The key facts

  • The standard is not the radiator temperature but the air in the room: no lower than +18°C, and in corner rooms no lower than +20°C (Government Decree of the Russian Federation No. 354).
  • Causes of cold may lie in the heat supply point, the building's internal heating system, or the building envelope structures.
  • The first step is to contact the management company to request an official temperature measurement with a formal report.

Heat is in the network, but not in the apartment

Increasing the temperature of the heat carrier in city networks does not mean that radiators in all apartments will immediately become hotter. Between the heating network and the living space there is a heat supply point, the building's internal heating system, and radiators; problems can occur at any of these stages, preventing heat from reaching the apartment. This is how the situation was explained by Aleksey Filileev, General Director of the PGS Center for Construction Expertise,a judicial expert and construction engineer.

What to check: radiators or air

The expert emphasized that standards are set not for radiator temperatures but for the air in the room: according to Government Decree of the Russian Federation No. 354, the temperature in a living room must be no lower than +18°C, and in a corner room no lower than +20°C. Therefore, moderately warm radiators alone do not indicate a violation if the air temperature meets the standard. However, if the risers and radiators are not heating up sufficiently, the cause may be an imbalance in the heating system, blockages, or malfunction of the heat supply point.

When the walls are to blame, not the pipes

If the radiators are hot but the apartment remains cold, according to Filileev, one should check the condition of the building envelope structures: walls, inter-panel joints, window units, and insulation. In such cases, an instrumental inspection is conducted, including the use of a thermal imaging camera, which identifies areas of freezing, thermal bridges, and structural defects. Such an inspection is especially relevant for apartments where heating problems recur year after year.

What the owner should do

If the temperature in the apartment is below the standard, the owner must contact the management company and demand an official temperature measurement with a formal report. If the problem is not resolved, the results of an independent inspection and an expert conclusion can serve as evidence when making claims against the management company, and in case of construction defects in a new building, against the developer, the expert concluded. The publication's material also reminds that previously Russians learned where to file complaints about poor heating.