Have gas stoves been installed in your kitchen or have you settled into a new building and are just waiting for a connection? You must admit that burning and lack of oxygen in the kitchen are not the best aspects of its use, and open fire creates a danger, especially if there are children in the house.
Buying an apartment, you get a ready-made solution - either a gas or electric stove, and it seems that this can not be changed. But this is not so, it is quite possible to abandon gasification, and we will help you with this.
In this article, we consider the reasons for refusing gas supply, how to turn off gas in the apartment, what documents and authorities need to be involved, whether it is worth doing, and also how to switch from a gas stove to an electric one.
How to refuse gas?
Clause 51 of the RF PP dated July 21, 2008 No. 549 “On the Procedure for the Supply of Gas to Meet the Domestic Needs of Citizens” guarantees everyone the opportunity to refuse gas supply services, provided that the debts are paid off.
But for the legitimacy of such actions, it is necessary to coordinate them not only with gas producers, but also with all related authorities.
Gas stoves appeared in almost every house not so long ago, no more than 100 years ago, instead of stoves
If, after weighing all the pros and cons, you decide to refuse gasification, the procedure for voluntary shutdown of gas in the apartment is given below. We must say right away that you will have to run around with documents a lot, and even more problems can arise when making an electric stove. Therefore, be sure to read the article to the end before starting the procedure.
Step 1 - creating and approving a project
In order to do everything legally and subsequently not have problems with gas companies and other organizations, you should start with the collection and execution of documents. First of all, contact the bureau of technical inventory and order the registration certificate of your apartment if you do not have it in your hands (it could remain after the purchase).
It will indicate all communications and equipment, including a gas stove and, if available, a column. This procedure is quick and usually free, but this is only the beginning.
To make changes to the layout and equipment of the apartment, including - to refuse gas, you must draw up a project - an accurate plan diagram of what you want to get as a result.
Various organizations will consider this project and give an answer whether it is possible to re-equip an apartment in your case.
If, in addition to refusing gasification, you plan to tear down or move the wall, move the sink or even just remove the door to the kitchen, display all these changes in the project immediately, otherwise you will have to go through the whole procedure again.
The project of the apartment is drawn up on a certain scale, indicating literally every little thing, from the thickness of the walls and the presence of doors to the installation point of the gas stove
For each typical high-rise building, there are standard redevelopment projects developed by engineers during its construction. If the standard options do not suit you, you will need to develop and approve an individual project.
With certain drawing skills and minor changes, you can make a sketch yourself, but there is a chance that you will not accept it because of the wrong scale or design subtleties. Therefore, it is better to order the project in a specialized organization, an engineering design bureau, included in the SRO.
Before the development of the project, an examination of the apartment and its technical condition will be required, and the finished document must be agreed upon by Rospotrebnadzor.
Step 2 - permission to redevelop
Before calling gas workers and brewing a pipe, you need to coordinate this with the management company, housing office or other local government to which your house is attached. The list of changes requiring approval, as well as the procedure for completing the conversion or redevelopment are specified in the 4th chapter of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation, published on December 29, 2004.
You can apply for registration of the reorganization both in the local administration, and in the multifunctional centers "One Window" or on the website of public services. In any case, it’s free, you only need to pay for the services of the company involved in the development of the project.
Refusal of gas and replacement of the stove with an electric one is included in the conversion list, and therefore it is required to go through the whole procedure
To complete the redevelopment, you need to submit the following documents:
- Fill out the application for conversion / redevelopment - the form will be issued on the spot.
- The registration certificate for the apartment that you took in the BTI.
- Designed and approved by Rospotrebnadzor.
- Your passport.
- A document confirming that the apartment belongs to you.
- If you are not the only landlord, you will need the written consent of all the co-owners.
- If your house is a monument of architecture, history, culture, you will need the permission of the body to protect them.
Now they are actively developing the Unified State Register of Real Estate - an electronic database of all information about the entire housing stock of the country. If you purchased a house recently and are sure that you are registered in this system, you must submit only an application and present a passport, and all other documents - if desired, the commission will request the missing ones.
For a maximum of 1.5 months, the commission should decide on your matter, and after another three working days - send or give you a decision on whether to permit or prohibit the conversion.
Step 3 - dismantling the gas pipes
Only after the project is approved, it is possible to start the practical part of the venture - to get rid of the stove and extra pipes. At this stage, you will have to resort to the services of gas service workers.
After all, any unauthorized interference in the gas supply system, even after the approval of the project, is illegal and punishable by fines.
