The general house heat meter: installation and verification

All meters are divided into two types: individual and collective (common house) counters. An individual metering device is equipment that takes into account your personal consumption of resources. The collective (common house) heat metering device considers the consumption of the communal resource of the residential building as a whole, including, among other things, general house needs.

In accordance with the Law No. 261-FZ "On energy saving and on improving energy efficiency and on the adjustment of certain legislative acts of the Russian Federation", owners and tenants of apartment houses are required to install common heat metering devices (the law was adopted in November 2009).

Purpose of collective counters

Installation of this type of equipment has the following objectives:

• The payment is calculated on the basis of the actual heat energy consumption.
• Uniform distribution of the amount of payments between tenants with respect to each individual apartment building.
• Responsibility for the common property is transferred to the inhabitants of the residential building.

Main Types of Collective Counters

When choosing a common house heat metering device, it is necessary to take into account its design features and installation specifics. There are four main types of these devices.

Tacheometric

This is a fairly simple device, the design of which provides the following elements:

• The calculator of the amount of thermal energy.
• The calculator of the volume of the coolant, which is of the wing or mechanical type.

It is worth such a device is relatively inexpensive, but for its operation requires the presence of an additional filter that protects the common house heat meter and the whole heating system from all kinds of pollution.

disadvantages

Also worth paying attention to the shortcomings of these meters. They are not suitable for use if there is a high level of hardness circulating in the water system. Another negative aspect that may affect the installation of this equipment is the presence of various impurities in the coolant.

All these conditions can lead to frequent clogging of the filter, which causes a decrease in the level of the coolant pressure. For this reason, meters of this type, as a rule, are used in private homes.

Advantages

The main advantage of tacheometric equipment is its ability to function with a special battery for 5 years. In addition, these devices can be used in rooms with high humidity. While the risk of damage to the main elements is minimized, as the design does not provide for electronic components.

Electromagnetic

The common-house electronic heat metering device operates by means of the formation of an electric current in it as a result of passing through the heat-carrier magnetic field. This circumstance necessitates constant maintenance of the unit, and its installation requires the artist to be professional and competent.

Untimely preventive maintenance can provoke contamination of the flowmeter, which as a result will affect the readings of the meter. The occurrence of this problem is due to the presence of iron in the coolant and poor-quality connections in the wiring.

Compliance with all operating requirements is a guarantee of high-quality and trouble-free operation. It is important to note that the readings of the general-purpose electromagnetic energy meter are very accurate.

Vortex

In this case, the operation of a device of this type is associated with the appearance of a vortex, with respect to the obstacle in the path of the coolant motion. In this case, the frequency of appearance of such vortices depends on the amount of the passing coolant. The installation of the common heat meter can be carried out both on horizontal and vertical pipelines, but on condition that there is a straight section of the pipe in front of the meter and after it.

Equipment of this type consumes a small amount of energy, on one battery it can function for five years.

Vortex counters negatively react to large impurities in the coolant and pressure drops. Therefore, for the qualitative operation of the unit, a special measure is the installation of a special filter.

It is important to note that the presence of iron in the coolant and the deposits in the pipelines in no way affect the accuracy of the readings. Also this device is equipped with a specialized interface, which allows the management company to take readings of common heat meters for heat energy remotely. In addition, this application sends messages that alert you of any malfunctions. This circumstance guarantees timely intervention of the relevant service, which will promptly eliminate the arising troubles.

Ultrasonic Counter

The principle of operation of this device is based on the passage of a special ultrasonic signal through the coolant flow. The transmission time of the signal is directly related to the velocity of the fluid.

For those who install a common house heat meter of this type, it is necessary to know the conditions of its operation:

• Constancy of pressure.
• Absence of air in the system.
• The maximum level of purity of the circulating fluid.
• Absence of deposits on the walls of pipelines.

The presence of these factors will ensure the efficient operation of the meter, which will show undistorted results.

