If a riser bursts and floods the neighbors, who is to blame?

If the battery in your apartment bursts, the first thing you need to do is turn off the water in it. If the leak is serious, then it is necessary to urgently call an emergency team.

If hot water in the apartment leaks under pressure, then you need to throw a blanket over the break and thus save things. You should not be near such a battery, as you may get burns from hot water. If this was not possible, and you do not have the necessary tools and repair parts at hand, then you should not try to do something yourself. You need to call the emergency service and call a team of plumbers.

Question and answer Should the management company change the batteries in apartments?

Where to call if a pipe burst Moscow

It can even be used in water - but you need to be extremely careful if it is hot water: getting burned in this case is a matter of a couple of seconds.

This “ambulance” will help the pipe hold out until professional plumbers arrive. Although it happens that such temporary measures help not for a day or two, but for several months.

If a riser, battery or pipe burst, flooding the neighbors: who is to blame, what to do

Since in winter the water flows through the pipes is very hot—over 55 degrees Celsius—there is a high risk of burns if the heating breaks through. If pipes are leaking, then it is not advisable to do anything on your own. Before the arrival of specialists, it is necessary to save flooded property, documents, and valuables.

It is impossible to live in isolation in an apartment building. If something happens to neighbors, the other residents may unwittingly be involved in it. A similar situation happens when heating pipes break in an apartment. This article will tell you who is to blame and who will be liable for compensation.

Where to call if a pipe burst in an apartment Moscow telephone

If someone disagrees with the expert's assessment, another can be hired; otherwise, you will need to go to court;

Go to court. If neighbors cannot come to a consensus regarding the amount of damage, an opinion from an independent party is necessary. All kinds of evidence should be prepared: this could be photographs of the apartment, witness statements, a written report, other available documentation - everything that will help the court to assess losses from flooding as fully as possible.

Crack in the pipe

Expert advice

Vitaly, lawyer:

“Representatives of the operating organization must be called to draw up the report. They are required to appear. If they don’t go, you need to write a telegram in which the request form indicates where and when you need to come to draw up a report on the fact of a break in the water supply pipe (hot or cold).

Stopped the leak? All that remains is to call and wait for the plumber to arrive.”

Who is to blame if a heating pipe breaks and subsequent flooding of neighbors

If it happens that the battery in your apartment bursts and you flood the residents from below, do not panic. In this situation, it is very important to determine who is to blame for what happened and from whom, ultimately, compensation for the resulting losses must be demanded. In order to protect your legal rights and protect yourself from unreasonably inflated costs imposed on you by injured neighbors, it is best to seek qualified legal assistance.

If the apartment has “original” batteries, and the owner himself did not change anything during his stay, then responsibility for the technical condition of the apartment heating system lies entirely with the management company (homeowners association or housing office - the former housing office).

What to do if the heating battery at home bursts, who is to blame for the flood?

It is important to compare the technical characteristics of modern batteries with the characteristics of those originally installed. Also, after replacing, moving or increasing the heating area of the heating device, it is necessary to carry out start-up tests, for which a report must be drawn up, in accordance with. However, the management organization may refuse compensation for damage. Of course, in the future you can change the management company

But why bring it to this point, if you can immediately competently take all the necessary actions, after which the service organization will not have the slightest reason to compensate the victims for damage

However, the management organization may refuse compensation for damage. Of course, in the future you can change the management company. But why bring it to this point, if you can immediately competently take all the necessary actions, after which the service organization will not have the slightest reason to compensate the victims for damage.

If my battery burst and flooded me and my neighbors, who is to blame?

According to the terms of the contract, the management organization is responsible for the good condition and safe operation of the in-house heating system. The court found that the cause of the flooding of the living space was a break in the heating register in the entrance of the house. The court also concluded that the flooding of the residential premises occurred as a result of improper provision of services by the management organization for maintaining the heating system, and therefore losses must be compensated by the management organization.

By virtue of paragraph 10 of Rules No. 491, the common property in an apartment building must be maintained in accordance with the requirements of the legislation of the Russian Federation in a condition that ensures compliance with the characteristics of reliability and health of citizens, and the safety of the property of individuals.

What causes battery failure?

A battery breakthrough can occur both during the heating season and in the summer. If the accident occurred outside the heating season, then the reason is incorrect hydraulic testing. After the end of the heating season, all heating systems are tested for strength and density, and in winter, a radiator breakthrough may be associated with a water hammer when the temperature of the coolant increases with a sharp decrease in air temperature outside. At this moment, the water in the heating system increases in volume and does not have time to be discharged into the expansion tanks, which provokes a breakthrough in pipelines, their connections and heating devices. Battery failure can also be caused by wear and corrosion of the battery.

