Ahr Valley
Delivery problems with heaters for the flood area
A plumber is installing underfloor heating in a house affected by the flood disaster. Photo: Thomas Frey / dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
The fatal flood disaster in the Ahr valley damaged or destroyed thousands of houses. The need for new heating systems is enormous. But some flood victims have to wait months for it.
With the winter temperatures, one question is becoming more and more urgent for numerous flood victims on the Ahr: When will I get a functioning heating system again?
“Of course we have customers who are cold – they don’t have a functioning heating system,” said the head master of the sanitary, heating and air conditioning guild in the Ahrweiler district, Frank Wershofen, of the German press agency. “When it comes to delivery times, it depends on the device. In the case of deadlines of several months, there are supplier problems: The large manufacturers of heating systems do not get enough semiconductors. That is the international chip shortage, ”explained the head of a flood-damaged SHK company in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler.
The Energy Agency Rhineland-Palatinate refers to the fact that it was “almost everywhere” in the Ahr Valley with questionnaires to record the need for heating. “Mobile single or heating network transitional solutions” were also offered. Heating companies in Germany also delivered “priority in the flood areas”. During the floods on July 14th and 15th, after heavy rain in the Ahr valley, 134 people were killed and thousands of houses damaged or destroyed. There were also floods elsewhere in Germany.
According to the Energy Agency, the number of inquiries due to insufficient heat supply on the Ahr is now falling. “If you don’t have a winter-proof heating solution yet, you are welcome to contact us at our email address [email protected],” she said.
Ahr municipalities are increasingly organizing heatable emergency shelters for flood victims without long-term, warm alternative quarters. Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, for example, has ordered 64 “tiny houses” with 34 square meters of living space each for up to five residents. Sinzig, Grafschaft and the Altenahr community also rely on mini-houses like this. In addition, a container village is being built in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler. “There are 16 three-way solutions, each with a kitchen and a bathroom in a middle container and two outer containers,” said city spokesman Michael Rennenberg.
District craftsman Wershofen explained that a new high-pressure natural gas pipeline had been put into operation in the lower Ahr valley around Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler. “But over 3000 gas meters have not yet been installed in the houses.” Here, too, there are still emergency solutions. In the wine villages of the middle and upper Ahr, the citizens used heating oil and liquefied gas to heat up until the flood. Now there is a hodgepodge of individual solutions, for example with wood stoves, electric or pellet heating.
Wershofen, who, in his own words, currently works seven days a week and receives more than 100 customer inquiries every day, warns of rash heating solutions: “A system must also fit the house. Usually it’s meant to last 15 or 20 years. “
The Koblenz Chamber of Crafts protested against statements that were often heard that there were too few heating engineers. It refers to its website www.handwerk-baut-auf.de – this is where specialist companies from all over Germany offer their services. According to the chamber, the access figures show that “around 80 percent of the tradespeople say:” We still have capacity. “”
Egon Linden, a flood-damaged heating fitter in Heppingen, a district of Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, said: “In the Ahr valley you can actually see heating fitters with license plates from somewhere else. That is a big help. But two hands can only process a certain amount at a time. ” Kreishandwerker Wershofen reported that “12 of our approximately 55 guild members drowned in the flood”.