Even to unscrew the hose from the stove with the tap turned off, only a certified gas specialist is entitled, because these are dangerous works. Any mistake can endanger not only your apartment, but the whole house.
Only certified professionals with special approval have the right to turn off the gas stove and weld the pipe or install a plug on it
To shut off the gas, contact the gas service with a statement and an approved reconstruction project, as well as a passport and a copy of documents proving ownership. The application is signed by the chief engineer and, most likely, you will be put in the queue, because there are many subscribers, and gas companies are often not enough - sometimes you have to wait more than a month.
On the appointed day, the masters will come to you and turn off the gas as described in the project. Remember that everything must be completed within a year of the issuance of the project.
If a riser passes through your kitchen, they will probably leave it, cut off only the layers and put a plug on its stump. They can also save the meter and put a plug after it - then it will be easier to restore gas supply, if necessary. In any case, the remainder of the pipe should be inspected annually by a certified gasman for leaks.
Sometimes in the layout of high-rise buildings, the kitchens of neighboring apartments have a common wall, and one common riser is laid, from which the layers go to the neighbors through the partition. If this is your case, there is a chance to get rid of the gas completely: by agreement with the neighbors, your cuttings will be cut off and brewed right at the riser, even on their territory.
Welding can damage wallpaper, furniture nearby or stretch ceilings - take care of their protection, a sheet of metal, or at least a piece of old linoleum
At the end of the work, if a plug is installed in the tap on the thread, it is sealed, and you are issued a shutdown certificate. The act must be accompanied by copies of the license and permits for work on the gas pipeline. You can read more about how to cut off a gas pipe in an apartment in this material.
Step 4 - approval of the complete redevelopment
After all work has been completed, it is necessary to complete paperwork: notify a number of authorities about the conversion and make changes to the room data sheet.
First of all, the specialist of the acceptance committee from the local government where you approved the project should come to you. He will check whether the changes made are planned, and, if everything is correct, will write an act. He will be sent to the registration authority.
In addition, you need to once again go to the gas service with an act of completion and terminate the contract for the provision of services so that you no longer receive receipts for gas. It happens that receipts will continue to be sent even after a trip - in this case, file and register a written complaint to the gas service. If this does not help, they will not consider it or refuse to satisfy it, file a lawsuit.
Also, after making all the changes, you need to fix them in the data sheet or plan of the apartment in the BTI. To do this, a specialist is also called to the house to evaluate the current condition of the apartment: are there no stoves, gas pipes, or other changes have been made. Based on his measurements and inspection, an acceptance certificate will be issued.
After re-equipment or redevelopment of an apartment, its data sheet no longer corresponds to reality - it needs to be reissued by contacting BTI again
A new registration certificate for an apartment, without already indicating a gas stove in the kitchen, can be obtained from BTI by attaching an acceptance certificate, an old registration certificate, permission for conversion and passports of all co-owners of the apartment to the application.
Of all these stages, you need to pay for the approval of the project and for the issuance of a new registration certificate for the apartment, as well as directly for the work of gas workers to dismantle the pipes and for the development of the project by a specialized bureau. Filing all applications to any authorities is free of charge; they can be submitted through multifunctional centers or online.
Electric stove
Refusing a gas stove, you, for sure, replace it with an electric one, because you need to cook on something. The easiest option is to purchase a small 1 - 2 hotplate glass ceramic, or, even better, an induction hob.
They have a relatively small power, 2 - 5 kW, and can be connected to a standard single-phase outlet. As for a boiler or a washing machine, it is recommended for an electric stove to hold a separate cable from the meter, install a fuse on it and be sure to ground the socket. But such plates do not greatly increase the overall load on the wiring, and you can install them yourself, without permission and registration in olelenrgo.
When conducting a new wire, consider the power of the equipment: a copper core with a cross section of 2.5 is designed for a maximum of 6 kW, and a 16-amp socket - for 3.5 kW
If you have a big family or just like cooking, and you don’t have 1 - 2 burners, you need to install the 3rd automatic machine in the panel and hold a new thick cable from it to install a special outlet for an electric stove.
On average, a freestanding electric stove with an oven consumes at least 4-8 kW of energy per hour if all hobs and an oven are turned on, and models with metal hobs are even more powerful. This is a serious load on the wiring, exceeding the average normal load on the entire apartment - even with a refrigerator, boiler, microwave, TV, computer and other devices working at the same time.
To protect both you and your neighbors, electricians check the presence of additional powerful wires connected to the distribution panel, and can cut off unnecessary ones laid on their own.
