Heating standards in the apartment during the heating season

At the end of the Indian summer, on the eve of the onset of cold weather, we begin to impatiently think about how to keep such a fragile and precious warmth in our homes. The cold outside, the uncomfortable microclimate at home due to the lack of heating, the rapidly declining daylight hours — these and many other factors become the causes of frequent colds and lack of sleep. Many negative phenomena for our well-being are associated with the usual discrepancy between the air temperature on the street, with the temperature regime in residential premises and at work. We are trying, by looking at the thermometer inside the apartment, to remember what the temperature should be in a city apartment when the heating season begins.

A sufficiently low temperature in a house or apartment in the absence of heat on the street is a frequent and well-known phenomenon to us, especially in the off-season. In many respects, this situation is explained by the poor thermal efficiency of apartment buildings, which were built back in Soviet times and make up the lion’s share of the housing stock in almost all settlements. The issue of saving energy resources then was not as acute as it is now.

What are the norms for heating in an apartment that exist today. What figures do we have to focus on today, in what conditions should we live in our apartments? We will try to find an objective answer to these questions.

What is the actual temperature should be in our apartments

In theory, in accordance with long-term scientific calculations, the temperature in our apartments should be at around 20-25⁰ Celsius. From a medical point of view, it is generally accepted that each person has his own temperature comfort threshold. One likes when the apartment is only +16-18⁰C, another likes it when the apartment is hot and the thermometer shows 23-25⁰C. In order to achieve a comfortable temperature regime inside the apartment, it is necessary to take into account many factors, among which there are both purely technical and technological, as well as social and household ones.

One of the aspects that is of decisive importance for the temperature standards inside residential premises is the sick building syndrome. The poor condition of engineering communications, the unsatisfactory condition of technological premises and the main structural elements of the building can cause a decrease in the level of comfort in an apartment building.

The figure shows what effect is achieved from the insulation of the outer walls of the dwelling.

Important! In order to make your home comfortable, to create a cozy microclimate inside each room, you need to take care of the normal operation of the heating system in the house, provide yourself with additional sources of heating. In order to achieve maximum effect, you need to properly prepare your apartment for the onset of cold weather. External insulation of panels, insulation of window and door openings are measures that increase the thermal efficiency of an apartment by 20-25%.

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If we talk about the factors that affect the temperature in your home, then you need to consider the following:

• climatic features of the area in which you live;
• the intensity of the change of seasons;
• age and personal preferences of the inhabitants of the apartment.

The norm of temperature in a residential building in each region of our country varies. For the northern regions of SanPiN (sanitary rules and norms) are the same, for the middle lane and the southern regions they are completely different. The climate is always different and this applies not only to air temperature, but also to the level of humidity in the area, atmospheric pressure. For example, for more humid southern regions, temperature standards are higher.

The temperature in the apartment is influenced by seasonality. For the middle zone of our country, the optimum temperature in a residential area in winter is 19-22 ⁰C, in summer — 22-25⁰C. Despite the fact that the difference does not seem significant, even small changes in temperature affect the state of our body.

The main task of temperature control in residential premises is to create a comfort zone for the inhabitants of a city apartment. Human preferences do not always satisfy the correct, from a medical point of view, temperature regime. Superheated, dry air, as well as excessively cool air in a residential area, can adversely affect our condition.

For those families in which there is a small child, the temperature in the apartment in winter should be stable. The optimal temperature regime for any room in this situation is 20-23⁰C. In summer, these standards should be within the same limits. The main reason for this temperature balance is that young children, especially infants, do not have a natural self-regulation of body temperature. The child either overheats quickly in a hot room, or cools down quickly in a cool room.

Important! Large differences in temperature balance in different rooms should not be allowed.

The temperature standards in the apartment are established by the Rules for the provision of public services, approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 354 dated May 06, 2011.

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On a note: These standards set a lower temperature limit of +18⁰C, while not a word is said about the upper limit. We choose the upper mark of acceptable temperature ourselves, focusing on our own preferences and feelings.

We study the existing temperature standards for our apartment

Why is it cold in our apartment? There may be several true reasons for such a problem, not only a poor heating system is the main reason for insufficiently comfortable indoor temperatures in winter. A cool microclimate in an apartment may occur due to the following aspects:

• discrepancy between the temperature and pressure of the coolant at the entrance to the house with the calculated parameters;
• poor patency of engineering communications in the house;
• differences in SNiPs, in accordance with which in different years the construction of residential apartment buildings was carried out, the laying of engineering communications was carried out.

In the table you can see the temperature parameters that are approved by the current SNiP 2.1.2 1002-00.

The temperature in the apartment

Room type	t air, C	Resulting t, С	Humidity, %	Air movement, m/s
Autumn-winter period
Living room	18-24	17-23	60	0.2
The same parameters in regions with the coldest five-day period (-31 0C and below)	20-24	19-23	60	0.2
Kitchen	18-26	17-25	n/n*	0.2
bathroom	18-26	17-25	n/n	0.2
Bathroom, shared bathroom	18-26	17-26	n/n	0.2
Area	16-22	15-21	60	0.2
Staircase, vestibule	14-20	13-19	n/n	0.2
Storerooms, mezzanines	12-22	11-21	n/n	n/n

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Evaluating the information obtained from the table, we can draw the following conclusion.

In an ordinary city apartment, in ordinary rooms, the minimum temperature threshold in winter is set at around 18⁰C. Corner rooms should be somewhat better heated. In them, the temperature should not fall below 20 degrees Celsius. For the bathroom, the highest parameter is +25⁰FROM.

To create such a temperature regime in an apartment, the standards for heating in a city apartment assume the temperature of the district heating batteries at a level of: at least 35 ⁰C and not more than 95⁰C. Ideally, the batteries in the apartment should have a temperature in the range of 50-70⁰FROM.

Important! At night, slight fluctuations in temperature are allowed due to a sharp decrease in the temperature of the atmospheric air.

SanPiN establishes a time frame under which an apartment may not be heated in winter — no more than 24 hours a month, while the one-time absence of heat in the batteries should not exceed 16 hours in a row.

The official opinion of experts on the temperature standards for housing facilities that exist today can be seen by watching the proposed video.

The norms that we considered are the starting point for residents of apartment buildings. On their basis, an optimal heating option is developed in the apartment, the normal operation of residential buildings and premises is maintained. If any of the specified parameters does not correspond to the norm, you can safely contact the management company, the organization — the supplier of thermal resources, the housing office or the housing inspectorate.