Plumbing tragedy: a resident of Obninsk died due to boiling water in the faucet
In Obninsk, shortly before New Year's Eve, a 75-year-old local resident scalded himself with boiling water while taking a shower: very hot water suddenly came out of the faucet, the man could not get out of the bathroom due to pain shock and suffered serious burns. He passed away in January. A criminal case has been opened, and the head of the management company has been detained. Unfortunately, the incident is not the only one — people are complaining about boiling water from taps all over the city, and the reason is called non-functioning thermostats in houses with an open heat supply system. Izvestia investigated why hot water can suddenly pour out of the faucet and who should be afraid of it.
How a resident of Obninsk died
The Kaluga Region Prosecutor's Office reported that a 75-year-old man died in hospital 22 days after receiving burns. He wanted to wash up, but instead of warm water, boiling water poured out of the shower head.
A criminal case has been initiated under paragraph "b" of Part 2 of Article 238 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Provision of services that do not meet safety requirements"). Alexander Bastrykin, the head of the Investigative Committee, drew attention to the incident.
"At the same time, as stated by local residents, similar cases have occurred before. Representatives of the management company deny any responsibility for the incident," the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation said in a statement.
Earlier, the victim's daughter said that the thermoregulators in the house were poorly configured and when one of the neighbors turned on the water, boiling water was pouring from them. After what happened to her father (it was December 20th), the thermoregulators were adjusted in the house.
On Thursday, January 22, it became known that the head of the management company that serviced the apartment building where the tragedy occurred was detained.
The prosecutor's Office has agreed to conduct unscheduled inspections by the State Housing Inspectorate of the region in respect of three management organizations for which there were signals from residents about the excessive temperature of hot water.
Izvestia sent a request to the prosecutor's office of the Kaluga region.
Where else have you had problems with hot water
The media reported at least 20 residents of the city who were scalded in boiling water. Problems are allegedly observed at the houses of five management companies.
The press service of the Obninsk administration denied information about 20 victims, citing data from clinical hospital No. 8, which serves the city. There was only one complaint about domestic burns from hot water, TASS reports.
Tatyana Teterina, acting head of the State Housing Inspectorate of the Kaluga Region, told Izvestia that there were no complaints from residents about a malfunction of the hot water temperature regulators at the beginning of the heating period. In January, the State Housing Inspectorate learned about the problems in three houses from media reports.
"Currently, the State Housing Inspectorate of the Kaluga Region, in coordination with the prosecutor's office of the Kaluga Region, has planned three unscheduled on—site inspections of LLC Obninsk Management Company, JSC Byt-Service and LLC In One Yard Management Company," she told Izvestia. — Another unscheduled on-site inspection is also scheduled for January 26 at the request of the city prosecutor's office.
Izvestia sent inquiries to all three management companies, in respect of which the audit was initiated, as well as to housing and communal services and CHIP, mentioned in the media, but received no responses.
Eight appeals from two houses were received by the State Housing Inspectorate already in the period from January 14 to January 20, and the application was withdrawn for one of the buildings due to troubleshooting.
"Thus, in January 2026, information was received from various sources about the presence of malfunctions in the operation of temperature regulators in hot water systems in five apartment buildings in Obninsk, for which the State Housing Inspectorate of the Kaluga Region planned verification measures," explained Tatiana Teterina.
The State Housing Inspectorate also knows about the victims only from the media.
Local residents confirmed to Izvestia that there are massive problems with boiling water, which can pour out of the tap at any moment.
Ekaterina, a resident of 43 Gagarina Street, reported that boiling water began pouring from the taps in mid-December.
— It was impossible to touch the heated towel rail — even the linen wrap was burned in our apartment, and the neighbors' water floors burst and four floors were flooded with boiling water, — said the interlocutor of Izvestia. — Before the New Year, we contacted the Management company Obninsk (she also served the house where the 75-year-old man died. — Izvestia), as a result, the plumbers came and simply twisted the thermostat. Now the water is barely warm. We received a response to the repeated request that the management company does not want to take responsibility for itself — the issue will be resolved at the level of the administration and the heat supply organization.
Maria, a resident of 8 Marx Avenue, said that the problem has been around for four or five years.: as soon as the heating season begins, the water in the taps "starts to go crazy."
