9205 Annual gas boiler servicing!

Yesterday the company that services my bolier called to make the appontemnt to do so for this year. The booking clerk asked me to provide their engineer with the following:
[B]1.[/B] The [U]total[/U] cubic meters of all the rooms in my house.
[SIZE="2"](she said the sq.m would be OK and the engineer will work out the cubic figure...)[/SIZE]
[B]2.[/B] The total of my gas bills for [U]the last two years[/U].

Oviously I queried this and the explanation was as follows...
The 'governement' now requires that they (the company) provide a certificate with these details on to ensure that annual servicing of the boiler is up to standard (?)..

The check and servicing is due this afternoon - I'll let you know more after that. But I hadn't heard about this. Anyone else Know anything?

Category

Building/Renovation

Carole, mine was fitted almost 16 months ago and I was told of it needing an annual service. (Difficult to organise from afar and looking for all the bills, oof!!!)

In the UK, boilers in rented accommodation have to be serviced annually by law.

I look forward to hearing the outcome of the visit.

My apologies for not getting back with the update....(I'll put it down to my 'forgettery').

So - the visit.

Well I sorted out all the details I was told to present to the engineer and just did a resume of the Sq. metres of the house, plus the gas meter readings from Aug.07 to Aug.08. These satisfied him and he worked out the cubic meter equivalent for the record.

Every year when the boiler is serviced they have left me a copy of the inspection report. This year that report has this additional item after Section H which requires the ambient cubic meters measurement and the annual consumption of gas. (Two years consumption for this [U]first[/U] report.). He then took a current meter reading and said they won't need to ask for that again as they can (it seems) access remotely all the meters for the units they service.

I asked why this had become a requirement and he said that it was the region (Lombardia) that had requested it and that he 'presumed' that all other regions would no doubt be the same (don't hold your breath on THAT one...). He added that he understood that it was for the prevision for future gas consmption and the purchase for winter use!

A few months back there was a story on badly reading gas meters. Some read high. Some low. IIRC the companies weren't servicing them. Great if your meter read low but otherwise not great.

I don't understand the questions they asked you. Shouldn't most of those already be on file? I remember the bundle of forms my installer had to file I'm fairly sure it included the size of the home.

Being a bit of a cynic I rather 'suspect' that there is an ulterior motive for requesting these two particular details.

In Milano, and certainly here in Sondrio province too (I can't speak for other regions/provinces as I have no knowledge of them) the level of heating permitted in private homes and the hours and dates when this [I]is[/I] permitted, is established every year and published by local comunes and in the press. For example where I live the heating should not be above 20°C between mid October and mid April. It should [I]only[/I] exceed that level if it is exceptionally cold and permission is given by the comune (Government?).

So - my theory is that by knowing the cubic meters of my dwelling and the gas I've used they could pretty easily identify who ignores their ruling on heating levels... Maybe I'm wrong, maybe not... but if I am - I really can't see anyone in authority bothering about it!

Is it town gas or GPL that you are on? It does seem rather stupid as you could have a house of 300 sq mtrs and just heat 150 @ 25C in the winter months.
I know that I spend nearly as much on electricity, using tumble dryer, oven etc as I do on my heating in winter!!

Those are national rules. Every town has a grade shown by it's letter. IIRC A is the warmest F might be the coldest.

Between drafty homes and people just opening windows/doors to air out houses I'm not sure you could really tell anything from consumption numbers.

If they really wanted to check things I bet they could rig a van with an infra-red camera. Drive around town taking pictures of the windows. That could be used to figure out internal heat etc. OTOH I doubt many Italian families are heating whole homes above 20C.

From the feedback that I get, most Italians seem to live at about 17-18C. Will have to tell one of my clients not to set his heating at 21!!!!!
Will have to look up what our town grade here is out of interest

[url=http://www.comuni-italiani.it/]Comuni-Italiani.it: Informazioni, CAP e dati utili[/url]

Find your town and then click on clima. It'll say when and for how long the heat can be on.

Thanks Nick. Allowed 14 hrs here according to the data. My usual running hours are approx 12 per day in winter, so I am within the law:yes:

Another post that has confused me.... is this a limit on gas heating or just any form of heating???

This is the info I have found for where we live.
Clima
Gradi Giorno 1.120
Zona Climatica (a) C
Accensione Impianti Termici
il limite massimo consentito è di 10 ore giornaliere dal 15 novembre al 31 marzo (b)

What exactly does that mean for me in real terms?
Confused of Belvedere

It was my understanding that the limits apply to the heating and cooling of public buildings only.

However, given that it's clear there are a few Brits who've moved to Italy because they so hate what the Daily Mail and its ilk call the Nanny State, I would obtain some amusement from learning that one is indeed required by Italian law to set one's household thermostat no higher than a certain point, to operate the heating only between certain dates and then to run it for only a certain number of hours a day. :bigergrin:

[url=http://www.parlandosparlando.com/view.php/id_705/lingua_0/whoisit_1]D.P.R. n. 412 del 26 agosto 1993 (Impianti termici)[/url]

This is the law, if anybody can be bothered to fathom it out. It does not appear to apply to private houses, and for those of you in the upper echelons, Embassies and Ambassadors' Residences are specifically exempted from compliance!

