"Mandatory Eco-Friendly Boilers Enforced, Yet 3 Cases of Standard Boiler Installations Reported"

A case where an eco-friendly boiler was not installed despite having a drain in the boiler room, resulting in a violation.

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[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] Cases of installing non-certified general boilers have been detected even after the enforcement of the law mandating the installation of eco-friendly boilers in households.

Seoul City announced on the 14th that, following the enforcement of the 'Mandatory Installation of Eco-Friendly Boilers', from the 3rd of last month to the 8th of this month, joint inspections were conducted with autonomous districts targeting boiler manufacturers, sellers, and installers, resulting in the detection of three violation cases, which were reported to the Civil Affairs Judicial Police Division.

Eco-friendly boilers refer to boilers certified as Type 1 by the Ministry of Environment, including low-NOx boilers that use high-efficiency burners to reduce nitrogen oxide (Nox) emissions to one-eighth of those from general boilers, and condensing boilers that condense high-temperature exhaust gases to recover latent heat and reuse it to preheat fuel.

Among the three detected violation cases, two involved the installation of non-certified general boilers despite the presence of drainage outlets for eco-friendly boiler condensate in the boiler room and laundry room where the boilers were installed.

The remaining case involved the installation of a non-certified general boiler even though a drainage outlet could have been secured by drilling through the wall only once.

The boiler sales and supply companies involved in these violations are subject to imprisonment for up to one year or fines of up to 10 million KRW according to relevant laws.

Seoul City plans to continuously crack down to prevent the distribution of non-certified boilers in the market by coordinating with city gas suppliers and utilizing inspection data before city gas supply to conduct inspections, preparing for various distribution methods such as ordering general boilers through online shopping malls and receiving them via courier delivery for installation.

Meanwhile, to reduce fine dust, Seoul City provides subsidies of 200,000 KRW (500,000 KRW for low-income households) for replacing household boilers with eco-friendly boilers, enabling installation of eco-friendly boilers at the cost of installing general boilers. Installing eco-friendly boilers, which have about 80% higher thermal efficiency than general boilers, saves approximately 130,000 KRW annually in heating costs.

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