How to check the batteries for leaks?

The reliability and tightness of the batteries is checked by crimping. It allows you to identify all weak points (slips, fistulas, etc.) before the start of the heating season. This test is carried out using specialized equipment. You cannot perform the pressure testing yourself; specialists are usually invited to do this.

Pressure testing can be performed by pumping water (hydraulic method) or air (pneumatic method) to the required pressure. With the pneumatic method, the pump is simply connected to the system’s feed fitting and air injection begins, and with the hydraulic method, the system is filled with water, having first bled off the air.

“The tightness is checked using a pressure gauge. If the pressure holds and the arrow on the scale does not go anywhere, then this means that the heating system is sealed, and if the pressure drops, then there are problems in the system that need to be eliminated,” says Sergei Kolesnikov, a specialist at the Profi Welding battery replacement company.

Air pressure testing can be carried out using a regular car pump. It is enough to pump up the pressure to 2 bar. Then you need to keep the pipelines under pressure for several hours, while it is better to turn off the drain valve, recording the readings of the device. Over time, the pressure in the system may drop by 0.2-0.3 Bar, but this is an acceptable error; if the pressure drops more, then you should look for a leak.

When should pressure testing be done?

Pressure testing of the heating system should be carried out after:

— completion of work on laying new pipelines

— installation of the heating system and before putting it into operation

- replacement of pipe sections

- replacement of radiators

— flushing pipelines and batteries

Author Elena Slobodyan

Flooding of neighbors as a result of a burst battery (pipe): who is responsible?

However, when the heating systems were replaced independently, without inviting a repairman from the building management (and the application must be official, and not by directly contacting an employee), then the owner of the apartment becomes the culprit. To avoid such a situation, for any replacement of pipes it is necessary to submit an official application to the management organization and register it properly. After the work, a certificate must be issued, which is signed by the master on his part, and the owner of the apartment on his part. In this case, in the event of a break, the utility organization servicing the house will be responsible.

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When inspections are performed, employees must inspect heating and plumbing systems. But without the consent of the owner, they will not be able to enter the premises. Therefore, if the owner did not allow the utility worker to carry out the inspection, then in the event of an accident he will be to blame and, therefore, he will also have to pay him for the damage caused to the neighbors below. But if a problem is discovered during the inspection, it will be corrected at the expense of the management company.

What to do if flooding occurs

Remove children and pets from the room. If a stream of hot water and steam comes out of the pipe, do not try to collect the water - you will get burns. Place a blanket or thick mat over the pipe to avoid getting caught in the boiling water.

Turn off the power to the apartment, or at least unplug all electrical appliances located in the immediate vicinity of the battery, and call a plumber to shut off the water throughout the riser. The mechanic must have access to the basement where the common riser is blocked.

When the plumber turns off the water, call the utility services to draw up a report on the flooding of the apartment. The flood report is the main document that tells you and your neighbors what the utility company believes caused the flood. It should also indicate all the damage to the furnishings of the affected apartments. The presence of a flood act does not mean that the culprit will necessarily be sued, but without it, for example, it is impossible to obtain compensation from the insurance company.

if the management company is found to be at fault

, we also recommend that you call independent experts to assess the scale of destruction and obtain an official report listing the damage from the bay.
This document will serve you to obtain compensation from utility companies - peacefully or through court. Moreover, if you decide to file a lawsuit, then all costs when the damage from the flooding of the apartment
will be borne by the person responsible for the flooding.

Technologies do not stand still, and every month we see new models of much-needed portable devices on the market. But in the field of public utilities, innovations are in no hurry to be implemented, which is not surprising, since everyone actually understands the gulf that separates very useful gadgets from household technologies that no one needs. It is not known who is to blame, but sometimes heating systems and other utilities brazenly rebel, considering this situation to be unfair.

Procedure for flooding

Some “nonsense” pipes and batteries that just keep us warm in cold winters begin to require qualified repairs, high-quality components and competent installation. Flooding of an apartment, rupture of heating batteries or leaking pipes, unfortunately, are not uncommon, and sadly enough, but these accidents can cause considerable damage to our own and neighbors’ property.