The operation of this type of equipment may require the installation of additional elements that will ensure the supply of coolant through different channels.

Organization of heat energy accounting

The procedure for installing a common house heat meter:

• Obtaining technical specifications for the development of the project.
• Design and installation of the meter.
• Commissioning.
• Operation of the meter, including regular taking of indications and their use for calculation.
• Verification of common house heat metering devices, as well as their repair and replacement.

Installation of a house-count meter

• To begin with, it is necessary to organize a meeting of tenants of apartments and owners in order to make decisions about installing a collective counter.
• To apply with the decision on installation of the collective counter and its payment to the organization on management of employers and proprietors of apartments.
• The managing organization, in turn, must apply to the resource-supplying company for the issuance of technical specifications, in accordance with which the design and installation of a common house heat meter will be carried out.
• The management company, with the financing of tenants and apartment owners, installs a contract for the development of design documentation with a specialized organization to install the meter.
• After receiving the project documentation, the management company sends it for approval to the resource and supply organization and, if approved, establishes a collective common house heat meter and then allows it to be used.

Commissioning

The established collective counter allows for commission commission consisting of:

• A representative from the company, which carried out the installation and commissioning of equipment put into operation.
• Representative of the consumer.
• Representative of the company that supplies thermal energy.

The commission should be created by the owner of the thermal node. During commissioning commission checks the following:

• Availability of passports, factory seals and certificates of verification.
• Correspondence of the design documentation of the constituent elements of the thermal node.
• Compliance with the allowed temperature charts, measurement ranges and hydraulic operating modes, the values of the parameters determined by the conditions of connection to the heating system and the contract.
• Compliance of the characteristics of the measuring instruments with the characteristics specified in the device's passport.

In the absence of comments, the commission must sign the act of commissioning a meter installed by the consumer. This document is the basis for keeping a record of the coolant on the meter, heat energy, quality control and heat consumption mode using the data received from the moment of signing the document.

Sealing

After the signing of the act of commissioning, the thermal node is sealed. The seals are made:

• Representative of the consumer.
• Representative of the heat supply company, if the heating node belongs to the consumer.

Checking

The meters are subjected to a primary inspection by the manufacturer before they go on sale. Confirmation of this procedure is the presence of the following elements:

• Recording, which is available on the unit, as well as in the passport to it.
• Special sticker.
• Stamp.

After a certain period, the next check is performed. Before every heating season and after another repair or check of the metering devices, the readiness of the heat unit for operation is checked. As a result, an act of checking the heat point at the interface of the adjacent network is compiled.

After commissioning, tenants and apartment owners must carry out energy saving measures: installation of springs and door closers on the entrance doors, warming of windows, doors, etc.

Maintenance

Maintenance of the meter consists in maintaining the thermal equipment in an efficient state, regular inspection, elimination of the causes affecting wear and tear, checking the operation of the primary converters on the return and supply pipelines of the heating network, checking the correct operation of the meter, checking the operation and the circuits of the thermal resistance transducers, A weekly printout of the testimony for the analysis and development of recommendations for maintaining the necessary temperature, and much more.

If necessary, dismantling (removal and deactivation) of faulty devices and re-installation of the meter after secondary inspection and repair are carried out during the maintenance process.

The common house heat meter: how to pay

The calculation of payment is quite simple and consists of several stages:

• The cost of heating one m ^{2 is} determined. To do this, the meter should be multiplied by the current tariff and divided by the area of all the premises heated in the house.
• Then the share of each individual apartment is calculated. For this purpose, the total area of the premises (including entrances, cellars, attics) is multiplied by the result obtained during the division of the total area of the apartment into the total area of all non-residential premises and apartments. Thus, you get a common indicator of the area of all the premises that is accounted for by your apartment.
• The area of the apartment is composed of the area that makes up your share of the premises. The resulting number must be multiplied by the cost of heating one m ² .