Who is to blame if the heating pipe in the apartment burst and the neighbors were flooded?

All apartment buildings are equipped with the necessary risers: sewer, heating and water supply. A breakthrough of one of them can lead to negative consequences affecting several apartments at once. The rupture of risers of heating systems is especially dangerous. How should you react if a heating riser bursts? If you change the batteries in the apartment, find out at whose expense the repairs should be made.

First you need to find out the reason for the breakthrough of the heating risers in an apartment building. Sometimes the residents themselves may be directly or indirectly responsible for the rupture of the pipe.

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The main reasons for the rupture of the heating riser pipe

1. A sharp change in pressure in pipes, or water hammer. The presence of water hammer is signaled by the appearance of extraneous noise in the system (clicks, taps).
2. Incorrectly designed heating system, poor-quality pipe installation.
3. Deterioration of pipes and components, their untimely replacement.
4. Mechanical damage to the pipeline or batteries.
5. Defects of the used heating devices.

Lawyers divide the reasons for the rupture of risers into two groups: intra-house and intra-apartment. This makes it easier to find the responsible parties for these types of accidents. The heating system of an apartment building includes:

• piping and radiators heating more than one apartment,
• gate valves (inlet) located in the basement,
• shut-off and control valves,
• filters designed for water purification,
• instruments showing pressure in pipes (manometers),
• general house heat meters,
• pump,
• boiler (if any).

All of this applies to common property.

Important! From what time the breakthrough occurred: during the operation of the heating system or out of season, the further actions of the affected persons depend.

Heating system failures outside the heating season

It would seem that after the end of the heating season, the heating system cannot present any "tricks", since the coolant does not circulate in the system, therefore, there is no reason for the destruction of communications. And if in the summer someone tells you that the heating pipe has broken in the house, then this fact may well take place.

After all, heat supply organizations after each heating season carry out hydraulic tests of networks in order to identify problem areas and eliminate them in the warm period of time before the onset of cold weather.

To exclude such cases, the coolant supply system (from the district heating unit to residential high-rise buildings) provides for protection. With its help, consumers are temporarily disconnected from the supply lines, for which valves are installed in each house.

Rupture of a cast iron battery due to water hammer

However, if the notorious "human factor" intervenes, and during the hydraulic tests the internal networks are involved in the process, then a breakthrough in the heating system and subsequent flooding is inevitable.

This happens due to the mechanical destruction of the supply pipes or a radiator inside the apartment, which cannot withstand high pressure during hydraulic tests.

If a similar situation arises, the apartment is flooded with water, which was filled with the internal heating system for the summer period.

In such a situation, the algorithm is as follows:

1. notify the management company of the incident;
2. to fix the fact of the accident by drawing up an Act of filling the proper form with the involvement of employees of the HOA or housing office, as well as neighbors in its preparation;
3. fix the consequences of flooding on video and a camera;
4. start saving personal belongings.

Advice!

Do not rush to eliminate the consequences, since it will not be possible to find the perpetrators of the incident on your own, then the most correct option for the further actions of the injured residents would be to go to court.

And for this, you should draw up an expert assessment from a qualified appraiser, which will serve as proof of your material claims against the guilty party in court.

Conclusions:

• If the accident occurred outside the heating season, then it is definitely the fault of either the management company or the district heating center, which did not control the shutdown of your house during the hydraulic tests. In this situation, one should not rush to remove the consequences of the flood, so that experts can fix the damage to property in their conclusion.
• If such an incident happened during the heating season, then the first place comes to liquidating a leak or a breakthrough, because, unlike tests, the supply of the coolant is constant, which means that your apartment will be flooded until the tap on the riser in the basement is closed at home.

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What to do if the accident happened during the heating season?

Who is to blame if the heating riser burst? If you find breakthroughs inside the house: flooding of basements, staircases or entrances, you should immediately call the emergency service. The phone call recorded by the operator is the actual proof of a breakdown. The arrived specialists will stop the water supply. Replacing the heating risers in the apartment in this case is the responsibility of the management company (MC).

