[SomeoneFromCA]

It is so incorrect, it is boderline idiotic urban legend. post-Soviet cities have hot water year around; same heating plants used for winter heating, are used for hot water in summer time, albeit at lower power. Also waste heat from power plants used for the same purpose.

[throwaway290]

I'll fact check you since I was born and grew up in Russia. No water most of the summer used to be the norm in my city. Checking as of today, in two cities I know central hot water is off every summer for 2+ weeks. My city improved and another one regressed. In a third city I asked about (one of the coldest) it's off for just single digit days.

[SomeoneFromCA]

What you describe is not normal today (unless we are talking about some Mukhosransk type of cities), and certainly was not normal in USSR, which kept civil infrastructure in a good shape.

As someone who is currently living in Central Asia, yes I do have no water for two weeks a year, they switch it off for "maintenance". However all last 5+ years, I had water through summer, with only occasional failures. We did have no heating one year, but water was all the time present.

[throwaway290]

Sure, they keep water hot in select cities, and the rest is Mukhosransk territory that doesn't matter. You could be from Moscow with that logic!

Respectfully you have no idea, planned hot water downtime in summer is reality for most cities in Russia (including SPb with official maximum length of two weeks), don't try to paint it look better than the mess it is.

Other post-Soviet countries probably do better, especially in Europe, but I have no info

[SomeoneFromCA]

have you read the original post?

> Old Soviet style communities get hot water from central plants, mainly used for heating but also for showers, so when winter is over, they shutdown the heating plants for the season and no hot water at all

Because if you reread it, you'll get the ridiculousness of that claim. So what you saying that situation in ex-USSR is such that there is only hot water during the winter. This is ridiculous, even taking into account grievances you have about Russian infrastructure.

[Damogran6]

It's almost as if USSR and China are vast territories and experience might vary.

[SomeoneFromCA]

Exactly my point.

[throwaway290]

You said

> It is so incorrect, it is boderline idiotic urban legend. post-Soviet cities have hot water year around.

Probably every city in Russia most certainly don't have water "all year around", and never have going back into USSR times.

How the plants work exactly I have nothing to say, but if there is an urban legend perpetuated here then I'll tell it which it is: it's how good soviet and Russian infrastructure is.

[seanmcdirmid]

Even if you've never had to take cold showers in the summer, I have. I'm not sure why you can't believe our experiences would differ. The only reason I mentioned the USSR at all is because when I asked in China they said they got the system from them (and south of the Yangtze, you don't even get that).

[SomeoneFromCA]

Not sure what is your point. You've mentioned USSR and it was wrong, as Soviet System has never been like that - "hot water only during the winter". Ergo, you should not have brought up USSR.