s crucial to comprehend how an apartment building’s heating system works in order to guarantee efficiency and comfort during the winter. Apartment buildings frequently use centralized heating systems that service several units, in contrast to single-family homes where heating systems are self-contained. This essay will examine the foundations of these systems’ operation and provide information on their parts, maintenance, and operation.

The boiler or furnace is the central component of the heating system in a typical apartment building. The heat produced by this central heating unit will be dispersed throughout the structure. Boilers typically generate heat using electricity, gas, oil, or renewable energy sources like biomass. In contrast, furnaces usually burn fuel to produce heat that is then distributed throughout the structure.

After the heat is produced, a system of pipes or ducts distributes it throughout the structure. These distribution systems distribute heated air or steam (from furnaces or boilers) or hot water to different areas of the building. These pipes’ or ducts’ precise layout guarantees that heat is distributed evenly throughout the building’s units.

Depending on the type of installed heating system, components within each apartment unit are referred to as vents, baseboard heaters, or radiators. By acting as heat emitters, these parts provide warmth to the living areas. For example, radiators have pipes that allow steam or hot water to flow through, heating the space. While vents disperse heated air from the furnace, baseboard heaters use convection to do so.

Maintaining the heating system properly is essential to ensuring both its longevity and effective operation. The boiler or furnace should be cleaned, serviced, and inspected on a regular basis to help avoid problems and guarantee peak efficiency. Periodic inspections of distribution pipes or ducts can also find leaks or obstructions that could prevent heat from spreading throughout the building.

Component	Description
Boiler	Heats water, which is then circulated through pipes.
Radiators	Receive hot water from the boiler and release heat into rooms.
Thermostat	Monitors temperature and signals the boiler to turn on or off.
Pipes	Carry hot water from the boiler to radiators and back.

In an apartment building, the heating system works by distributing heat to each unit through a network of pipes connected to a central heating source. Usually, this source is a boiler or a furnace, which heats water or air. The heated water or air is then pumped through the pipes to radiators or vents in individual apartments, where it releases warmth into the living spaces. Thermostats control the temperature, allowing residents to adjust the heat as needed. Additionally, insulation plays a crucial role in maintaining heat within the building, preventing energy loss and ensuring efficient heating. Overall, the heating system in an apartment building operates by centralizing the heating process and distributing warmth effectively to each unit, providing comfort to residents while minimizing energy consumption.

Multi -apartment building heating system

The heating system of an apartment building should provide air heating in residential premises in the winter to a temperature of 20–22 degrees at a moisture content of 45–30%, in compliance with the requirements of GOST and SNiP. In order to achieve this, the heating system of an apartment building is also designed during the development of design estimates for construction. This ensures that the coolant pressure in the pipes is the same on the building’s first and last floors. It is only in this manner that the necessary air parameters in the room can be guaranteed along with the regular circulation of the coolant.

Multi -apartment building heating systems

The diameter of the pipelines supplying the coolant to each apartment is gradually decreasing, as can be seen if you closely examine the heating system circuit of an apartment building. For instance, the basement intra-house heating system of an apartment building has pipes with an input diameter of 100 mm, "sunbeds" that distribute coolant along the entrances #8211 76-50 mm, depending on the building’s size and wing length, and pipes with a diameter of 20 mm that are used to install risers with a diameter of mm. This rule increases in the opposite order at the return.

The feed and return heating systems of multi-unit residential buildings should also take into consideration the sunbed’s structural characteristics. A 32 mm diameter ball valve that is positioned at least 30 centimeters away from the final riser drowns out their ends. This is done to create an accumulative pocket for contaminants that are flushed out of the heating system during planned maintenance, as well as for scale that has accumulated in the lower, horizontal portion of the scale.

However, the adjustment of the heating system of an apartment building described above does not allow flexibly leveling pressure in the system, which leads to a decrease in the temperature of the premises on the upper floors, and in the rooms whose heating is mounted on the return. The hydraulics of the heating system of an apartment building, which includes circulating vacuum pumps and an automated pressure regulation system that are mounted in a manifold on each floor of the building, copes with this problem. In this case, the scheme of analysis of the coolant along the floors changes and an additional place for its installation is required, which is the cause of the rare use of hydraulics in the heating system of an apartment building.