If the misfortune happened directly in the apartment, then you must:

1. Find out where the water is coming from. The place of the coolant leak can be one or several floors higher.
2. Report the accident to the UK.
3. Disconnect electricity.
4. Call a plumber and help him stop flooding (provide access to the apartment).
5. Notify the insurance company (if the apartment is insured).
6. Draw up, together with representatives of the Criminal Code and neighbors, an act of flooding, sign it. The act must contain detailed information about the location of the breakthrough and the extent of the damage caused. If the cause of the leak is indicated incorrectly in the document or it is difficult to establish, please note it in writing. Sometimes an independent expert opinion is required to identify the root causes of flooding.
7. Capture the damage done with a camera, mobile phone or camcorder. If the case comes to trial, extra evidence will not interfere. Shooting begins from the street so that the entrance to the building is visible. The presence of witnesses is encouraged, they can be asked to certify the signature of the Act of shooting.
8. Sketch the flooded premises and the damaged section of the pipeline.
9. Invite a specialist to assess the damage.

The components of the in-house heating system are:

• pipes,
• risers,
• connection points (threaded),
• radiators.

Important! Unauthorized change by the home owner of any parts of the heating structure imposes on him responsibility for their technical condition.

Before changing pipes or batteries, it is recommended to write an application for replacing the heating riser, take it to the Criminal Code and obtain written permission.

Employees of the Criminal Code must regularly conduct a technical inspection of the heating system in apartments and write out an appropriate act.

Algorithm of actions

Since it is impossible to predict such an incident and prepare for it, many apartment owners simply get lost and do not take any action to eliminate the source of flooding.

What to do if the heating pipe in the apartment bursts? - everything is pretty simple. The following recommendations of specialists must be followed:

1. Turn off the tap that separates the battery or the wiring of the apartment's heating system from the common riser. In most cases, this faucet is installed next to water meters. After closing it, the water pressure will no longer flow into the pipes of the apartment, and therefore the flood will be eliminated.
2. Call the housing office and call a plumber. This option is relevant only for a working day. On weekends, it's best to call the emergency services. The required phone numbers can be seen in the receipt of payment for water supply services, in the telephone directory, and they are often also available on special information stands at the entrance.
3. Move all valuables and equipment as far away from the broken pipe as possible. First of all, this concerns the included equipment, which can cause a short circuit and even a fire.
4. Try to eliminate or minimize the leak yourself.

Attention! You shouldn't sit back and wait for the masters to arrive. It is important to start wiping off water from all surfaces and strive to protect the property from serious damage as soon as a pipe break is detected.
Experts distinguish between the following two types of breakouts:

What to do if the accident happened in the summer

In the warm season, water from heating systems is usually drained, so there is no need to wait for breaks. However, when the coolant is drained and started, in April - May or in August - September, most of the ruptures occur.

The Criminal Code is obliged to warn residents about the beginning of preventive work or hydraulic tests. Having received such news, it is advisable to ensure the presence of one of the household members in the apartment within the specified period of time. They will be able to immediately see the leak and overlap the heating riser.

To minimize the number of breakouts at this time, special valves are installed in houses to turn off the heating riser. However, leaks and breaks do occur. Then it is necessary:

1. Notify the Criminal Code.
2. Confirm the emergency by documenting, drawing up an appropriate act in the presence of the staff of the UO and neighbors.
3. Take photos and videos of what happened.
4. Tidy up the apartment.
5. Change the heating riser.

If the heating system in a private house has burst

No less relevant may also be the question of what can be done if there is a heating breakthrough in a private house. First of all, in this case, it is necessary to shut off the pump that circulates water in the system. In this case, the water pressure will be significantly weakened. As soon as the water pressure has been normalized, you can take care of the substitution of buckets or basins. It may even be possible to drain all the water from the system in this way. It will also be necessary to turn off the heating boiler - in order to cool the pipes and the water itself as quickly as possible.

