Hello,
we have a somewhat complex problem and are currently unsure about what to do. Any experiences would be appreciated.
Our house is 23 years old, with a Buderus boiler and control system; the burner was recently replaced. In our living room, there was a kind of "thermostat" that was already broken when we bought the house. We naïvely accepted the sales advisor’s statement that it wasn’t needed and assumed that the heating could be controlled directly at the unit downstairs.
We suspect that something was set up about 23 years ago, after which no one cared about this thermostat, and eventually, it just broke. The water may be a bit cooler, and our bathroom radiator never really gets warm despite bleeding and unblocking. Otherwise, everything is fine for us. When my husband goes into the living room around 7 a.m., it’s still a bit cool, but absolutely okay, and when I come home in the afternoon, it’s warm in there. So far, so good.
Now, we have rented out our granny flat to a young woman for 8 weeks. There is only one heating circuit. Due to her work, she gets up at 4:30 a.m. This was not a problem before, but since last weekend it seems that the flat is freezing cold when she gets up in the morning. Previously, according to her, this was different, and the heating was running in the morning. Now it isn’t anymore. She feels cold and wants this changed, which I can understand.
Today, a technician was here. The problem is: this control unit is broken. The heating is set to something, the sensor is located outside on the north side, but exactly what was set can no longer be read or changed.
The young woman now wants the heating to be set so that it is warm at 4:30 a.m.
Because we have only one circuit, we cannot separate the systems for the granny flat and the main house. This means we would have to set it so that the radiators start heating at 4:30 a.m. for ourselves as well. This makes no sense for us—no one here gets up before 6:30 a.m., the children get up about an hour later, and we may not be as sensitive to cold.
But to do this at all, a new controller is needed. These parts from 25 years ago are no longer available today—you can get “refurbished” ones from various online shops for around 300 euros, but whether we can still set those ourselves is questionable.
The alternative would be a completely new heating control system, which would cost about 1500 euros; a binding offer will be made. That is certainly even more expensive 🙂
For us personally, everything is basically fine, so this is a lot of money. On the other hand, it may also not be very sensible if you have no way to adjust your own heating, and sooner or later, one might have to invest in this anyway?
we have a somewhat complex problem and are currently unsure about what to do. Any experiences would be appreciated.
Our house is 23 years old, with a Buderus boiler and control system; the burner was recently replaced. In our living room, there was a kind of "thermostat" that was already broken when we bought the house. We naïvely accepted the sales advisor’s statement that it wasn’t needed and assumed that the heating could be controlled directly at the unit downstairs.
We suspect that something was set up about 23 years ago, after which no one cared about this thermostat, and eventually, it just broke. The water may be a bit cooler, and our bathroom radiator never really gets warm despite bleeding and unblocking. Otherwise, everything is fine for us. When my husband goes into the living room around 7 a.m., it’s still a bit cool, but absolutely okay, and when I come home in the afternoon, it’s warm in there. So far, so good.
Now, we have rented out our granny flat to a young woman for 8 weeks. There is only one heating circuit. Due to her work, she gets up at 4:30 a.m. This was not a problem before, but since last weekend it seems that the flat is freezing cold when she gets up in the morning. Previously, according to her, this was different, and the heating was running in the morning. Now it isn’t anymore. She feels cold and wants this changed, which I can understand.
Today, a technician was here. The problem is: this control unit is broken. The heating is set to something, the sensor is located outside on the north side, but exactly what was set can no longer be read or changed.
The young woman now wants the heating to be set so that it is warm at 4:30 a.m.
Because we have only one circuit, we cannot separate the systems for the granny flat and the main house. This means we would have to set it so that the radiators start heating at 4:30 a.m. for ourselves as well. This makes no sense for us—no one here gets up before 6:30 a.m., the children get up about an hour later, and we may not be as sensitive to cold.
But to do this at all, a new controller is needed. These parts from 25 years ago are no longer available today—you can get “refurbished” ones from various online shops for around 300 euros, but whether we can still set those ourselves is questionable.
The alternative would be a completely new heating control system, which would cost about 1500 euros; a binding offer will be made. That is certainly even more expensive 🙂
For us personally, everything is basically fine, so this is a lot of money. On the other hand, it may also not be very sensible if you have no way to adjust your own heating, and sooner or later, one might have to invest in this anyway?
C
Caspar202016 Mar 2018 22:07Jana33 schrieb:
ice coldSure; not ice cold; but what exactly does ice cold mean in this case? @TE?
It should be around 18°C (64°F) anyway.
B
Baumfachmann16 Mar 2018 22:45Why drive a tenant away if they are not behind on their payments? I would fix the issue before a problem tenant moves in who doesn’t pay. If you are satisfied with your tenant, then don’t be too stingy to address the condition.
How would you feel if the situation was reversed? Would it be okay for you to be cold and your landlord just saying: I don’t care?
How would you feel if the situation was reversed? Would it be okay for you to be cold and your landlord just saying: I don’t care?
