ᐅ High heating costs during warm-up phase due to incorrectly adjusted heating system
Created on: 13 Feb 2024 20:45
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tristan01
Hello everyone,
I would like to share my situation and get your advice.
We are currently building a single-family house with about 140 sqm (1,507 sq ft) of living space. The screed was poured back in September last year. After that, it was left to rest for about 20 days. Then the heating process started with a separate heating device, as the heat pump that can also do this was not yet installed at that time.
The heating device, when properly set, runs a heating program that starts at around 25°C (77°F), increases by 5°C (9°F) each day, and reaches its peak at 50°C (122°F). After that, the temperature decreases again in 5°C (9°F) steps.
Our problem was that the heating device was set to manual mode instead of automatic program. We noticed this quite quickly because the temperature rapidly reached 50°C (122°F) and stayed there for three weeks. We immediately reported this to the construction manager and the responsible plumbing company. Unfortunately, nothing was done.
During the three weeks of heating, we used about 5000 kWh of electricity. We understand that the heating process is the responsibility of the homeowner. Comparable figures from neighbors for the same house size are around 1700 kWh.
Now my question is: Who has experienced similar cases and how did you handle it? Is it possible to hold the general contractor liable or withhold money from the final payment? What was your approach?
I would like to share my situation and get your advice.
We are currently building a single-family house with about 140 sqm (1,507 sq ft) of living space. The screed was poured back in September last year. After that, it was left to rest for about 20 days. Then the heating process started with a separate heating device, as the heat pump that can also do this was not yet installed at that time.
The heating device, when properly set, runs a heating program that starts at around 25°C (77°F), increases by 5°C (9°F) each day, and reaches its peak at 50°C (122°F). After that, the temperature decreases again in 5°C (9°F) steps.
Our problem was that the heating device was set to manual mode instead of automatic program. We noticed this quite quickly because the temperature rapidly reached 50°C (122°F) and stayed there for three weeks. We immediately reported this to the construction manager and the responsible plumbing company. Unfortunately, nothing was done.
During the three weeks of heating, we used about 5000 kWh of electricity. We understand that the heating process is the responsibility of the homeowner. Comparable figures from neighbors for the same house size are around 1700 kWh.
Now my question is: Who has experienced similar cases and how did you handle it? Is it possible to hold the general contractor liable or withhold money from the final payment? What was your approach?
tristan01 schrieb:
Our issue was that the heating unit was set to manual mode instead of automatic program. We noticed it relatively quickly because the temperature went up to 50 degrees Celsius (122°F) very fast and stayed there for three weeks. We reported this immediately to the site manager and the responsible plumbing company. Unfortunately, nothing happened. What does your screed say about this? Have you checked for cracks or similar issues?
Or is it now just about withholding payment from the final installment?
In terms of substance, action could have been taken as early as September...
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Gerddieter13 Feb 2024 22:42Were your comparison values from the neighbor also achieved with the "hotboy" or with their heat pump? That could explain the difference.
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Allthewayup13 Feb 2024 23:25A colleague of mine also heated via Hotboy, which, for a similarly sized house, would be about 5,000 kWh.
We had an external oil heating system and used roughly 800 liters (210 gallons), which is comparable in terms of cost.
If your electricity cost is around 25 cents per kWh, that’s reasonable. At 40 cents per kWh, it naturally looks quite different. However, I have also heard of cases with 14,000 kWh construction power used for major renovations, etc.
If your screed hasn’t been damaged by the continuous heating, I see little chance for you. Heating is rarely regulated in the contract, so it’s usually up to the builder’s discretion how to achieve the contractual goal. That is why, in about 98% of cases, the costs for heating the screed are charged to the client—the contractor does not want to deal with unpredictability.
We had an external oil heating system and used roughly 800 liters (210 gallons), which is comparable in terms of cost.
If your electricity cost is around 25 cents per kWh, that’s reasonable. At 40 cents per kWh, it naturally looks quite different. However, I have also heard of cases with 14,000 kWh construction power used for major renovations, etc.
If your screed hasn’t been damaged by the continuous heating, I see little chance for you. Heating is rarely regulated in the contract, so it’s usually up to the builder’s discretion how to achieve the contractual goal. That is why, in about 98% of cases, the costs for heating the screed are charged to the client—the contractor does not want to deal with unpredictability.
Allthewayup schrieb:
A work colleague also heated using Hotboy; for a similar house size, that would also be around 5,000 kWh.We had similar energy consumption for heating and construction drying.
SoL schrieb:
What does your screed say about this? Have you checked for cracks or similar issues? Or is it just about withholding money from the final payment?
Substantively, action could have been taken as early as September...The screed is fine overall. Fortunately, aside from the expected shrinkage cracks, nothing has happened to it.
Maybe this was misunderstood. Our heating unit was set to "manual" instead of the automatic program. Due to the consistently high temperature of 50 degrees Celsius (122°F), we incurred higher costs than we would have using the automatic program. The neighbors had a similar unit—no heat pump.
In other words, the plumber set the unit incorrectly, which caused me (higher) costs. We reported the incorrect setting immediately, as mentioned above. Unfortunately, nothing happened.
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