To detach yourself from a central heating system, you need to follow a series of technical and administrative steps if you don't want to run into unforeseen risks and unpleasant surprises. The difficult path to follow in order to create an autonomous system presents many pitfalls. There are three fronts to act on.
1) THE RELATIONSHIP WITH THE CONDOMINIUM
Firstly, the relationship with the condominium administration. Authorization is no longer needed, but the detachment is possible only if it does not produce “significant operational imbalances or increased costs for the other condominiums – reads article 1118, paragraph IV of the Civil Code, amended in 2012 -. In this case, the renouncing party remains required to contribute to the payment of the expenses only for the extraordinary maintenance of the system and for its conservation and bringing it up to standard". The first requirement must be certified by a technical report prepared by an engineer or an expert professional surveyor.
On the other hand, those "significant imbalances" remain difficult to quantify: in practice, if a first "isolationist" breaks away, it is conceivable that his choice will not cause a significant imbalance in the functioning of the plant, but if there is a second and then a third, maybe a fourth who wants to become independent from the community?
The damage to the operation of the plant can arise when the seconded have exceeded 25%. Blessed are the former, therefore, because the latter remain bound to the centrality of the system and their only hope of becoming autonomous remains the hypothesis, different from individual detachment, of having the renunciation of the centralized system that will be resolved with the due majorities replaced by individuals with individual solutions.
Returning to the technical report, this must be ratified by the condominium assembly (which must not authorize the secondment, but only acknowledge the existence of the legal conditions), so as to allow the administrator to exclude the seconded person from paying for gas for consumption common.
Proof of the requirement (technical expertise) must be provided, at its own expense, by whoever wishes to be seconded, and the possibility remains for the assembly to request a counter-examination in the presence of obvious technical deficiencies, improbable expert certifications, errors or other. It is not difficult to find those who think they can detach themselves only by copy-pasting the 4th paragraph of article 1118 of the CC, prefixing a simple "I declare that".
The detached person will in any case participate in the expenses for the conservation, ordinary and extraordinary maintenance of the common boiler, since in any case he remains the owner of the "common boiler" asset and indeed could at any time revise his position and return to adopting the centralized heating system .
2) HOW TO BUILD THE SYSTEM
To use the existing radiators we will have to lead pipes from the boiler and then open traces in the wall to house the insulated pipes, these are 16 mm pipes but the work has a considerable impact, it takes up a large part of the house and is not easy to digest, especially if it does not coincide with the need to restore the classic whitewash.
The new boiler will probably find its place on a balcony or terrace. And so far, there are no prohibitions, except those, always possible, of restrictive condominium regulations. The regularity and conformity of the installation will be certified by the company that performed it and tested it, which it will do by issuing the declaration of conformity of the installation, briefly called DICO. It will be the installer who will take care of the need by filling in the new system booklet where he will report the test data and the subsequent periodic checks.
To clear the field of possible misunderstandings, it should be noted that a new system must lead its exhaust fumes to the roof, which are present and are harmful, even if invisible. So a newly installed boiler that is mounted on a balcony must have a flue, single or collective, which reaches one meter beyond the ridge of the roof. This is the rule, and it has been in effect since August 31, 2013.
Like all rules, this one has its exceptions. The rule can be derogated from, for example, for buildings and palaces in the historic centre, for which the characteristic is absolutely exempt, but also for those who have to replace a boiler that already discharged into the wall (or, in more familiar language, onto the balcony) but only under certain conditions.
The derogation is allowed but on the assumption that the boiler installed is of the condensing type, i.e. highly energy efficient, the only one that can allow fumes to be discharged through the wall if it is a replacement. But in the case of a new installation, a further characteristic must exist: the technical impossibility of reaching the roof certified by an expert opinion.
The quality of the condensing boiler system alone, however, is not sufficient to authorize installation directly on the balcony: it is also necessary to ensure that the flue exhaust terminal is positioned in observance of the safety distances as indicated in the UNI 7129/08 standard. Basically not under the nose or next to a window of a neighbor or the one above.
Finally, our autonomous system, within the framework of energy saving and in compliance with the commitments that the country has assumed in the broader international scenario (20-20-20) must be equipped with thermostatic valves with low thermal inertia characterized by a response time ( determined in accordance with point 6.4.1.13 of the UNI EN 215 standard) less than 40 minutes, with the CEN (European Committee for Standardization) conformity mark mounted on the individual terminals, because all autonomous systems are now subject to the obligation to install valves thermostatic on each radiator; it will be good to take this into account at the time of purchase.
3) TAX BENEFITS
This is the third aspect to consider: the tax benefits provided for this installation concern two profiles, the VAT regime on purchased products and services, which can be reduced to 10% compared to the ordinary 22%, and the tax bonus recoverable to the extent of 50 -55-65% of the total expenses incurred, in ten annual installments up to the amount of the IRPEF capacity from which it must be deducted.
Regarding the reduced VAT, it will be the same installer and supplier of the boiler who will issue the invoice with the advantage regime and therefore no problem to realize this saving.
For the IRPEF (or IRES) deduction referred to in Law 83 of 22 June 2012, equal to 50% of the expense in ten equal annual installments, the necessary condition is that a condensing generator is installed, that the construction of the work takes place in the in the context of a recovery of the building heritage (and the new heating system has the required characteristics), that payments are made via a bank or by post, specifying the specific and causal tax details of the parties, seller and buyer, number and date invoice, amount, reference law.
More complex is the IRPEF (or IRES) deduction with a higher rate, equal to 65%, which is accessed by virtue not of a building renovation but as a result of energy savings, which however must be demonstrated. It is necessary to register in the appropriate ENEA archives and the whole procedure takes place exclusively online, complete with an electronic receipt, by filling in specific forms (generally form A and form E) which however presuppose knowledge of some elements such as the energy class of the building (not the affected apartment) and this is not always available.
It is advisable to collect in advance the elements that it is necessary to know for a complete completion of the ENEA forms, using the ENEA website to search for the normative references and attachments that contain the aforementioned forms.
In any case, it is necessary to take into account the various regional provisions that regulate the matter, which provide for absolute foreclosures, different times and deadlines even at the level of a single province.
