Justice for All: Without Neighbors’ Cooperation, Many Residents Could Be Left Without Hot Water

I am a representative of the residents in my building, but I would like to have my former title ‘president of the homeowners’ council’ returned to me so that my neighbors address me as ‘Mr. President’. In Lider, there are two other such representatives who are convinced that they are, in fact, like me, presidents. I will tell you how we recently had a summit of three presidents where President Tomica proposed to Presidents Tin and Edis that we elevate the issue of boiler installation in buildings to a higher, political level.

The issue is that from this year, the European Union regulations prohibit the installation of turbo boilers and insist only on the installation of condensing gas boilers.

– We appreciate the Union’s efforts to ecologically protect the environment, but when a turbo boiler ‘breaks down’ in an apartment, it will have to be replaced with a condensing one. The problem is that then other residents vertically in that building will also have to replace their turbo boilers that are still functioning. This is almost an impossible mission – warned President Tomica.

A Tough Battle is Expected

President Tin supported the esteemed colleague’s position, stating that he knows residents who installed a turbo boiler two years ago and spent between 5500 and 7500 kuna on it, thinking it would function for at least another 15 years. Now they would have to throw away that boiler and invest an additional 8500 to 10,500 kuna in a condensing one. – This actually means that if Pero’s turbo boiler ‘breaks down’, he will not be able to install a condensing one unless other residents vertically install it as well – I concluded.

President Tin confirmed these ominous suspicions, and the three presidents reached a high degree of consensus that many buildings are expecting a tough battle among neighbors. I called one of my many presidential advisors, Marija Kostanjevec Sajko, who is the director of Dimovodni sustavi Kostanjevec, who said that they have had such unpleasant situations since the beginning of the year. Indeed, since January 1, the import of turbo boilers has been banned, but installation is allowed until the stocks in stores are exhausted. Kostanjevec Sajko informed the presidents that distributors stocked up on turbo boilers last year precisely because of this. However, the stocks will be depleted, problems will increase, and it is unclear how to resolve them.

A Bad Alternative

The three presidents also addressed the European Commission, which, realizing the importance of the problem raised to the presidential level, urgently responded that ‘regulations on ecological design and energy labeling for space heaters were published in 2013,’ noting that the Commission left the possibility of installing B1 boilers precisely because of such a problem. The presidents sought advice from Kostanjevec Sajko, who said that these are atmospheric boilers priced between four and five thousand kuna, but which take air from the bathroom, which can be dangerous for life if PVC joinery is installed that does not allow air from outside, potentially poisoning the household with carbon monoxide. The problem could be solved by co-financing the installation of condensing gas boilers, but in Brussels, they are passing the ball to national states. Despite the undeniable authority, the three presidents could not find out if there is a national co-financing program.

In the end, all three expressed concern as it seems that without investment and cooperation from neighbors, many will not have hot water in their apartments, and they appealed to the relevant authorities in Croatia to seriously address this problem. In the meantime, they hope that their neighbor’s boiler will not ‘break down’.