Circulation pumps are devices whose main functions are to pump liquid substances. They are installed when it is necessary to provide forced circulation or recirculation of liquids; they are widely used in heating, cooling, and air conditioning systems.

Finally, the methods described above can be proposed as a temporary solution. But at the same time, one should not forget that these are just temporary methods. In this case, serious repair of the pipe cannot be avoided. Indeed, in winter, sitting in a house without heating is still a pleasure.

Causes of accidents and behavior when it occurs

A heating battery can break through at any time: during the heating season of apartments, and in the summer, when there is no need for this. In winter, you need to be careful during such an accident, because the water temperature in the batteries is very high (above 55 ° C). Therefore, there is a risk of getting serious burns (it is for this purpose that it is not recommended to put beds, especially for children, in the immediate vicinity of heating systems). In the summer, when the heating is turned off, public utilities prepare the system for the winter period of its "operation", carry out preventive maintenance, driving water through the system under strong pressure.

Most often, a breakthrough of heating batteries is caused by:

• poor condition of the pipes themselves due to their long-term operation, improper installation, errors in operation;
• their damage under strong pressure during summer prophylaxis.

It is important to quickly understand the cause of the accident, it is from it that the further behavior of the one in whose apartment the break occurred will depend.

If the heating battery breaks during the season, proceed as follows:

1. Identify the place of the gap (in your apartment or in your neighbor's).
2. Report the incident to the house management (during the day), emergency service (even at night), directly to the management company. For this, the numbers of services should always be in an accessible place, more often a list of all services for different types of accidents hangs in the entrances. It is better in advance, at the first time after purchasing an apartment, to fix these "fire" numbers and keep them at hand, so as not to waste time searching for them at the X-hour.
3. Do not try to stop the leak yourself. Hot water flows through the heating pipes, an attempt to stop the flow is fraught with burns. Such actions must be entrusted to specialists. Therefore, you should not interfere with their work.
4. The fact of the accident should be recorded by photographing and filming.
5. After the elimination of the accident, it is necessary to fix the damage to property that followed as soon as possible. The earlier the commission examination is carried out, the more reliable its results will be. Based on the results of the inspection, an act is issued.
6. For reliability, in case of doubts about the act of the commission, you can organize an independent assessment of the damage (paid service).
7. Look for the culprit.

To check the batteries in the summer, when the system is empty, there is no water in it, prevent pipe ruptures. For this, cold water is supplied under high pressure through pipes. If the battery is damaged or the pressure has been applied too high, the pipe may burst. This should be reported immediately to the building management / emergency service to stop the procedure. In order to avoid such a "surprise" about the preventive maintenance of the heating system, the Criminal Code informs in advance and asks to be in the apartment, if possible, in a specific period of time. Timely finding the problem and replacing the pipe or repairing it will help avoid a breakthrough during the heating season, when its power is more destructive. Repair in this case is carried out by the Criminal Code at its own expense.

What's the first thing to do?

If the heating battery has burst, then the first thing to do: turn off the water and try to remove the water that has already poured into the room... You will need to figure out what happened and where to call later.

Step-by-step action plan:

1. Substitute any volumetric container under the stream of boiling water. Better plastic, because if you use metal, it will simply heat up to 80-95% degrees, which will make it impossible to transfer the container normally (to drain the collected water). We recommend using a plastic basin or a baby bath.
2. After installing the container, be sure to leave someone on duty so that he can constantly take out the drained water. Ideally, use two containers, using them alternately (while we drain from one, we are typing into the other).
3. While everyone is busy collecting and draining the boiling water, someone must run into the basement and turn off the central valve of the heating system.You need to do this as quickly as possible, before you flood your neighbors in the riser.
4. After closing the central valve, you need to call the emergency brigade of plumbers or utilities.

The consequence of a breakthrough can be flooding of neighbors and if the fault lies with you, the court will exact a huge amount of money.

