Work progressing according to plan

According to an old saying, all good things come from above. This was also the case recently with the heating system of the Engelberg Benedictine monastery. Old components of the heating system that had been in use for years were dismantled and, due to their bulkiness, removed with a large crane through an opening made in the roof especially for the installation. The opening was also used to insert the new elements such as the flue gas heat exchanger. This device extracts heat from the smoke before it exits the chimney and feeds it back into the heating network. This type of heat recovery corresponds to the current standard for new heating systems.

Immediately after last winter’s heating period, work began on renewing the heating system at the Benedictine monastery in Engelberg. The monastery heating system was the first wood chip system to be built in Obwalden and Nidwalden. It had reliably produced CO2-neutral heat for the past 15 years. Back in 1992, the Benedictine monastery in Engelberg largely abandoned fossil fuels and opted for wood, a natural raw material that grows back in the forests of the Engelberg Valley. For the new heating system, the Benedictine monastery also relies on the tried-and-tested method of generating heat with wood chips from the monastery forests, which has been copied many times over. The heat produced is not only used to heat the various buildings of the Benedictine monastery, but also those of the village school, the Swiss Sports Middle School and the Hotel St. Josefshaus. The residential buildings of the planned development for affordable housing in Engelberg will also be connected to the monastery’s own heating network one day.