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How the heat supply of an apartment building works

In Russia, the coolant for an apartment building’s central heating system is typically drawn from thermal power plants or the city boiler room. Since water contours are one-pipe and two-pipe, they are simultaneously outfitted with distinct schemes. Heat consumers usually don’t pay much attention to these kinds of details, but if you need to fix your apartment or replace outdated heating radiators with new ones, you should know about these kinds of details that aren’t always obvious to homeowners.

Individual heating in residential buildings

Apart from the central heating system, an autonomous heating system is available in apartment buildings.These types of heat sources are typically uncommon and are only seen in newly constructed buildings. Additionally, the private residential sector makes use of local heat supply systems. Since the temperature of the coolant in the heating system must be adjusted, it is customary to locate the boiler room—if available—either close to the residence or inside the building in a separate room.

Since installing autonomous heating in an apartment building can be expensive, it is best to install a single, strong boiler room that can supply warm, hot water to an entire residential microdistrict.

Central heating of apartment buildings

The trunk pipelines indicate that the heating unit of an apartment building receives coolant from the central boiler room, which is then distributed throughout the apartments. In this instance, additional hot water supply adjustment is generated on-site at the heat station, where circular pumps are employed. We refer to this process of providing the coolant to the end user as independent (see "Centralized heating: the pros and cons" for more information).

Furthermore, apartment buildings employ dependent heating systems. In this instance, the coolant is delivered straight from the thermal power plant to the apartment batteries, requiring no further distribution. Regardless of whether the water is supplied directly to customers or through the distribution point, the temperature of the water is located in this instance.

In the latter version, coolant is supplied separately for hot water supply and radiator heating after entering the camshaft through a thermal power station or central boiler room. Open systems lack this kind of separation, allowing residents’ heated water needs to be met from the main pipe. As a result, customers are left without hot water outside of the heating season, which leads to a high volume of utility complaints. Also see "The battery’s heat meter."

Types of connection to heating systems

It is impossible to alter the centralized circuit that drives the coolant’s movement. Because of this, only the apartment version of a building has the option to adjust the heating. Although it happens infrequently, there are instances where homeowners replace the heating system on their own. In these cases, one or two pipes are used, and the coolant circulation principles are unaltered. Additionally view "Independent heating system."

One -pipe heating system

The primary drawback of an apartment building’s single-pipe heat supply is the considerable heat loss that occurs during the transportation of hot water. The coolant in this circuit is supplied from the bottom up, goes into the batteries, produces heat, and then exits the pipe again. Hot water used to reach end users living on the higher floors in a barely warm state.

There are times when the one -pipe system is further simplified, trying to increase the temperature of the coolant within radiators. For this, the battery is cut directly into the pipe. As a result, it seems that the radiator is its continuation. But only the first users of the system receive more heat from such a connection, and the water reaches the latter consumers almost cold (read also: “Acardic heating system is the characteristic“). In addition, a single -tube heat supply of an apartment building makes it impossible to adjust the radiators – after a decrease in the supply of coolant in a separate battery, the water flow is also reduced along the entire length of the pipe.

The inability to replace the radiator during the heating season without completely draining the system’s water supply is another drawback of this type of heat supply. Installing jumpers is required in these situations in order to turn off the battery and direct the coolant toward them.

Thus, installing a single-pipe heating system results in savings on the one hand, but also poses significant issues with heat distribution among apartments on the other. It’s winter there, and the people are freezing.

Two -pipe heating system

Two pipes can be used in an apartment building’s open and closed heating system (see photo), allowing you to regulate the coolant temperature in the radiators found in each floor’s apartments. The two-pipe circuit device suggests that hot water that has cooled in a radiator does not return to the original pipe. It goes into what is referred to as the "return" or return channel. Also see "What is the heating system’s elevator node?"

The coolant maintains a consistent temperature throughout its entire journey along the feed pipes, regardless of whether the battery is connected to the riser or sunbed pipe.

The ability to modify an apartment building’s heating system at the level of each individual battery by erecting cranes with thermostats affixed is one of the main benefits of two-pipe water circuits (see also "Adjusting the heating system – details from practice"). Consequently, the apartment makes sure to automatically maintain the appropriate temperature range. Heating radiators can be used in a two-pipe circuit with a lateral or lower connection. Additionally, you can employ passing and dead end coolant movements.