Every year, the number of ardent fans of technological improvement is steadily growing and there is already talk about the introduction of smart systems for monitoring the performance characteristics of heating in an apartment. For example, they say that a special computer, similar to a modern Mercedes, will show intermediate operational data and automatically block non-working sections of the intra-apartment network. But for now, these are just dreams, while the real picture is much more prosaic, and if your battery breaks, it becomes a real disaster. Similar situations occur even in prestigious class apartments, and their result is flooding of the apartment, often complicated by flooding of neighbors.

What to do first?

If the heating battery ruptures, the first thing to do is 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:

Place any large container under the stream of boiling water. It is better to use a plastic one, since if you use a metal one, it will simply heat up to 80-95% degrees, which will make it impossible to carry the container normally (to drain the collected water). We recommend using a plastic basin or bathtub for children.
After installing the container, be sure to leave someone on duty so that he can constantly remove the drained water. Ideally, use two containers, using them alternately (while we are draining from one, we are filling the other).
While everyone is busy collecting and draining boiling water, someone must run to the basement and turn off the central valve of the heating system. This needs to be done as quickly as possible, before you flood your neighbors in the riser.
After shutting off the central valve, you need to call an emergency team of plumbers or utility workers.

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

Things are different if there is no one to help you. Then, after placing the container under the stream of hot water from the burst battery, you need to immediately call the emergency service. Then ask your neighbors to turn off the valve in their basement.

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Where to call?

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

You cannot eliminate a radiator leak on your own - to do this you need to turn it off and drain the entire riser. If the Mayevsky crane malfunctions, do not do anything on your own - you need to contact a service company.

The action plan in case of 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 a container under the break to collect the remaining water;
be sure to turn off the valve to the boiler and close the central valve connected to the supply or discharge pipe;
throw rags on the floor to catch any spilled water.

What to do if the battery in the apartment bursts Advice for a child

Try to remove from the battery those objects that are near it and can get wet and deteriorate. Roll up the carpet, move the desk or chair away; in general, everything that water can damage is best removed to the side - and the sooner the better.

To do this you will need to do the following. First, quickly run to the bathroom and find a basin of suitable size. Bring it into the room and place it under the battery in the place where it leaked maliciously.

Use a cloth to gently wipe up the puddle on the floor, but do it very carefully, keep in mind that the water flowing from the radiator can be very hot. Wring out the rag and put it next to the basin just in case

Where to call if a pipe burst in an apartment Moscow phone number

We have compiled for you a list of useful telephone numbers to call in all such cases.

Who to call if the lights are turned off?

Suddenly the lights go out and you sit by candlelight all evening? You can find out what happened and how soon the electricity will be turned on either in the Moscow United Electric Grid.

Contact: 8 (495) 981-981-9; 8 (800) 550-00-55.

Where to call about heating, water supply and roof leaks?

If the roof is leaking, there is no hot or cold water for a long time, the radiators suddenly stopped heating, and the apartment has become cold, call the Moscow Housing Inspectorate hotline.

Main reasons for the breakthrough

Why is this problem even possible within a modern apartment building: there may be several reasons in this case, however, the main ones are:

wear and tear of existing equipment in the apartment;
untimely statement by a resident about poor-quality or inappropriate work of existing communications;
careless use of communications;
neglect of the norms and rules for the operation of common property.

As a result, pipes with hot or cold water supply break. As a result, the supply of one or another resource to the premises is limited, and neighbors are flooded.

What to do if the battery bursts

We have already written about what steps should be taken to quickly deal with a pipe break, but now we’ll talk about how to find the culprit in what happened. It would seem that since the battery is in your apartment, then you are responsible for its technical condition. This is certainly true, but each case must be considered individually, because for example, if the battery was installed not by you personally, but by plumbers from the housing office and you have documents confirming this fact, claims can be brought against the housing office due to poor quality work. In addition, it is not the battery itself that may break, but the riser pipe at the welds, if any. In this case, claims can also be addressed to the housing office, which must monitor the technical condition of the equipment in the house. If you believe that the operating organization is to blame for your troubles, what should you do to seek compensation for the damage? First, you need to call the housing office employees to draw up a report recording the time, place and extent of damage. It would be a good idea to document the damage in photos and videos. After the incident has been documented, you should contact an independent expert who will assess the property damaged in the accident and assess the damage caused to the apartment (wall, ceiling and floor materials, ceilings, etc.). Having the report and the results of the examination in hand, you must contact the Housing Office by writing a statement requesting compensation for damage. If the operating organization refuses to compensate for the damage, citing your own fault for what happened, you will have to go to court.

