Installation of a gas heating system in new construction 2023/2024

let the others have their gas

Definitely not without responding to the collected fake news here. I have now done so - it was not for you but for the silent reader.

Why is one always treated like a little rebellious kindergartner in Germany?

If I want to install a gas heating system, I have my reasons for it. Not everyone likes heat pumps and the corresponding heat concept behind them. By the way, neither do I.

First of all, I don’t want underfloor heating, but classic radiators. I also don’t want a house with a constant temperature and a sluggish heating system. Underfloor heating isn’t really that healthy either. I always have warm feet and find it pleasant when the floor is cool.

At the same time, I also want to be able to quickly heat one or more rooms to 24 degrees or more in winter. I also want a house without an additional ventilation system or forced ventilation. It was possible and it should remain possible to produce a flow temperature of 60 degrees. Whoever wants to realize this with a heat pump might technically manage somehow, but then won’t be able to pay their electricity bill anymore.

Heat pump means surface heating with low flow temperatures and sluggish heat control. And above all permanent heating. It heats even when no one is home or when you go on a short vacation.

And now it starts again. Wood stoves banned, existing fireplaces have to be retrofitted with filters, pollutant values are being tightened further and further. Bad refrigerant, good refrigerant in the heat pump. Anyone who installed a heat pump three years ago now has a climate-damaging heating system in their nearly new building. Yes, dear builders, that is the reality.

And what a stupid coincidence that Germany’s largest heat pump and heating manufacturer is being sold to the Americans. At a time when all other heating methods are practically being banned. To me, this has more than a bad smell.

But all of that only annoys me secondarily. My oil heating system from 1992 runs excellently. I bought the heater for 14 euros once.
I need 1000 liters of heating oil for my 180 sqm living space and I do the maintenance myself. I can still manage boiler cleaning, nozzle replacement and occasional renewal of the ignition electrode myself.

If something electronic breaks on my heat pump, however, it will immediately become expensive. And just like the electricity meters, the smart meters, the inverters, most heat pumps also come from Asia.

Heat pumps are the same wrong path as night storage heaters. They were banned in 2009, reapproved in 2014 and today are the only alternative to heat pumps in ideologically polluted Germany.

Well, someone is really unpacking the entire FDP/AfD rhetoric on the matter.

Why is one always treated like a small rebellious kindergartner in Germany.

Well, because reason, good persuasion, and scientific facts (by now) no longer reach everyone. And then sometimes it’s good to just stop, because CO2 reduction concerns all of us. And after the war of aggression in Ukraine, the enormous dependence on such countries becomes clear, countries on which we definitely do not want to depend. By the way, also the USA – so much for the "sting," which probably only half works on you.

First of all, I don’t want underfloor heating, but classic radiators.

Yes, and? Works the same with a heat pump.

It also heats when no one is at home or if you go on vacation for a short time.

Huh? I can turn mine off. More than that: set it appropriately so it starts up again in time.

Wood stoves forbidden, existing fireplaces must be retrofitted with filters, pollutant limits are being tightened more and more.

Yes, fine dust is a health problem. The regulations are actually much too lax, but designed so that people are not unduly burdened.

Bad refrigerant, good refrigerant in the heat pump. Whoever installed a heat pump 3 years ago now has a climate-damaging heating system in their almost new building.

For single-family house heat pumps, that’s initially completely irrelevant. The old systems can stay. And switching new ones to propane is simply better.

And what a stupid coincidence that Germany’s largest heat pump and heating manufacturer is being sold to the Americans. At a time when all other heating types are practically banned. For me, this has more than a sting to it.

Not a coincidence, but simply explainable. The profit margins of manufacturers from Germany will drop sharply due to competition from abroad and the scaling up of mass production. Now is the best time to get the maximum money out of a sale. Viessmann will never be worth that much again.

1000 liters of heating oil for my 180 sqm living space

That would be 55 kWh/sqm. Perfect house for a heat pump :) Up to 100 kWh/sqm, installation is also generally possible without further measures and cheaper.

Heat pumps are the same dead end as night storage heaters. They were banned in 2009, allowed again in 2014, and today are the only alternative to heat pumps in ideologically contaminated Germany.

Would you like to justify that? Especially since this is about new construction. How your claims smash the physical reality is not apparent to me.

You cannot prevent nonsense from being written, but I am always glad that the nonsense is at least commented on accordingly. So many thanks to

I don't know what AfD rhetoric is supposed to be when I have doubts about a heat pump. But well, nowadays you are already considered a Nazi if you express even the slightest criticism against political insanity.

A heat pump is no more suitable for everyone and everything than an electric car. The owner of a single-family house that still stands without shading, with a photovoltaic system and a wallbox in the yard and an appropriate driving profile, for them the electric car may be uniquely good and cheap. For the commuter with a rental apartment on a side street of the big city without their own parking space or charging possibility, it simply does not come into question. Politically forcing everyone to drive electrically is just as foolish as now politically forcing everyone to heat electrically.

96 percent of the property management companies see the WEG owners as unable to renovate their apartments or install new heating systems.

What does that mean concretely?

There will be massive write-offs and value adjustments in existing real estate. Condominium apartments, multi-family houses, single-family houses are likely to see significant value losses. That in turn is likely to cause trouble for banks. Many loans will be undersecured.

And it will of course also affect the new construction market. First, further cost increases. At the same time, the value of inherited or to-be-sold properties will drop drastically. So anyone who has calculated fixed sales proceeds here may be bitterly disappointed.

And then we still have §490 of the Building Code. It becomes effective in the case of a general decline in real estate prices. Can that even be excluded if the prices of existing properties fall so much? But that will certainly also affect newly built houses.

§490 Building Code
If there is a significant deterioration or a threat of such in the financial circumstances of the borrower or in the value of a security provided for the loan, through which the repayment of the loan, even with realization of the security, is endangered, the lender may always terminate the loan agreement without notice before disbursement of the loan, and after disbursement usually without notice.

It will be exciting!

For single-family house heat pumps, this is initially completely irrelevant. The old systems can remain. And switching new ones to propane is simply better.

I wouldn't say irrelevant now. According to the current draft, maintenance and repair are also not allowed. This means that if something is leaking somewhere, the heat pump would not be repairable. For example, we have installed R407C, which would then not be permitted.