German boiler rooms are now a top priority in Berlin.

Next Wednesday, two federal ministers will invite you to the joint “Heat Pump Summit” in the capital.

Economics and Climate Protection Minister Robert Habeck and Building Minister Klara Geywitz are asking the bosses of heating manufacturers such as Buderus, Vaillant and Viessmann, the trades and the unions to a round table.

Marcus Theurer

Editor in the economy of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sunday newspaper.

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The meeting is a novelty, and the fact that the supposedly conservative heating engineers have made it into Habeck and Geywitz's appointment calendar says it all: the matter is urgent.

It is a Herculean task to solve.

According to the government, millions of old oil and gas heating systems are to be replaced by climate-friendly, electricity-driven heat pumps in the coming years.

Since the Russian attack on Ukraine and the resulting natural gas supply crisis, the pressure to act has grown rapidly.

But how will that work?

It goes haywire

One thing is certain: without men like Uwe Loth, the politicians will certainly not be able to put their big plans into practice.

Loth is 56 years old and the owner of a heating and sanitary installation company with 25 employees in the small town of Vellmar near Kassel in North Hesse.

A veteran.

His two master craftsman's certificates from 1988 and 1989 hang on one of the few vertical walls in his office, which is dominated by the sloping roof.

Actually, says Loth, he thought he had seen everything in his shop over the past 33 years.

He was taught better.

"I've never experienced anything like today," he says.

It's as if the whole of Germany suddenly wanted a new heating system right away.

The industry is going haywire.

The heating engineer was out of action for a few weeks due to an operation on his knee.

It's only been back in business for a few days.

Loth says he's not quite sure how he's supposed to work through the pile of dozens of customer inquiries that have accumulated in the meantime.

In normal years, he and his team install around 50 heaters a year.

Right now they could sell multiples of that.

But the day has only 24 hours, even for heating engineers.

In addition, heaters are in short supply due to supply bottlenecks in the industry.

Crazy times in a down-to-earth profession.

Putin's war changed everything - even in the boiler room

Loth pushes aside the two large flat screens on his desk to talk about it.

Then he starts.

The boom started two years ago, shortly after the start of the corona pandemic, reports Loth.

At that time, generous state subsidy programs for the replacement of old heating systems had just been launched.

Those who switched from oil and gas to a heat pump now received a subsidy of up to 45 percent.

"Nevertheless, we also installed many oil heaters in 2020 and 2021." Heat pumps have long been standard in new buildings.

But they work best in well-insulated modern buildings with underfloor heating.

However, Uwe Loth's business lives primarily from the replacement of old heating systems in existing buildings.

Therefore, an oil and gas burner was often put back into the basement.

Loth estimates that only one in 20 customers also ordered a heat pump for their old building.