We live in a northern country, and an important element of every apartment is a heating radiator. The heating system of a house is subject to heavy loads, especially in the cold season; many houses were built several decades ago, so it is not surprising that sooner or later the heating pipes in the rooms, bathroom or kitchen fail and leak. Considering that the water in the system is under high pressure, such a leak turns into a powerful stream of boiling water, which floods your apartment, causing irreparable damage to the floor covering (parquet, laminate, linoleum, carpet, etc.) and penetrates through the ceilings into the apartment of the neighbors below .

A heating pipe burst: who is to blame and how to document the consequences

It would seem that after the end of the heating season, the heating system cannot perform 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 a heating pipe in the house has burst, then this may well be the case.

notify the management company about the incident;
record the fact of the accident by drawing up a flooding report in the proper form with the involvement of HOA or housing office employees, as well as neighbors, in its preparation;
record the consequences of the flood on video and with a camera;
start saving personal belongings.

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Limits of owner liability

The most pressing question during a heating pipe break is who is to blame and from whom to recover damages.

The Housing Code of the Russian Federation obliges the owner of the apartment to maintain it in proper condition, the common property in the house, including carrying out repair work.

The heating system in the apartment consists of pipes:

riser;
return lines (supply pipes);
connections;
the batteries themselves.

At the same time, the management company itself monitors the state of communications. It carries out regular inspections (on average twice a year, no more than once a quarter). At the end of the test, the owner of the apartment is given a report containing the results of the inspection.

When conducting such checks, the employee needs access to the heating and water supply systems in the apartment. Access to the apartment is possible only with the consent of its owner. An owner who did not let a specialist in for inspection should, in the event of an accident, be prepared for the fact that such behavior does not work on his side. This once again can serve as confirmation that the owner did not monitor the condition of all utility systems.

A problem found during a preventative check must be corrected as soon as possible. The management company pays for this.

When heating pipes or batteries in an apartment rupture, the first question that arises is whether they have been replaced before. If the pipes have been in use since the house was put into operation, then the management company is fully responsible for their breakthrough.

Unauthorized replacement of the heating system in an apartment without an invitation to a building management specialist (an official invitation through an application) immediately puts the apartment owner in the status of the culprit of the accident. To prevent this from happening, for any replacement of pipes (not just heating, this applies to any communications), you should contact the house management or management company with an application. The application must be registered. A repair date has been set. Based on the results, a work acceptance certificate is issued, signed by the specialist and the owner of the apartment. If, under such conditions, due to improper installation of heating devices, they rupture, the responsibility will fall on the management company.

For leaks outside the apartment, responsibility falls entirely on the management company.

What causes breakouts most often?

There are not as many reasons for a broken pipe as you might think. But it is necessary to understand the exact cause, at a minimum, in order to find the culprit and prevent a recurrence of the accident.

Possible reasons:

Unsatisfactory condition of communications (old pipes, radiators, fittings).
Damage to fittings.
Incorrectly performed repairs to fittings or pipes.
Water hammer due to a sudden increase in pressure.

Consider the time of year in which the breakthrough occurred. During the heating season, commission inspections and examinations are used to find the cause. Outside the heating season, there is only one reason - a breakthrough occurs due to hydraulic tests (usually either the management company or the heating point is to blame).

The battery in the apartment burst

You should always take into account that an assessment of damage from the flood can lead to full compensation by the guilty party, only taking into account all the details of the case. By the way, for further proceedings, when neighbors are flooded, calling the city emergency service is a plus, since it will definitely be recorded and can become evidence of the fact of the accident. If a pipe bursts inside an apartment, then you should first of all quickly determine the place where the battery burst and make sure that it is your or your neighbor’s apartment that is the site of the accident. Then call the management company or housing office and notify them of the accident, and you should try to eliminate or slow down the leak. The consequences of flooding an apartment, just in case, can be recorded with photos and videos and, of course, it is correct to invite the housing office to draw up and sign an inspection report.