The situation is different if there is no one to help you. Then, after placing the container under a stream of hot water from a bursting battery, you must immediately call the emergency service. Then ask the neighbors to turn off the valve in the basement of the house.

Where to call?

If you find even small leaks from the pipes of the heating system or radiator, urgently contact the service company.

It is impossible to eliminate the radiator leak on your own - for this you need to turn it off and drain the entire riser. In the event of a malfunction of the Mayevsky crane, do not engage in amateur activities either - you need to contact a service company.

What to do in case of a breakthrough in an individual heating system? (+ video)

The action plan for a battery breakthrough in an individual heating system is as follows:

• do not try to collect water in plastic containers or close the central valve - you need to turn off the circulation pump so that the water does not continue to flow under pressure;
• place the container under the breakout to collect the remaining water;
• be sure to turn off the valve on the boiler and close the central valve connected to the supply or discharge pipe;
• Throw rags on the floor to catch any run-off water.

Determination of the blame for the pipe break

After a complete or partial solution of the problem, in any case, the owner must ask himself who is to blame for the pipe break.

While investigating this problem, you should know:

1. The pipes running to the nearest crane from the riser are under the jurisdiction of the organization serving the residential building, regardless of its nominal status. Residents should be directly responsible for all other pipes, not excluding sewer pipes.
2. When a heating pipe has burst, responsibility may lie either with the management company (if it was notified by the owner of the replacement of heating circuit elements), or with the owner of the apartment - if he did not notify about the repair or replacement of radiators and heating pipes.

Simple ways to eliminate the breakthrough of water supply and heat supply pipes

When the pipe burst - what to do needs to be decided, first of all assessing the scale of the trouble.

There is a slight leak or individual drops

Several techniques can be used to resolve this situation.

The first option, when just a little dripping from the pipe, is to build an imitation of a clamp on your own.

To do this, you will need the following materials:

• a small elastic band (a gasket cut from a piece of material, a part of a rubber glove, a piece of a bicycle tube) or in general any one that can stretch without losing its integrity and retaining its waterproofing properties, material;
• piece of wire;
• striped fabric;
• tool - wrench or screwdriver;
• tin plate.

In addition to making a clamp, a rubber band from a pharmacy is successfully used to eliminate a small leak, designed to stop bleeding: you can simply wrap the damaged area with it.

Operating procedure:

1. Apply or wrap a piece of rubber or a plait of the same material on the punctured place, which acts as a seal.
2. Using pliers, tightly wrap the rubber pad with wire, preferably in a few turns.
3. Put fabric material on top, also in several layers, and finish by tying a knot.
4. Using a screwdriver, wrench or any other metal rod, rotating, tighten the fabric as tightly as possible, stopping the leak.
5. If instead of fabric it is possible to use a sheet of tin, you need to put it on the pipe, repeating the shape of the product, and connect the edges of the material with a screw and a nut.

The second option to quickly eliminate the trouble is to use a special polymer material called cold welding. The substance sets very quickly and is suitable for use even during contact with water, so you can close the hole without even blocking the water.

The third technique involves the presence of a medical bandage and epoxy resin.

Algorithm of actions:

1. In accordance with the attached instructions, dilute the resin in the required proportions.
2. Tightly wrap the place where the breakthrough occurred with gauze bandage. It is best to wind up with more layers of material.
3. Carefully, slowly, apply the resin to the entire surface of the bandage.
4. After waiting for the resin to dry, repeat a couple more times.

An intense leak is observed

When water is poured out under powerful pressure, in any case, it is necessary to shut off the water. In addition, you should be aware that when a pipe with hot water bursts, it is extremely likely to get burned, therefore, you cannot approach the pipe without protective equipment and without blocking the water.

What to do:

1. Dial the emergency number and report the problem.
2. Try to block the riser on your own - in an apartment or basement (provided that you can get the keys from it).
3. Wrap a piece of dense cloth around the damaged area of ​​the pipe as much as possible.
4. Using the technology from the first paragraph, make an impromptu clamp.