On the 13 of March 2018 at 12.00 (pavilion 1, business zone) within the Mostra Convegno Expocomfort (MCE) exhibition in Milan, the Association of heating rаdiаtоr producers “APHR” (Russian Federation) plans to hold a presentation on the issue of obligatory certification of radiators and convectors in the Russian Federation.

Obligatory certification of heating devices will be carried in Russia on June 27, 2018.

Before this date, all organizations which are carrying out deliveries of heating devices to Russia have to provide a pass certificate of the obligatory certification procedure and receive certificates of conformity and also provide a mark of conformity on production, its consumer package and accompanying documentation.

The presentation will contain information on the following questions:

– purpose and sphere of the obligatory certification;

– features of product certification when importing;

The description of the heating devices certification algorithms imported on the territory of the Russian Federation. Differences in cost and time of certification passing.

– certification of production run equipment and an opportunity for certification of mass products of foreign manufacturers in Russia;

The description of the mass production certification procedure including the tests of product samples, the analysis of production condition at the foreign enterprises’ Russian certification experts, subsequent exit of inspection control.

– review of the certifying agency and testing laboratories;

Information certifying agencies and the testing laboratories accredited the implementation of activity within obligatory certification heating devices.

– the features of the products condition analysis;

Information on the carrying out the order, rules of decision-making and registration of the products condition analysis which are carried out by certifying agencies at obligatory certification of production within the scheme of mass production certification.

– control and supervision in the market;

An authorized procedure of government authorities control and supervision of requirements execution of obligatory certification.

– drawing mark of conformity;

Information on need an order of drawing a mark of conformity on the certified production, its consumer package and accompanying documentation.

– changes in customs control;

Additional requirements of customs authorities, connected with the introduction of obligatory certification of heating devices.

– work on standards revision of the specifications of products and test methods of heating devices.

Information about industry performance on updating the standards of heating devices applied in Russia to ensure their compliance to the modern level of development of industrial production and technologies.

We invite producers and distributors of radiators and convectors to the Russian market and every interested representative of industry, to participate in APHR presentation.

– “FAIR RADIATOR”: ACTION Results and Prospects;
– “Underheat” and “underweight”: Aluminum and Bimetal Heating Radiators Testing Results;
– Legal Consequences of Falsification on Radiator Market;
– Introducing Mandatory Certification of Heating Radiator and Convectors: How and When Will the Market Change?;
– New Law on Standardization: Effective Barrier from Poor-Quality Goods;
– Notification – Order Leverage on
Heating Devices Certification Market;
– Dynamics of Aluminum and Bimetal Radiators Import in First Half of 2016;
– Rise of Radiator and Convector
Production in Russia in First Half of 2016: Import Substitution in Action.

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The production dynamics and structure were analyzed basing on the provided by the APHR data for the first half year of 2016 and the same period of the previous year on the following heating device categories: aluminum, bimetal and steel heating radiators, steel and copper-aluminum convectors (wall-, floor-, underfloor-type).

In the first half year of 2016 the aluminum and bimetal heating radiator sector saw Russian manufacturers show a 20% production growth.

At that, the most considerable growth was shown by recently established enterprises intensely enhancing their production capacities (up to 75%), while the growth index shown by large plants consistently operating for a long time did not exceed 5%.
These general indicators of growth prove that Russian manufacturers are capable of effective import substitution on the internal market of aluminum and bimetal heating radiators in the conditions of decreasing imports.

Besides, the fact that Russian plants working in this heating equipment sector are not exploiting their manufacturing capacities to the full is also a proof of a certain ‘margin of safety’ to satisfy the market demand in case the aluminum and bimetal heating radiator imports continue to fall further on.
Growing production and increasing manufacturing capacities make enterprises more price-competitive to imported goods due to the economy-on-scale effect.

As the APHR estimates, in 2016 the increase in aluminum and bimetal heating radiator production in Russia can reach 40% against the 2015 indicators.

One of the key trends is a considerable growth in production and share of Russian bimetal heating radiators in proportion to all-aluminum ones.
Over the last two years bimetal heating radiators have come to considerably prevail over aluminum radiators in quantity; some manufacturers have almost completely switched from aluminum to bimetal (bringing the share of bimetal heating radiator manufacturing to 90% of the total production).

The steel panel heating radiator sector has also seen a rise in the domestic production, though it was not so substantial – about 10%.
2016 can see the steel panel radiator manufacture increase by 15-20%: the largest Russian manufacturer of steel panel radiators – Research Technological Institute Progress OAO (Izhevsk, the Udmurt Republic, Prado trademark) – can show a 5–10% growth in 2016; increasing production is also expected to be displayed by the recently established Bosch plant in Engels, the Saratov region (Buderus trademark).
Meanwhile, the steel panel radiator imports into Russia remain at the same level, which is likely to be proved by the general 2016 import analysis.