Hello! This will be a troublesome process, the initiator of which, as a colleague correctly said, will be the neighbors of the flooded apartments. If they want it. There is no point in encouraging them to file a lawsuit - you will be the defendant. Maybe they won’t go to court. Then there are no problems (except technical ones). And the neighbors themselves will need the act of flooding to bring a claim - to establish the very fact of flooding, its causes and consequences (what traces of flooding and damage to what and in which rooms). But when such a claim appears, then it will be necessary to call as witnesses those who replaced these radiators for you and invite an expert in the field of heating engineering to clarify the issue of the reason for the radiator burst (who installed them and when, whether their service life has expired, whether the frequency of preventive maintenance has been observed) inspections that the operating organization is obliged to do, whether there were any violations of technology during the installation of radiators and, if so, whether these violations were the cause of the leak, whether this was a consequence of water hammer due to a sharp drop in pressure in the system, whether there was a manufacturing defect, etc. .P.). By the way, if technical expertise is required, then in addition to documents and witness testimony, the batteries themselves may be needed for research. Therefore, if the radiators are not yet in the trash, hide them in a secluded place. A lot of questions will arise. You cannot get through the process without a lawyer. Surely you will need to file petitions to obtain documents (agreements with an organization that is obliged to service fuel assembly systems, including emergency requests, logs of requests and preventive inspections, technical documents for the house and much more, depending on what they provide and what they won’t provide it, but it’s necessary - it’s an adversarial process, like with swindlers in a showdown - present it - justify it. Therefore, first the plaintiff must collect the necessary documents, and you look at what is missing and what else is needed). If the neighbors only bring you in as a defendant, you will need to demand that the exploiting organization be brought in as a co-defendant. And then indeed, as the previous expert correctly pointed out, with a competent and comprehensive consideration of the case (which your representative must ensure), the court will figure out who is to blame for causing the damage.

And to protect yourself for the future, write an application to the operating organization for inspection and drawing up a certificate of suitability for use of newly installed radiators and old ones too. Including recommendations for operation and timing of periodic inspections. If they refuse, invite specialists from another office who have a license to carry out construction and repair work on the installation and replacement of heat and water supply systems. Let them check everything and give a conclusion. Comments and shortcomings will need to be eliminated. Just don’t do it as always - without registration. People must be held accountable for their work. And issue receipt orders for the money received. Otherwise, then prove that it was a plumber who changed the batteries, and not Uncle Andrei with a legal education who has nothing to do with fuel assembly systems.

Good afternoon. I was interested in your answer “Hello! This will be a troublesome process, the initiator of which, as a colleague correctly said, will be...” to the question https://www.. Can I discuss this answer with you?

Who should compensate for damage from flooding if the heating battery bursts?

The heating system in the defendant’s apartment has been functioning unchanged since the house was built in 1985. The defendant and the previous residents regularly and fully paid for utilities, which included the costs of maintaining and repairing common property. Clause 3, Part 1, Art. 36 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation establishes that the common property in an apartment building includes roofs, enclosing load-bearing and non-load-bearing structures of a given house, mechanical, electrical, sanitary and other equipment located in a given house outside or inside the premises and serving more than one room . According to paragraphs 5, 6 of the Rules for the maintenance of common property in an apartment building, approved by Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of August 13, 2006 N 491, the common property includes in-house engineering systems of cold and hot water supply and gas supply, consisting of risers, branches from risers to the first shut-off device located on the branches from the risers, the specified shut-off devices, collective (common house) cold and hot water metering devices, the first shut-off and control valves on the branches of the intra-apartment wiring from the risers, as well as mechanical, electrical, sanitary and other equipment, located on these networks. The common property includes an in-house engineering drainage system, consisting of sewer outlets, fittings (including bends, transitions, pipes, revisions, crosses, tees), risers, plugs, exhaust pipes, drainage funnels, clearings, branches from risers to first butt connections, as well as other equipment located in this system. The common property includes an intra-house heating system, consisting of risers, heating elements, control and shut-off valves, collective (common house) heat energy metering devices, as well as other equipment located on these networks. Thus, from the literal interpretation of clauses 5 and 6 of the Rules, it follows that the common property of the house includes hot and cold heating systems and other systems located inside the apartment or non-residential premises up to the first disconnecting device. Conversely, the heating system of the house, including radiators located inside the apartments, belongs to the common property of the house. This interpretation was confirmed in the letter of the Ministry of Regional Development of the Russian Federation dated 09/04/2020 N 16273-SK/07.

Hello. Our heating battery burst. The battery is new, the pipes are new. Major repairs were done 5 years ago by the management company. As a result, the neighbors below were flooded. Are we to blame in this case? We tried to negotiate with the neighbors peacefully. We bought wallpaper for both the ceiling and the walls. But they want more. But they had an old renovation. All the wallpaper didn't hold up well. What should we do in this case?

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