Hot water supply in heating systems

Water is heated in boiler rooms, but DHW is typically centralized in multi-story buildings. Link the hot water supply from the one- and two-pipe sources, as well as the heating contours. Depending on the number of main pipes, the hot water temperature in the morning is either warm or cold when it comes from the tap. When a five-story apartment building with a single pipe heat supply opens its hot crane, cold water initially flows from it for 30 seconds.

The coolant in the pipes cools at night, and it is rare for one of the tenants to have a hot water crane. Since it merges straight into the sewer, there is an excess of superfluous cooled water.

The two-pipe version of the system has continuous hot water circulation, which eliminates any issues with the domestic hot water heater (DHW), unlike the one-pipe version. It is true that some homes have heated towel rails that are hot even in the summer thanks to a riser with pipes and a hot water supply system.

After the heating season is over, a lot of customers are curious about the DHW issue. Sometimes there is a prolonged absence of hot water. The truth is that post-flow tests of heat supply systems must be performed by communal services in order to ensure compliance with apartment building heating regulations (see also: "The act of hydraulic testing of the heating system and pipelines"). Such tasks take time to complete, particularly when damage needs to be repaired.

Testing is done on an apartment building’s entire central heating system during the summer. Utility services turn off individual sections of the heating main while performing overhaul and current work on it. The refurbished thermal highway is once again put through testing on the eve of the impending heating season (further information can be found in "Rules for preparing for the heating season of a residential building").

Specifics of an apartment building’s heating system, as shown in the video:

Radiators for high -rise heating systems

Many people who live in multi-story buildings are accustomed to using cast-iron radiators, which have been around for more than a decade. If necessary, install a similar one in place of the heating battery that the apartment building’s heating system requires. These radiators are thought to be the best option for central heating systems because they can handle pressures up to quite high without experiencing any issues. Two numbers are printed on the cast-iron battery passport: the first one represents the working pressure and the second the test (or assessment) load. These are typically 6/15 or 8/15 values.

The value of working pressure increases with the height of the residential building. It reaches six atmospheres in nine-story buildings, so cast-iron radiators are appropriate for them. However, if it’s a 22-story building, 15 atmospheres are required for the centralized heating systems to function. Steel or bimetallic heating devices are required in this situation.

Experts do not recommend using aluminum radiators for centralized heating – they are not able to withstand the working condition of the water circuit. Professionals also advise owners of real estate during a major overhaul in apartments in case of replacement of batteries to change the pipes of the coolant divorce by ½ or ¾ inch. Usually they are in poor condition and instead of them it is advisable to put ecoplast products.
In some types of radiators (steel and bimetallic) watercrows already than in cast -iron products, so they are clogged and subsequently lose power. Therefore, at the place of supply of the coolant to the battery, the filter should be installed, which is usually mounted in front of the water meter.

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Heating of an apartment building: wiring the coolant and the possibility of switching to autonomous heating

How does a residential building’s heating system operate? The shift to autonomous apartment heating is aided by rising tariffs; however, rejection of central heating in apartment buildings results in a multitude of technical issues in addition to a bureaucratic backlog. It is necessary to visualize a coolant wiring scheme in order to comprehend the methods of their solutions.

We’ll make an effort to ascertain the water’s route to our batteries.

The heating system device

Elevator node

Residential buildings’ heating systems start with the entrance valves that isolate the building from the road. The flange that divides the housing and heater responsibilities is located on their neighbor’s outer wall.

Slightly more in the direction of the home heating circuit are:

• DHW inserts on the supply and reverse pipeline. Implementation can be different: one or two inserts can be present on each pipeline; In the second case, a flange with a retaining puck is mounted between the inserts, which creates the pressure difference to ensure continuous circulation. This is necessary that in the risers of the DHW, the water is hot around the clock, and the heated towel rails were hot from hot heat supply remained hot.

Beneficial: in this instance, it is connected between the inserts on the feed and higher – on the return – in the winter when the feed temperature is below 90 ° C. The hot water supply system circulates from the return to the return during the summer.

