Hello,
We completed our city villa at the end of October and have moved in. Quite quickly, it became clear that in the ground floor the hot water takes a very long time to arrive in the kitchen and guest bathroom. According to the planning documents, it should not take more than 3 seconds for the hot water to come out. It was officially measured, and it takes 25 seconds and 3.7 liters (about 1 gallon) in the kitchen before hot water arrives. The cause is the missing looped circulation pipe. The plumber admits his mistake and has now asked us whether we want this defect fixed or prefer a financial compensation instead.
What needs to be done:
The pipe in the hallway must be exposed and about 1.5 meters (5 feet) newly installed through a wall toward the utility room. The tiles will have to be broken on parts of the utility room and hallway floors; the screed (concrete subfloor) will likely have to be removed in these areas as well. Then a new pipe will be laid so that the current overly long pipe will be integrated into the hot water circulation system on the upper floor. Afterwards, everything must be restored to its original state. We have some leftover tiles, which we would use, and then ask him to order a new batch (to avoid color differences...).
This does not sound simple or cheap to me. Instead, he also offers money. What do you think would be appropriate for this? He said he would calculate the extra consumption over 20 years. But what about the loss of value of the property? This is a defect, and we have to disclose it when selling (since we are aware of it…). It's not causing major problems; having hot water in the kitchen is nice, but thanks to induction cooking, it heats up quickly anyway 🙂 And in the guest bathroom, well, you can just run the tap for 30 seconds before visitors arrive, and then it works…
How much money do you think would be reasonable? And yes, I know it’s easy for an outsider to say “definitely have it fixed.”
We completed our city villa at the end of October and have moved in. Quite quickly, it became clear that in the ground floor the hot water takes a very long time to arrive in the kitchen and guest bathroom. According to the planning documents, it should not take more than 3 seconds for the hot water to come out. It was officially measured, and it takes 25 seconds and 3.7 liters (about 1 gallon) in the kitchen before hot water arrives. The cause is the missing looped circulation pipe. The plumber admits his mistake and has now asked us whether we want this defect fixed or prefer a financial compensation instead.
What needs to be done:
The pipe in the hallway must be exposed and about 1.5 meters (5 feet) newly installed through a wall toward the utility room. The tiles will have to be broken on parts of the utility room and hallway floors; the screed (concrete subfloor) will likely have to be removed in these areas as well. Then a new pipe will be laid so that the current overly long pipe will be integrated into the hot water circulation system on the upper floor. Afterwards, everything must be restored to its original state. We have some leftover tiles, which we would use, and then ask him to order a new batch (to avoid color differences...).
This does not sound simple or cheap to me. Instead, he also offers money. What do you think would be appropriate for this? He said he would calculate the extra consumption over 20 years. But what about the loss of value of the property? This is a defect, and we have to disclose it when selling (since we are aware of it…). It's not causing major problems; having hot water in the kitchen is nice, but thanks to induction cooking, it heats up quickly anyway 🙂 And in the guest bathroom, well, you can just run the tap for 30 seconds before visitors arrive, and then it works…
How much money do you think would be reasonable? And yes, I know it’s easy for an outsider to say “definitely have it fixed.”
I already understand all of this perfectly. We’re probably just talking past each other. Currently, the circulation line only serves the upper floor with the shower and sink, connected by line X. Now, this line is no longer supposed to go directly back from the pump into the tank, but instead needs to run about 10–15 meters (33–49 feet) through the ground floor, branching off to the kitchen and passing right by the sink in the guest bathroom. Part of the line—from the T-joint on the ground floor to the guest WC sink—is actually one size smaller because, during installation, the plumber only designed it as a branch line. The smaller diameter shouldn’t matter since the only fixture connected there is the guest WC sink, which, along with the circulation pump, is a low-demand user. It’s a different matter for the overall supply line. The upstairs line was supposed to support two fixtures, but now there are four. Of course, one would need to consider whether all four fixtures will be used simultaneously and which warm water outlet would lose flow first. Still, this is a factor that needs to be taken into account. As you said, it will most likely work.
Overall, the question is whether it’s really necessary to tear everything up in the hallway when the option through the guest bathroom is much easier to implement and likely involves fewer errors.
Overall, the question is whether it’s really necessary to tear everything up in the hallway when the option through the guest bathroom is much easier to implement and likely involves fewer errors.
Payday schrieb:
Hello
At the end of October, we completed our city villa and moved in.
....
Then a new pipe will be installed so that the current too-long pipe is integrated into the hot water circulation system on the upper floor. ..I mentioned it in the first post 🙂 but it doesn’t matter. Let’s see when the manager will get back to me. He was supposed to come by Thursday or Friday, but knowing him, he will probably miss my whole two-week vacation. I’ll just charge €200 per day. I already told him that I am available now and not sometime later. The defect has been known for weeks, and I’m already familiar with all his excuses.
So, the plumber came by. He offered me a financial compensation of €750. I laughed and said we want the work to be done. Then I told him my idea about the guest room opening, and he was immediately enthusiastic. We are going ahead with that. He estimates 4 hours of plumbing work, followed by redoing one tile. So, about 1 day of work.
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