— It takes a very long time to set it up to get warm, but after a while it's still boiling water. And even if you set up the water in the faucet, when you switch to the shower head, the boiling water will go from there. My son got burned like that twice," she told Izvestia.
Who should monitor the thermoregulators
Tatiana Teterina told Izvestia that the management company is responsible for preparing for the heating season of indoor utilities, including liquid thermoregulators. The verification of the execution of these works is carried out by the commissions of the unified heat supply organizations together with the management organizations and then with local governments.
— 13 apartment buildings were identified with missing certificates of checking the serviceability of liquid temperature regulators, — said Tatiana Teterina. — In the future, a certificate of readiness for the heating period was issued for these apartment buildings. In January 2026, information about problems with thermoregulation was received at one of these apartment buildings.
At the same time, a warning for residents was distributed in the official administration groups on social networks on January 13. It emphasized that in most houses of Obninsk, hot water "comes directly from the general heating network" and in severe frosts, the temperature of the boiler room coolant can exceed 100 °C.
"To prevent boiling water from pouring out of the taps, liquid thermoregulators are installed in the houses, for which management companies are responsible. But, unfortunately, not all the equipment is functioning correctly," the message said.
Residents were asked to be careful.
The city administration has been aware of the problem for a long time. Back in 2019, information was posted about a large check on the presence or absence of automatic hot water temperature regulators in apartment buildings in Obninsk. Among the almost 60 mentioned residential buildings in which problems were found was the house at 36 Engels Street, in which a 75-year-old man died.
The expert of the direction "Popular Front. Analytics" Alexander Denisov emphasized that in most cases, direct-acting temperature regulators are installed in preparation for the heating season. And the lack of systematic monitoring of their operation, especially during the period of a sharp cold snap, can lead to the supply of water to the hot water supply system with a temperature exceeding the regulatory parameters.
— It is necessary to check and configure the device precisely in winter, when the temperature of the coolant in the open hot water system exceeds the regulatory values. At this time, it is possible to set the temperature of the water that will be supplied to the end user as accurately as possible," the Izvestia interlocutor emphasized.
He added that management companies often approach the issue formally and neglect the service of the regulator.
Who else is affected by this problem
Pavel Stepura, an expert in the field of housing and communal services, editor-in-chief of the Dom and Dvor portal, noted that the problems mainly concern old houses with an open heat supply system, when the same water is used in both the building's heating system and the hot water supply system.
— In modern MCD, a closed hot water supply system is used — the coolant is supplied to the batteries separately, and completely different water is supplied to the hot water taps. In this case, the problem is usually the exact opposite — the water is too cool, and the thermoregulators needed for open systems are simply missing," he explained to Izvestia.
Pavel Stepura recalled that earlier it was decided to eliminate all open systems and transfer them to closed heat supply systems by 2022. However, this measure was abandoned, as the widespread transition proved to be too expensive and in some cases technically impracticable.
The Ministry of Construction has no data on how many such houses remain throughout the country: in response to a request from Izvestia, they reported that this information is under the jurisdiction of regional authorities.
Pavel Sklyanchuk, an independent expert in the housing and communal services sector, calls the open hot water supply system an atavism and an unsuccessful housing experiment of the Soviet period. This system was used to save money and speed up the construction of the house.
— Both the Ministry of Construction and the relevant committee of the State Duma tried to approach the topic several times, but it did not end in anything, since it costs significant funds to reconstruct the hot water supply systems. As a rule, it's more expensive than demolishing a house and giving people new apartments," he told Izvestia.
According to him, the problem is not only that hot water can suddenly flow without thermoregulators, but also with its quality: it is worse than the water that runs in houses with a closed water supply system.
— I think that the authorities of the Kaluga region should make targeted decisions specifically on Obninsk. People need to be helped, to make technological decisions — to extend separate communications for hot water, without reconstructing the overall system, or to resettle people. However, there is no necessary funding at the federal level for this, and the regions are in no hurry to solve the problem on their own. Most likely, it will be solved naturally — over time, the houses will be recognized as emergency and resettled, " he told Izvestia.
Alexander Denisov believes that the Ministry of Construction or regional authorities should develop uniform regulations to monitor the operability of temperature regulators in apartment buildings, set deadlines for inspections, and provide supporting documents on the operability of these devices. This approach will not require the involvement of third-party organizations and will ensure security by minimizing financial costs.
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