Chimney inspection in Kazan: the flow of air into the apartment must be provided by all available means

Representatives of the city and republican media were shown how the chimneys and ventilation are being serviced.

(KZN.RU, February 13, Alsu Safina). In Kazan, it is planned to inspect the status of smoke removal and ventilation systems of 2238 apartment buildings equipped with geysers and double-circuit boilers with open combustion chambers throughout the year. Representatives of the city, republican, and federal media learned about the maintenance of chimneys and ventilation in such houses today during the press tour.

A scheduled inspection took place today in the apartment of Nina Medvedeva, which is located in one of the houses on Sara Sadykova Street. The house for 80 apartments, built in 1966, is equipped with metering stations for heating, cold water supply, gas boilers. Maintenance of chimneys and ventilation in the house is carried out by the specialists of OOO TsGV “Zhilischnik”. Sergey Klyuchnikov, the chief engineer of this organization, said that during the scheduled inspection, the air flow rate in the ducts and chimneys is measured. A special device is used for this: an anemometer, it can also be used to determine the air temperature in the room. The anemometer showed that the air flow rate in the chimney in the apartment of Nina Medvedeva is 1.3 m/s, in the ventilation duct - 1.7 m/s. “This is more than enough for the further safe operation of gas appliances”, said the specialist.

According to him, the residents of the house can check whether there is air flow in the ventilation themselves with the help of a regular piece of paper. If it keeps tightly near the ventilation window, then the ventilation works, if it falls, then the apartment has problems with air circulation. “This is also a possible verification method. But for a more thorough examination, it is better to use special devices. The anemometer allows determining whether there is enough fresh air in the apartment for the operation of gas equipment or not”, added Sergey Klyuchnikov.

In case of poor air flow, it is possible to set the window in the micro-ventilation mode or install special valves in the plastic windows. “We need to organize the flow of air into the apartment by all means available to the tenant”, said the experts.

Sergey Klyuchnikov said that chimney check in this house is carried out regularly once a quarter, ventilation check – once a year. The fact that such checks occur periodically, has been confirmed by the apartment owner.

Cases of poisoning of residents of apartment buildings with carbon monoxide, unfortunately, not uncommon. Thus, 6 such cases were recorded in Kazan only in one and a half months of this year, 15 people were injured. For comparison, last year there were 4 similar cases, 18 people were injured due to carbon monoxide poisoning. At the same time, the most dangerous period is the winter months, when the windows in the apartments are closed most of the time.

All these cases occurred in apartments equipped with a gas column with open combustion chambers, and the main cause of poisoning was the lack of proper air circulation during the operation of gas equipment. The reverse side of modern warm and soundproof plastic windows and doors with gaskets was the lack of air flow. Ruslan Fatykhov, the head engineer of the management company “Stary Gorod” said, in such houses as №7 on Sary aSadykova Street, plenum valves are provided in each kitchen under the windows. Such valves can be seen on the facade of the house. However, during the repair, the tenants close these valves fr om the inside with plaster, stick them with wallpaper, which also disrupts the flow of air into the apartment.

Along with quarterly inspections, experts in the maintenance and repair of chimneys and ventilation can come to residents on the request left to the management company. Applications are also accepted in the system “Open Kazan”. This year, Kazan residents complained 1081 times about the malfunctioning of ventilation and chimneys. For the same period of 2018, 708 complaints were received by the system in this category (5084 for whole 2018).

Iskander Giniyatullin, the deputy head of the Executive Committee on housing and communal services, reminded that this year. it was decided to allocate the maintenance and repair of ventilation and chimneys to a separate type of service. It will include an instrumental examination of chimneys, their regular inspection, current and emergency repairs. From July 1, a separate tariff is set for the maintenance and repair of ventilation and chimneys: 30 and 55 kopecks per square meter, respectively. Before this, the provision of these services was not charged, maintenance and repair of ventilation and chimneys were carried out to the detriment of the volume of current repairs of the other building elements.

At the same time, the amount of payment is approved for tenants of municipal housing and for houses wh ere the owners did not choose a management method and did not decide to establish the amount of payment for the maintenance of their property. Owners of premises in apartment buildings who do not agree with the tariffs approved by the Executive Committee may determine the amount of payment for their house with the necessary list of services.

Since 2238 apartment buildings, equipped with geysers and double-circuit boilers with open combustion chambers, cause the greatest concern, they will be checked first of all. This work presumably will take about 1 year, clarified the deputy head of the Executive Committee. Based on the results of the inspection, decisions will be made either on the organization of repair of the canals or on the replacement of gas columns with individual devices for boiling water.

“We expect to achieve and ensure the safe living of citizens”, said I. Giniyatullin.