The convector manufacture sector is showing the following production dynamics that can be segregated by the convector type.
In the first half of 2016 large manufacturers of affordable steel wall convectors have lowered their production by 14% against the same period of the previous year (for certain companies).
However, against the background of general growth in the domestic heating equipment production, the cause of this fall is not the increasing amount and share of imports in this segment, but other reasons.
Firstly, steel wall convectors are widely installed in new economy class housing, whose construction in the first half of 2016 was steadily falling due to the general crisis condition of the economy.
Secondly, the convector market gave room to a certain “gray zone” of garage-made goods popular with small-scale contractors for their extremely low price.

In the near future the APHR is going to introduce a number of measures to prevent falsified convector goods from entering the turnover.

In their turn, leading Russian manufacturers of more expensive and technically more complex underfloor convectors and non-ferrous convectors of other installation types have shown a steady rise in the first half of 2016, which, for certain companies, reached 40-45%. It is to be expected that the general 2016 results will also confirm this trend.
The reason for the domestic production growth in the segment of complex and expensive convectors is that the main competitors here are goods of EU production, which over the last years have become considerably less price-attractive due to the ruble-to-euro devaluation.

The analysis of the heating devices production dynamics and structure in Russia over the first half of 2016 evidences that despite almost half-decreased imports domestic manufactures have successfully enhanced their production to supply the internal Russian market.
Thus, Russian manufacturers are managing to incrementally occupy the “freed market niche”, vacant due to the slump of imports from China.

Alongside with this, one of the major remaining threats for the heating radiator consumption market is the risk of a considerable decrease in construction in the economy crisis period, which can negatively influence the demand for heating devices to install at construction sites.
Certain data confirm non-exhaustive utilization of production capacities of Russian facilities and the increasing amount of ready goods stored at their warehouses.

In these conditions the APHR will continue to liaise with authorized state bodies to facilitate introducing a set of effective measures aimed at supporting the Russian heating radiator production industry and stimulating import substitution, including enhancing the demand.

The generally difficult situation in the construction sector has brought the heating radiator consumption a bit down in Russia. It is to be hoped that when the pre-crisis construction level is regained, Russian manufacturers of heating devices will receive a new incentive to develop.

Since 2015 the APHR has been conducting the “Fair Radiator” action.

The action objective is to bring out and eliminate declaring misleading and unreliable information on the major features of heating radiators: weight and heat transfer.

The “Fair Radiator” action has several stages.

The first stage (fall 2015 – spring 2016) – express-analysis of the easiest to measure index – the radiator mass (in 30 regions of the country: from Kaliningrad to Omsk).

In stores the mass indexes of radiators were measured simply by weighing them on electronic balances and, further, collating the results with the features declared by the manufacturer on the package and in the supporting documentation (the heating device passport).

In 75% of cases the declared weight did not coincide with the actual feature – but was 20-30% overstated.

The second stage (summer 2016) – test purchase of sample radiators to check the reliability of their features as declared by the manufacturer and their compliance with the GOST (state) standards 31311-2015 “Heating devices.General technical terms”.

The third stage (fall 2016) – the “Fair Radiator” action will develop in two ways:

– deeper research  –  conducting inter-laboratorial  testing (inter-laboratorial collation) of  sample aluminum and bimetal heating radiators of particular brands in  a few leading Russian and foreign laboratories, which will allow assess the comparability and enhance the representativeness of the testing results;

– wider research – diversification of the APHR testing portfolio through steel panel heating radiators and convectors.

In July-August 2016 the sample heating radiators were tested in leading Russian laboratories, provided with both the needed technical equipment (climatic chambers, certified booths) and highly qualified staff.

The sample aluminum and bimetal heating radiators tested represented 17 trademarks.

The testing was aimed at bringing out the conformity between the GOST requirements and the following features of the sample heating radiators:

1. Heat transfer (nominal heat stream) – the major consumer characteristic of a heating radiator, simply speaking, the ability of one section of the product to heat certain square and space of a living or other room to comfortable temperature.
2. Impermeability and static durability – major safety features, the capacity of the radiator to bear pressure differences, typical of the worn-out Russian heating systems, without breaking.
3. Weight – the declared mass of the radiator that has to agree with the actual feature, because “underweight” is sure to tell negatively on the functional characteristics of the radiator (“underweight – underheat”) and safety (“the thread breaks where it is the weakest”).

We have to conclude that out of the 17 sample import radiators tested only one trademark conforms to all GOST requirements (6%).

Thus, the overwhelming majority of the tested samples have their heat transfer indexes 15-20% overstated as compared to the actual features (while GOST allows a maximum deviation of as much as 4%).

In practice it means that if, basing on the square of their flat, a customer purchases a heating radiator with a quarter overstated heating capacity, the temperature of his housing in the cold season will be less by 4-5 degree Celsius.