To prevent this from happening, you need to connect a powerful electric stove only with the permission of the power supply organization, officially formalizing its installation. In addition to legality and safety, this way gives a chance for a 30% discount on electricity tariffs. Why only a chance and how to get a discount we will tell a little further.
Exceeding the power for which the wiring is designed leads to a regular shutdown of the fuse or to overheating of the wires with their fusion and the risk of fire
And for starters, consider how to officially formalize the transition to an electric stove:
- Find out if such a connection is possible for your apartment. To do this, at a meeting of tenants, no less than 67% must vote so that you can consume more electricity, increasing the load on common house wiring.
- Having received the approval of the neighbors, you contact the management company or the housing office with a request to increase the capacity allocated to the apartment. There you will be given technical specifications indicating how much power the current common house and apartment wiring can withstand.
- With this information, contact the city electric network with the corresponding statement, or it is submitted directly by your UK. If connection is possible, they draw up a project and permission. Until that moment, we strongly advise against even starting the procedure for disconnecting from gas.
- In parallel with the dismantling of the gas pipe, electricians will lay a new cable, install a three-phase outlet or plug in an electric hob, and issue a certificate of technological connection.
- Coordinate the installation with Rostekhnadzor, approve the project and replace the data sheet according to the same scheme as described above.
- Contact the electricity supplier to renew the contract and provide a new tariff, as for the electric stove user - it is 30% less.
Without such a design, you can not claim to reduce the tariff.
About which wiring or socket to connect the stove to, must be indicated in its passport. General rule: do not change your native plug
Only after such a procedure, you can safely use a full electric stove at full capacity, and do not disconnect all other electrical equipment in the apartment.
Problems when switching from a gas stove to an electric one usually arise at one of 2 stages: there is not enough power for the common house wiring, and therefore the management company refuses to connect the electric stove, or after its installation, the energy supplier refuses to change the tariff. Both problems are objective and failures are justified, but it is not always worth giving up when faced with one of them.
The tariff change is provided for by the Fundamentals of Pricing in the Field of Regulated Prices (Tariffs) in the Electric Power Industry, PP of the Russian Federation No. 1178 dated 12/29/2011 Paragraph 71 provides for reducing factors from 0.7 to 1 for citizens using electric stoves.
The government’s decree talks about lowering electricity tariffs for homes equipped with electric stoves. The decision to apply these factors is made by the local executive authority.
However, there is a procedure for establishing and applying the social norm of electric energy (power) consumption, PP of the Russian Federation No. 614 of July 22, 2013, which specifically states that "if the degree of improvement of an apartment building or residential building provides for the provision of a public gas supply service," then installation of an electric stove will not become the basis for reducing the tariff.
It is on its basis that electricity suppliers most often and most convincingly refuse to change the tariff.
But even this point can be interpreted in two ways, because after refusing gas in your apartment, the gas pipeline is welded up or removed altogether, so gas supply is not provided for you, and this point applies only to those who install an electric stove in addition to the gas one. In this case, it is possible to achieve a tariff change through the court; successful examples exist, but they are single.
Having made a firm decision to switch to an electric stove with a gas stove, you will surely find a way to implement this that is right for you
Lack of power is a fairly common problem, especially in old-built houses. It is possible to get from oblenergo renewal of wiring at the entrance with an increase in its capacity together with the management company, and if they are not ready for cooperation, through the court. However, this will require a huge investment of time, energy and money for lawyers.
There are examples of the success of tenants in such a struggle, but they are sporadic, because as a result, reconstruction of wiring in the house is carried out at the expense of the city budget, free of charge for tenants, and this is about 1.5 million rubles. Therefore, do not rush to give up gas until you are sure that you can connect the electric stove.
If you encounter similar problems and are not ready to fight, think, can it be easier to install an electric stove without giving up the gas? There are combined cooking surfaces with different types of burners. Or remove gas and use a low-power 1 - 2 burner electric stove, not including it at the same time as a boiler, iron or oven.
We talked about the reasons and procedure for turning off the gas in a separate apartment, as well as the transition to an electric stove. To evaluate the process and the result clearly, we offer you a video.
Cutting a gas pipe in the kitchen is as follows:
From the foregoing, we can conclude that the rejection of gasification is a simple matter, but quite long and fussy. We'll have to get around many instances and draw up a number of documentation to do everything legally. However, now everything is noticeably simplified by multifunctional centers that accept documents for various services, as well as the possibility of online submission of many applications.
Have you refused gas in the apartment? How did the procedure go in your case? How much did you spend time and money? Perhaps you have something to supplement or clarify our information - leave your comments and ask questions in the discussion below.