More than half of residential buildings get their heat from a district heating network. Here are the insulation classes from table 6.4 of DS 452 for district heating in and between buildings, for domestic hot water, heat exchangers and tanks — and why the requirement is stricter outdoors than indoors.
Every other dwelling is on a network
The chart shows how residential buildings are heated. Notice how large the share of district heating is: more than half. Each of those houses has pipes, a heat exchanger or a unit and distribution pipes that must be insulated. That is the insulator's work.
Which class must the district heating pipe have?
The Building Regulations say: «The installations must be insulated against heat loss and condensation in accordance with DS 452 Thermal insulation of technical installations» (BR18 § 390). The class is in table 6.4 of DS 452. The free version of the table is in the corrigendum from 2018:
| Installation | Outdoors, in the ground or unheated (≤ 5 °C) | Heated room (> 5 °C) |
|---|---|---|
| District heating inside the building and distribution pipes between buildings | Cl. 6 | Cl. 4 |
| Distribution pipes with heating only in the heating season and at most 45 °C | Cl. 6 | Cl. 3 |
| Connecting pipes in the same room as the heat emitter | — | Cl. 0 |
| Connecting pipes in other rooms and connecting pipes in floors, walls or ceilings | Cl. 6 | Cl. 2 |
| Domestic hot water: distribution and circulation pipes | Cl. 6 | Cl. 4 |
| Heat exchangers and hot water tanks as well as water heaters | Cl. 6 | Cl. 5 |
«≤ 5 °C» covers installations outdoors, in the ground, in an unheated room outside the building envelope and in rooms heated to at most 5 °C. «> 5 °C» is a heated room or an unheated room inside the building envelope. The table covers installations in and between buildings.
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