Three samples out of 17 (18%) fall short to meet the static durability requirements.These radiators are simply unsafe, because over pressure differences they can depressurize and damage property, hurt and even kill people.

Besides, the overwhelming majority (81%) of the sample heating radiators tested show the actual mass disagreeing with the declared feature.At that in most cases the samples mass overstatement amounts to 15%, which proves thedirect causal relationship between “underweight” and “underheat” of a heating radiator.

The table below summarizes the testing results.

The testing results show that at selling import heating radiators in Russian retail stores several requirements of the Russian Federation legislation are systematically not met:

1. Violated are the requirements of the Consumer Protection Law of the Russian Federation (p. 1 art. 10), according to which the information declared by the manufacturer shall agree with the actual features (such inaccurate data on the major consumer feature (heat transfer) are revealed in 16 out of 17 cases, which is 94%).
2. Violated is the requirement of the federal law on standardization (p. 1 art. 31), which forbids declaring conformity to GOST if, in fact, such conformity is not secured (all sample heating radiators by some way had certificates of GOST conformity).

Worth mentioning is that manufacturers and suppliers that allow heating radiators with inaccurate declared characteristics enter the market run the risk of being held administratively liable for breaching the legislation on consumer rights (according to part 2 of art. 14.7 and part 1 of art. 14.8 of the Russian Federation Code of Administrative Offences legal entities shall be fined for up to 500 000 RUB for such actions).

Information on the revealed instances of legislation violations and the testing results were forwarded by the APHR to local offices of Rospotrebnadzor (Russian Consumer Rights Watch) for further control-and-monitor actions, eliminating the chance of misleading declaring.

Besides, the APHR addressed the RusAccreditation with a proposal to conduct an unscheduled audit of testing laboratories that had provided data to certify radiators that had proved to be below standard.

Still, the testing results have not only a negative side, but also a bright one.

Despite the revealed instances of GOST violations and non-agreement between the declared and the actual characteristics, a sustainable trend of narrowing the gap between the actual and the declared features is to be observed.

Thus, we have considerably leveled down the “underweight” problem – non-agreement between the weight declared on the package and the actual feature. Thus, while at the beginning of the year the APHR representatives would regularly detect radiators with 25-30% overstated mass in retail sale, the recent testing has shown as much as 5-10% underweight in most cases.

Also the declared heat transfer characteristics have become more realistic. While in 2014 certain models and trademarks had this feature 30-35% and even 40% overstated, in 2015 – 20-25%; in the July 2016 testing the same samples have shown a smaller difference – 15-20%.

Another positive trend is that, compared to the results of testings held in previous years, there is a reduction in the share of heating radiators not complying with the basic safety requirements: impermeability and static durability under excessive pressure.

Yet, unfortunately, we still come across violations of GOST and misleading of consumers.

In this connection, the APHR is determined to continue running the “Fair Radiator” action till the “victorious end” – securing that only GOST-compliant radiators with accurately declared characteristics can be found on the market.

You can find the information on the heating radiators testing results on the APHR website in the “Documents” section.

You can also follow the “Fair Radiator” action on the APHR’s Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/aproea/

Sira Industrie Group has decided to set up its first Russian production site basing on the RTC-Prom enterprise in Perm.

The international company is working in two fields – manufacturing heating radiators and parts for aluminum casting intended for car manufacturing and the engineering industry. It is planned that at the end of 2016 SIRA and their Russian partner OOO TC-Prom will settle particulars of the Agreement on establishing a joint venture.

The company proposes to introduce its own unique technologies at the new enterprise, which will help to develop internal Russian production and import substitution.

By 2017 the turnover of SIRA RUS is planned to amount to 2.5 billion RUB.

Association of Heating Radiator Producers APHR launched a public control action “Fair Radiator”

The project to audit validity of the declared characteristics of heating radiators selling retail was launched at the end of 2015 and over half a year evolved into a mass action of public control. Information about discrepancies between the declared and actual characteristics of radiators was gathered by the APHR team, and also sent by outlets staff, representatives of companies and non-profit organizations, and volunteers. The action embraced over 30 regions of the country. The results showed numerous violations of the consumer protection law. It was found that 75% of the retail points were selling radiators that were inconsistent with the characteristics declared on the package and in supporting documents.

The audit results were forwarded by the APHR to the management of the retail points – in total, over 150 letters. Yet, not all stores responded to the appeal for protecting consumers’ rights for correct information about the product.

The APHR is readying a new raid through cities and invites all concerned people and companies to join. You can pin your “findings” onto the interactive map “Fair Radiator” www.aproea-map.ru.

The APHR will be continuously forwarding the data about discrepancies between the declared and actual characteristics of radiators to the management of the shopping centers. If they do not react the APHR will forward the action results to the regional public chambers and mass media.

Worthwhile to mention, January 2016 alone brought news about accidents caused by radiator blowouts in 11 regions of Russia.