Comment on Free Talk Friday - December 27th, 2024
DaveWave94@sub.wetshaving.social 3 months ago
Last day of work in 2024 behind me! It was quite a challenge, especially since I barely slept again. And as soon as I came home, the next bad surprise: my heating system had failed again, my flat was awfully cold.
The brother duo who are my landlords were rather quick to act and tried as best as they could to identify the issue. We at least narrowed it down to two possibilities: either it’s the pipes in my flat or the radiators, or in the worst case both. None of the other tenants except me and the elderly lady who’s my nextdoor neighbour on the ground floor have any issues with the heating. Very strange issue in general. Since the heating company is not very keen to respond (a very frustrating issue for both landlords and me), I now have two oil radiators in my flat that provide some warmth. I have to switch the smaller one between kitchen and bathroom, but at least the issue will be tackled in the new year.
After all this stress, I’m really exhausted. I actually planned to sleep a bit after work and grocery shopping, but all that trouble made this impossible. I’m happy how fast my landlords are responding to any issues though, much better than my past experiences. Now my only hope is that it won’t be too cold or else my electricity bill will shoot through the roof - the oil radiators are powered by electricity, and given that they’re from a time were ecological technology wasn’t really on the agenda has me kinda worried about the costs. However, better poor than frozen! 😄
Hope all of you will have a few last nice and relaxed days in 2024. Happy to be here 👍🏻
That’s a bummer that they can’t get it sorted before the new year. Also doesn’t seem fair to me that you’d have to shoulder the cost of heat meanwhile.
I hope they can fix the issue for you and your neighbor soon. Dealing with no heat in the winter can be very stressful, especially with how cold I’m sure it gets where you are.
It actually happened 14 days ago, but back then the heating company cleaned the system and everything was working again. Back then my neighbour was also affected, currently she’s fine. It’s just my flat on the ground floor - no one else in the entire apartment complex, which means radiators or pipes are wonky. Now the only working radiator is the one in my bedroom, where it’s absolutely not needed 😅
The bad actors are certainly the heating company here - they don’t react to any calls, claim to already be “on holiday” and don’t fix it before 2025. My landlords work in civil engineering, I work in nursing - there’s no way we have to think about solutions for heating systems, but here we are. I’m sure my landlord duo will offer me something to offset the increase in the electricity bill, most likely a few months of reduced rent/only paying for the flat and not the garage. I actually trust these two guys way more than any big company about finding some kind of compromise.
It sucks to be cold - hope that this will be sorted out soon!
Thanks! I hope so too. Given that I am a smoker/recently converted vaper, I am used to dressing in layers for the cold seasons. But the cold also brings the possibility of mould growing on my walls, which would be horrible. Unfortunately the bigger oil radiator in my living room has already caused a short circuit, but at least only after it got it to a nice & cozy temperature 😅 We’ll see how this develops. My dad also offered me an old fan heater, maybe I will have to use that one for kitchen & bathroom and the smaller oil radiator in the living room. Difficult situations require creative solutions 🤔
walden@sub.wetshaving.social 3 months ago
Have you watched any YouTube videos about bleeding radiators? If there’s air in them they won’t work.
DaveWave94@sub.wetshaving.social 3 months ago
Sure, that would’ve been the easiest solution, but yesterday we tried bleeding them after our pipe cleaning attempts: there was never air coming out, only warm water. The erratic behaviour of the heating system is that it sometimes works (albeit with reduced output) and sometimes fails completely - and most unfortunate, the “failing” periods are during nights with -3°C 🥶 We now suspect that it is a problem directly in my apartment: either rust or some other blockage directly in my pipes or something inside the radiators. The bedroom one works however, which is baffling to me.
walden@sub.wetshaving.social 3 months ago
Is it one zone, or does the bedroom have it’s own zone (thermostat)?
DaveWave94@sub.wetshaving.social 3 months ago
I’m not really sure I can explain that very well in english. Our apartment complex works like many others from old times here in Germany: there’s a big thermostat on the main heating unit in the cellar, then every apartment has a radiator in each room except the corridor with a valve. According to my landlords, the bedroom and living room should be connected and the bathroom and kitchen are a separate circuit (anterior and posterior circulation). The pipes for the bedroom should go through the 3-room apartment of my neighbour however, which is the only idea we have why it’s still working 🤷🏻♂️