• The heating elevator itself is a key node. heating of a multi -storey building. In it, more hot water with a supply due to greater pressure is supplied through the nozzle to the bell and through the suction involves part of the water from the return pipeline into a repeated cycle cycle through the heating circuit. It is the diameter of the nozzle that heating heating is performed in an apartment building – they determine the real difference inside the heating system and the temperature of the mixture, and therefore heating devices.
• House valves allow you to cut off the heating circuit. In winter they are open, overlapping for the summer.
• After them, they are mounted Reset – valve for drainage or to release the system. In some cases, the heating system of a residential building is connected through a valve with a cold water supply system – solely in order to ensure the possibility of filling radiators for the summer with cold water.

One of the elevator node’s most basic schemes.

Pink and risers

Professionals define "rosll" as the direction in which water circulates and as the thick pipe that allows water to enter the risers.

A five-story building’s heating is typically made with a lower outlet. In the basement, the feed and return pipes are split along the exterior of the building. There is a jumper between every pair of risers. The risers are connected at the top, either in the attic or in the apartment on the upper floor.

• Jumper carried out in the attic – evil in its pure. Ensuring the perfect thermal insulation of the attic and maintaining a constant positive temperature in it is almost unrealistic. Any heating stop means that after half an hour in the jumper instead of water is ice.
• At the upper point of the jumper, the airborne is mounted. In typical houses of Soviet construction, it is a simple and extremely fault -tolerant design – the crane of Maevsky.

Since each jumper is illuminated and requires air to be stolen in order for all risers to function normally, the lower outlet is linked to the problematic launch of circulation following each discharge. It is problematic, to put it mildly, to allow locksmiths access to every apartment.

There are two ways to apply the lower rosill. One of the paired risers is not in use in the first scenario, while both risers have heating devices installed in the second.

Soviet nine-story buildings typically have a slightly different heating system because the feed’s output is placed in the attic. Additionally, there is an expansion tank with an aircraft and a valve; one of the two valves cuts off each riser.

Defrosting issues are incredibly rare after the heating is turned off and released:

1. When laying a fantasy with a correct slope and open airborne, all the water from the outer and the upper part of the risers is discarded in a matter of seconds.
2. Despite thermal insulation, the loss of rosllic is large enough to warm the attic even with minimal thermal insulation of the room.
3. Finally, a fantasy-a pipe with a diameter of at least 40-50 millimeters with a large thermal inertia, which even with water without circulation will freeze in no way in five minutes.

There are several characteristics of the upper outline:

• The temperature of the radiators is linearly decreases from floor to floor, which is usually compensated by their large size. It is clear that already a cooled coolant enters the heating devices below; Therefore, heating of the first floor is usually performed with the maximum number of radiator sections or the total area of convectors.

Furthermore, the temperature in a basement is typically lower than that of an apartment. Losses through the ceiling on upper floors are typically significantly higher.

• The heating is very simple: the system is filled; Both house valves open; Then, for a short time, an airborne opens on an expansion tank – and all risers are involved in circulation.
• The discharge of a separate riser, on the contrary, is more complicated and associated with a large number of movements. You first need to find and disable the desired riser in the attic, then find and block the second valve in the basement and, only then unscrew the plug or open the reset.

Private homes with multiple floors are also known to use the scheme with upper outlines.

Heating devices

Two types of heating devices are common in Soviet buildings:

1. Cast iron heating batteries. Huge mass and heat transfer of 140-160 watts per section, not very aesthetic appearance and constant leaks of paronite gaskets between sections have recently made them unpopular in urban apartments.
2. In 80-90, central heating in an apartment building was often mounted steel convectors. The heating device is a round or several turns of the solid pipe of the DU20 (3/4 inch) with transverse plates to increase heat transfer.

Due to the heat transfer, which the builders had very optimistically designed, they had to switch over to radiators in the same 1990s. Because of a lack of funding, the temperature schedule was rarely maintained, and the apartments were extremely cold.

Bimetallic radiators, which consist of an aluminum shell with a developed nut and a core made of corrosion-resistant steel with channels for the passage of water, are currently the standard for heating residential buildings with TSOs. This kind of heating device combines exceptional mechanical strength with excellent heat transfer (up to 200 watts per section), despite the section’s relatively high price of 500–700 rubles.

Aluminum’s thermal conductivity and steel strength are combined in a bimetallic radiator.

One thing to keep in mind when installing heating devices yourself is this: if there are any throttling reinforcing valves (throttle, valve, thermostatic head) in front of the radiator, there should be a jumper closer to the riser in front of them.