[B]This list is included in the Act kindly posted by Charles above:[/B]

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
C 1. Il territorio nazionale e' suddiviso nelle seguenti sei zone climatiche in funzione dei gradi- giorno, indipendentemente dalla ubicazione geografica:
Zona A: comuni che presentano un numero di gradi-giorno non superiore a 600;
Zona B: comuni che presentano un numero di gradi-giorno maggiore di 600 e non superiore a 900;
Zona C: comuni che presentano un numero di gradi-giorno maggiore di 900 e non superiore a 1.400;
Zona D: comuni che presentano un numero di gradi-giorno maggiore di 1.400 e non superiore a 2.100;
Zona E: comuni che presentano un numero di gradi-giorno maggiore di 2.100 e non superiore a 3.000;
Zona F: comuni che presentano un numero di gradi-giorno maggiore di 3.000.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

And this is the reading for my comune, which being an Alpine region has a larger allowance than some other areas...

[B]Clima[/B]
Gradi Giorno 2.375
Zona Climatica (a) [B]E[/B]
Accensione Impianti Termici
il limite massimo consentito è di 14 ore giornaliere dal 15 ottobre al 15 aprile (b)
(The maximum allowed is for 14 hours per day from 15 October to 15 April)

[quote=Charles Phillips;87035][url=http://www.parlandosparlando.com/view.php/id_705/lingua_0/whoisit_1]D.P.R. n. 412 del 26 agosto 1993 (Impianti termici)[/url]

Rather challenging this law (not to say boring) for someone of my linguistic capabilities. Bureaucracy is bad enough in English. So I'm not going to 'fathom it out'.

However on a brief scan it seems to me that even diplomatic representatives aren't exempted if they live in blocks of flats, in which case the poor things have to put up with the same level of heating as everyone else. Which might explain why the US State Department in its Post Report for Italy ([url=http://www.ediplomat.com/np/post_reports/pr_it.htm]Italy - Post Report - e Diplomat[/url]) warns that 'local government regulation establishes the period that central heating can be operated, as well as the number of hours per day'.

There may be a number of other exemptions to these regulations that might be useful to some members of this forum, particularly that for buildings which are used for alberghi, pensioni and comparable activities.

But for the rest of us, it might seem easiest just to forget about it all if you live in an independent house with autonomous heating, and put up with what your landlord or condominium committee decide if you don't.

these limits are for public buildings and condos...that have heating systems that are for the whole buildings.... you can do what you want in your own home...

gathering data over gas usage because of the way Italy has to rely on imports is maybe plausible... my other theory on this measurement would be that they are trying to build a map here of efficiency as regards properties...larger ones for sure and newer builds that show how energy efficient they are and how much they pollute...

two reasons for this... one they might be able to tax you more if you are not efficient and second it will affect the price of your property when selling... its all part i guess of the same thing happening in the UK i have heard about sellers packs etc etc....

anyway there are no laws that control anyone here with their own central heating system.... apart from the economic law ... having the money to pay the bill.....

but there are laws on gas boiler servicing and they can cause umpteen problems if not observed ... from invalidating house insurance...if not up to date and something.... happens to fines... to criminal prosecutions for negligence...again in the case that something goes wrong and you don't have a valid certificate...

just read boscos post...sorry for duplication... central heating provided by the building for the whole building is dying out here... people have there own boilers in their own apartments as they became smaller and more efficient... less dangerous i guess...

this reminds me of when I was working out in Warsaw for a couple of weeks in the early 1990's at their state telecomm's company. it was mid-winter & about 20º below zero outside. I arrived at the PTT building (within their ministry of telecommunications) and went inside to the office of my contact - where I discovered him sitting there, sweltering hot and with the window cracked wide open! On my way out after the meeting, I looked up at the building facade and every office was the same .... all windows in the 10+ storey building were wide open and chucking out hot air into the atmosphere!

Like all Polish public buildings I visited in that trip, it appeared only to have one, central, on/off switch for its central heating, & no thermostatic control operating. When I asked about this crazy state of affairs, they just shrugged and said it was easier to leave the boiler running 24x7 and regulate temperature via the windows, as if you kept turning the c/h on and off it would just break down.

So, I can officially confirm that communism caused global warming. George W. will be very pleased :-)

Is there any significance to the date that this thread was created?

I also hear that it is going to be a bad spaghetti harvest this year, no doubt because of global warming caused by all this rampant gas consumption!:laughs::laughs:

Spaghetti trees must be wrapped in three inches of manure to protect from frost

[quote=Nielo;87179]Is there any significance to the date that this thread was created?

I also hear that it is going to be a bad spaghetti harvest this year, no doubt because of global warming caused by all this rampant gas consumption!:laughs::laughs:[/quote]

:nah: None whatsoever Nielo - and that's the truth!
April is the month the boiler service falls due, and the company (so far) has called me near to, or on, the 1st April each year to make the appointment...