Thank you for all the replies.
I’ll try to answer as best as I can with my current technical knowledge.
So: As far as I understood the technician, nothing can be adjusted directly on the boiler. My parents and in-laws say theirs can’t be adjusted at the boiler either, so I hope this is not completely unusual.
The technician said he can turn this controller off completely, but that would mean nothing is controlled anymore and hot water would run to the radiators 24/7. For reasons I don’t quite remember, this would only be an emergency solution at best and would also cause us significantly higher energy costs.
Why do we have to replace the heating system after 30 years? Is that legally required? Definitely? Why, if the heating still works? That’s also 7 years from now... According to the technician, a well-adjusted boiler lasts for a very long time; it didn’t sound to me like it definitely has to be replaced in 7 years.
The burner is brand new now — but doesn’t have to be replaced in 7 years??
And yes, I am generally a bit skeptical when people say, “Too bad, if you get up at 4:30 a.m. you just have to sit in a cold apartment.” We are interested in a good tenant relationship, and of course, we want the tenant to be satisfied. Still, we also have to make sure we don’t have a money burner here. A problematic point, which we simply did not realize before, is that there are no two separate heating circuits, and whatever settings we make for ourselves or for the tenant apply to the whole house from top to bottom, including the resulting costs.
I understood from the technician: Right now, since this control computer is broken, we can’t do anything at all. If we buy a new control system, it will initially cost around 1,500 euros (about 1,500 euros). (Question on this: If we have to completely replace the heating system in 5 years at the latest??? then this control system would no longer be usable??) Then we could set the heating to come back on at 4:15 a.m., so the tenant would have 22°C (72°F) or whatever. (Addition: Cold is always relative. At 10 p.m. she had 20°C (68°F) and said it was too cold; I myself walk around the living room in a t-shirt at 21°C (70°F).) But then everyone has that. Either we turn off our own radiators completely but end up freezing, or the entire main house is heated again from 4:15 a.m. Everyone is still asleep then. From an economic perspective, this makes no sense for us at all.
It would be enough for us if the heating in the main house turns on again at 6:15 a.m., but by then she has already left.
If during the heating season the heating switches on 2 hours earlier every day, roughly what does that mean for annual costs? Are we talking about 50 euros per month, 10 euros, or 200 euros?
I’ll try to answer as best as I can with my current technical knowledge.
So: As far as I understood the technician, nothing can be adjusted directly on the boiler. My parents and in-laws say theirs can’t be adjusted at the boiler either, so I hope this is not completely unusual.
The technician said he can turn this controller off completely, but that would mean nothing is controlled anymore and hot water would run to the radiators 24/7. For reasons I don’t quite remember, this would only be an emergency solution at best and would also cause us significantly higher energy costs.
Why do we have to replace the heating system after 30 years? Is that legally required? Definitely? Why, if the heating still works? That’s also 7 years from now... According to the technician, a well-adjusted boiler lasts for a very long time; it didn’t sound to me like it definitely has to be replaced in 7 years.
The burner is brand new now — but doesn’t have to be replaced in 7 years??
And yes, I am generally a bit skeptical when people say, “Too bad, if you get up at 4:30 a.m. you just have to sit in a cold apartment.” We are interested in a good tenant relationship, and of course, we want the tenant to be satisfied. Still, we also have to make sure we don’t have a money burner here. A problematic point, which we simply did not realize before, is that there are no two separate heating circuits, and whatever settings we make for ourselves or for the tenant apply to the whole house from top to bottom, including the resulting costs.
I understood from the technician: Right now, since this control computer is broken, we can’t do anything at all. If we buy a new control system, it will initially cost around 1,500 euros (about 1,500 euros). (Question on this: If we have to completely replace the heating system in 5 years at the latest??? then this control system would no longer be usable??) Then we could set the heating to come back on at 4:15 a.m., so the tenant would have 22°C (72°F) or whatever. (Addition: Cold is always relative. At 10 p.m. she had 20°C (68°F) and said it was too cold; I myself walk around the living room in a t-shirt at 21°C (70°F).) But then everyone has that. Either we turn off our own radiators completely but end up freezing, or the entire main house is heated again from 4:15 a.m. Everyone is still asleep then. From an economic perspective, this makes no sense for us at all.
It would be enough for us if the heating in the main house turns on again at 6:15 a.m., but by then she has already left.
If during the heating season the heating switches on 2 hours earlier every day, roughly what does that mean for annual costs? Are we talking about 50 euros per month, 10 euros, or 200 euros?
Are those radiators or underfloor heating?
If they are radiators, do they have their own thermostat?
If a thermostat is present, I would simply replace it with a programmable one.
By the way, wasn’t it once said that night setback heating might actually lead to increased consumption?
If they are radiators, do they have their own thermostat?
If a thermostat is present, I would simply replace it with a programmable one.
By the way, wasn’t it once said that night setback heating might actually lead to increased consumption?
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