What is the purpose of this instruction? Because your throttle, not your radiator, but rather the riser, will control your vehicle’s cross-country capability in the event of a jumper shortage. Your neighbors will be pleased if you do that.

Temperature regime

Regarding the temperatures inside the home, there are several guidelines and conventions.

• The following temperature standards are laid in SNiP: living rooms – 20C, corner – 22C, kitchen – 18C, bathroom and combined bathroom – 25C. It is better to focus on them and if you plan to switch to autonomous heating.
• In no engineering communication inside a residential building, the temperature should not exceed 95 degrees. For preschool educational institutions, the norm is even lower – 37 degrees. That is why in the groups of the kindergarten you can see batteries of such a nightmare.

Limiting the coolant temperature in kindergartens is related to the quantity and size of heating devices.

Nevertheless, there might be 140C for feeding in the main heating system at the same time.

How to cut heating

In an apartment building, how can one refuse heating?

We will only address a portion of the documentary. The issue is excruciating; organizations grudgingly grant resolutions for disconnection from the Central Department Store, and frequently legal action is required to force a resolution. It’s possible that a legal consultation will be far more beneficial in your situation than a technical article.

The following are the primary stages:

1. We clarify if there is a technical opportunity to turn off. It is at this stage that the majority of friction will have: neither housing and communal services, nor heat suppliers like to lose payers.
2. Technical conditions are being prepared for an autonomous heating system. You need to calculate the approximate gas consumption (if you are heated by it) and show that you are able to provide a temperature regime in the apartment safe for the building structures.
3. The act of fire supervision is signed.
4. If you plan to install a boiler with a closed burner and the removal of combustion products to the facade of the building – you will need a permit signed by the sanitary and epidemiological supervision.
5. The licensed installation organization is hired to draw up a project. You will need a full package of documents – from instructions to the boiler to a copy of the license of the installers.
6. After the installation is completed, the gas service representative is invited to connect the boiler and its first launch.
7. Last stage: you put the boiler for permanent service and notify the transition to individual heating organization-supplier of gas.

The process is extremely intricate. Frequently, a single counter will be installed as a compromise.

Technical side

The reason for heating refusal in an apartment building is that all heating devices must be dismantled without interfering with the heating system’s operation. How is it carried out?

It makes sense to keep two cases apart in homes with a lower outlet:

• If you live on the top floor, you will receive the consent of the lower neighbors and transfer the jumper between the paired risers to their apartment. Thus, you are completely isolate yourself from TSO. Of course, you will have to pay for welding, and installation of an airborne, and the cosmetic repair of the ceiling from neighbors.
• On the middle floor, only heating devices are dismantled, with welding and cutting the plates. A jumper of the same diameter crashes into the riser as the rest of the pipe. Then the riser along the entire length is thoroughly thermal insulation.

Note that your obligation to provide housing and communal services for access to the riser passing through your apartment at the first request does not change if the TSO is rejected.

Events unfold in the upper outline case in accordance with the second scenario. Risers for the heating system will even cross your apartment’s top floor before connecting with an upstairs rose (see the article "Heating project and features of its compilation" for more information).

Everything is easy if you live on the top floor of a home with a lower outlet and a non-residential room underneath you. In the picture, the risers have already been removed. The last step is to attach a jumper to an airborne.

It’s critical for tenants to comprehend how an apartment building’s heating system works in order to guarantee efficiency and comfort during the winter.

First things first, it’s important to understand that most apartment buildings have centralized heating systems. This indicates that heat is produced for the entire building by a single heating source, such as a boiler or furnace. From there, a system of pipes distributes the steam or hot water to different units.

The affordability of central heating is one of its main benefits. When the heating source is shared by several units, less energy is used overall, which lowers residents’ utility bills when compared to individual heating systems.

Still, there are drawbacks to this system. As different residents may have different heating preferences, temperature regulation can be an issue. Furthermore, all units may be impacted simultaneously by a central heating system malfunction or maintenance need, which could cause discomfort for the occupants.

All things considered, knowing the workings of an apartment building’s heating system gives residents the power to decide how best to use and conserve energy. Maintaining a comfortable living environment while reducing energy costs and environmental impact can be achieved by collaborating with building management and other residents.