70. No more hot water!
Apparently it's common in Russian cities (at least in St. Petersburg and Moscow) for hot water to be turned off for a few weeks every summer to allow the public utility to replace pipes and repair other outdated infrastructure. Hot water here comes from a central location rather than a boiler in every basement (like in the United States), so there's no other easy way to make repairs.
In general, city water service seems to be in need of an upgrade. My landlord as well as a plumber who visited twice during my first month here both made the point of telling me that there was a water filtration system installed for the apartment so it was fine for me to safely drink the water. Otherwise, I guess it's not safe to ingest city water straight out of the taps.
I had a vague awareness of the annual hot water shutoff due to a brief conversation with a colleague, but my landlord did not mention what the timing would be this year. There was a day in late June where no water came out of my spigots when I tried to run hot water, and then from July 11 through July 24 only cold water would come out no matter which direction I turned the knobs.
I do have a small electric boiler in my bathroom which is there for exactly this reason (and otherwise not plugged in during the rest of the year), so it's not as if my daily life was necessarily impacted. However, I did not bother to turn it on and took cold showers every morning during this period, which I found to be a better way to wake up quickly than my normal hot showers. That's not to say that I plan to make them a permanent habit, though, and was happy when the central hot water started up again.
In general, city water service seems to be in need of an upgrade. My landlord as well as a plumber who visited twice during my first month here both made the point of telling me that there was a water filtration system installed for the apartment so it was fine for me to safely drink the water. Otherwise, I guess it's not safe to ingest city water straight out of the taps.
I had a vague awareness of the annual hot water shutoff due to a brief conversation with a colleague, but my landlord did not mention what the timing would be this year. There was a day in late June where no water came out of my spigots when I tried to run hot water, and then from July 11 through July 24 only cold water would come out no matter which direction I turned the knobs.
I do have a small electric boiler in my bathroom which is there for exactly this reason (and otherwise not plugged in during the rest of the year), so it's not as if my daily life was necessarily impacted. However, I did not bother to turn it on and took cold showers every morning during this period, which I found to be a better way to wake up quickly than my normal hot showers. That's not to say that I plan to make them a permanent habit, though, and was happy when the central hot water started up again.
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