After a complaint about noise pollution, two hundred students in Breda have been in the cold for months. In the evening, the source of the noise, a pellet stove, is eliminated. A gas heater must then take over, but it cannot handle the demand for heat and hot water. “I think it’s bizarre, one complaint puts us all in the cold,” says resident Lucas (23).
During the day it is nice and warm in the student residences, but in the evening it is shaking for students such as Lucas and Jasper. “We have had no hot water for months in the evening and hardly any warmth in the home,” says an angry Luke.
“The house is no longer nice to get hot.”
According to the students, it started last November. According to Eteck, the heat supplier, a biomassa kettle is temporarily eliminated in the evening due to noise pollution. “The gas boilers present, which are set up as a backup and peak load, take over the heat supply,” says a spokesperson for Eteck.
But those gas boilers cannot handle the demand for hot water and heat. “Then you can no longer shower hot, washing up no longer and the house is no longer nice to get warm,” says Jasper.
The cause of all misery is the sustainable biomass plant, a pellet stove installed in 2012. The required heat here is generated locally with wood pellets. A CO2-neutral solution for heating and hot water. But a solution that has also caused noise nuisance for a few months.
“You feel the cold air coming in.”
“I think it’s bizarre. Apparently one complaint is enough reason to put two hundred students in the cold, “says Lucas. “I hang in bed with a blanket and sweater as much as possible, then it is possible.”
After seven o’clock in the evening, the student residence becomes colder and colder. “It is also not well insulated. You feel the cold air coming in. We have to keep the ventilation closed, otherwise it will cool down even faster, “says Lucas. Jasper adds:” The trip under the door ensures that the temperature drops. “
Housing Association Alwel says it is unknown with complaints about the heating. “We have not received any signals,” says a spokesperson. And that is remarkable because in emails from students to Alwel we see the reports. “We do not deliver the heat, we can’t do anything about it,” the housing continues. They can, however, understand that the gas boilers cannot handle the demand for heat at peak times.
Eteck, the owner of the heat system, says that a structural solution is being worked on to make the system work more efficiently and quieter. Until then, the pellet stove will stay out in the evening and the students hope a bit warmer weather quickly.
