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Obligation to check the heating system - This is how you save costs with hydraulic balancing

Large apartment buildings with gas heating must have their heating system tested and hydraulically adjusted as early as this year.

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Obligation to check the heating system - This is how you save costs with hydraulic balancing

Large apartment buildings with gas heating must have their heating system tested and hydraulically adjusted as early as this year. Smaller flat-sharing communities will follow in 2024.

This is a one-time thing. But it's worth planning in advance.

Real estate experts recommend linking it to another mandatory appointment or to the usual heating maintenance. That saves costs.

During this comparison, a specialist company determines how much thermal output is required to heat the living areas of a house. Based on this, the required amount of water for the heating system and the optimum flow temperature are set.

In addition, the pump performance and the necessary resistances in the heating circuit are calculated. This ensures that exactly the required amount of water always flows from the circulation pump to the radiators and back.

Because if too much or too little water flows, not all rooms in the house are heated evenly. The result: colder radiators are turned on more. This causes unnecessary costs.

The measure is carried out by heating contractors and, depending on the size of the system, takes several hours, perhaps with a two-day break for the calculation.

Many apartment owners or owners of apartment buildings are affected, but owners of single and two-family houses are not. And: It's only about central heating that runs on gas.

An ordinance by the federal government dated September 1, 2022 stipulates that multi-family houses with ten residential units or more must have their heating tested by September 30, 2023. For residential buildings with six to nine residential units with gas heating, September 15, 2024 is the reference date.

The aim is to check whether the settings of the heating system are optimized and whether they are already based on a hydraulic balance.

If the heating test shows deficiencies, the heating must be optimized, according to the information program Zukunft Altbau funded by the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of the Environment.

If no hydraulic adjustment has been made yet, this is now also mandatory for the reference dates already mentioned. According to Zukunft Altbau, there is an additional date for this.

The deadlines will not end for a few months or more than a year. Nevertheless, Zukunft Altbau advises planning ahead and combining appointments.

On the one hand, to save costs. If the heating check is carried out in the course of an appointment that takes place anyway, the effort is in the order of 50 to 150 euros. If there is a separate appointment, "in many cases the costs can quickly double," says Frank Hettler from Zukunft Altbau.

The consumer protection association for residential property also recommends the appointment combination in order to save travel costs and time. In addition, it will probably be cheaper if all owners in an apartment building have the hydronic balancing carried out together. This is not a must, as the comparison also includes the radiators and these can be part of the private property of the individual parties. This is regulated in the declaration of division of the apartment owners' association.

On the other hand, the combination appointments relieve the trade. For example, the connection with the fireplace inspection by the chimney sweep, which is also mandatory – twice within seven years. Or with the annual system maintenance by the experts from the heating installation. Energy consultants can also carry out the test according to Zukunft Altbau.

The heating test should not be confused with a heating check. Because this goes one step further and is not mandatory. According to Zukunft Altbau, the experts inspect and document the entire heating system during the heating check.

This gives you more accurate results. Ultimately, however, the check often leads to the same optimization measures as the heating check.

The energy consumption when heating radiators can be reduced by up to 15 percent through hydraulic balancing, according to the Intelligent heating portal of the VdZ – Economic Association for Buildings and Energy and the non-profit consulting company co2online.

Future old buildings assume 10 percent, the energy advice of the Federal Association of Consumers assumes savings of up to five percent.

For long-term energy saving – yes. From a financial point of view – not at first glance. According to Frank Hettler, the simplest variant of hydraulic balancing, the calculation and adjustment of the system, can cost 1,000 euros for smaller buildings. There can also be costs for conversions, such as replacing individual radiators or installing sub-valves on the radiators to adjust the water volume.

In the case of hydraulic adjustments after extensive conversion work in larger apartment buildings, low five-digit amounts can be incurred.

In most cases, these investment costs are higher than you could get out of savings in one winter. But the costs for the adjustment will be amortized in a few years, depending on the heating system.

And you can at least reduce the costs: there are currently state subsidies for the measure for buildings that are not subject to the obligation to carry out hydronic balancing. For existing buildings with a maximum of five residential units, you can apply for a refund of 15 to 20 percent of the costs via the "Heating Optimization" program at the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control (Bafa) if at least 300 euros are incurred.

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