School gets cold shoulder
Published on November 5th, 2003
STONEHAM, MA - School officials baffled by a South School HVAC system that blasts some classrooms with heat while leaving other rooms uncomfortably cold will hire a third-party consultant to assess the problem.
Expected to hire North Andover consulting firm RD Kimbell this Wednesday night, the town's Building Committee has made the repair of its heating system its top priority.
"The building committee basically said, 'hey, we have to find out what the problem is'. We're hoping we can pay for it. We don't know because we don't know what its going to cost. When we find out what the problem is, we'll go from there," said Building Committee Chairman Dan Hogan.
According to several South School teachers, with children unable to write because their hands are too cold, classes being taught in hallways, and rooms recording temperatures as low as 55 degrees, the HVAC system inconsistencies have become a distraction for students.
"I think when you try to keep them focussed, any little thing can bother them. Sometimes, it's just too much for the kids. At times, their hands are so cold they can't even write," commented 4th grade teacher Bill Taylor.
"When it happens a lot it becomes a big deal. You manage, but you would think with a new building you wouldn't be going through this," added Taylor.
1st grade teacher Sandra Corson agrees, saying that teachers have consistently recorded temperatures as low as 62 degrees in classrooms.
"Some of us have thermostats near the window wall and the room would record 55 degrees. It's not uncommon to come in and have it register 62 degrees. We've kind have lost faith that it's every going to be fixed," said Corson.
Commending teachers for being patient with the faulty system for nearly three-years, South School Principal Nick Leonardis hoped that the problem can be quickly addressed.
"The staff here has been dealing with this very positively over the past few years and now they just want some action. I understand with new construction that there are some bugs that need to be worked out, but at this point we're past that. We need to take more drastic measures," Leonardis remarked.
According to Superintendent Dr. Joseph Connelly, while several consultants and heating companies have attempted to address the faulty HVAC system, none of the repairs have completely solved the problem.
"It's hard to say what the problem is because we've had problems since day one. The reason the Building Committee decided to hire an independent review company is because we felt they can give us an unbiased assessment of what the problems are and more importantly, what the action plan should be," Connelly explained.
While the Stoneham Independent made several requests for information detailing the total costs of repairs to the HVAC system, as of press time the school department had not answered the request.
However, according to information obtained by the Stoneham Independent, Ambient Temperature Corporation, one of the contractors hired to assess the problem, received nearly $34,000 from the school department in 2002 and 2003.
While it could not be verified whether all of the funds were paid to the company for repairs made to the South School, Russell Stiles, the company's president, confirmed that the majority if not all of their work has been performed in the South School.
"I can't confirm or deny that that that amount was paid to us for the South School. I can say that the majority of the work that we have done has been in the South School," said Stiles.
According to Stiles, representatives raised a red flag to school system representatives after discovering that the chemical solution that runs through the heating system's pipes contained a high acidity level.
"We ran a red flag to them and said 'geez, the system should be flushed'...What happens is when your system is acidic, it eats at the gaskets and the seals. That was apparent because it had caused the pumps to leak...Our recommendation was that they don't wait another minute and flush out the system immediately," recalled Stiles, who said the system should be flushed four-times a year.
According to Buildings and Grounds Manager Ken Ingrasall, the school department hired Cascade Water System to flush out the system as soon as the problem was identified.
However, maintenance officials are still reporting damage as a result of not flushing out the system, according to Ingrasall.
"One of the things we identified, is when the contractor finished the job and closed the piping, they never performed a proper flushing. What the contamination could have caused is other failures in the equipment. It could cause the pumps to fail, the seals to fail and the gaskets to fail. We're finding now that other parts of the system have failed. As of now, we've found two pumps that have failed," Ingrasall commented.
According to Building Inspector Gene Argiro, another factor that might aggravate the HVAC woes could be that the South School pumps in 64 percent more fresh air than required.
"Most of the schools are bringing in way more fresh air than they have to...All the outside air you bring in has to be heated," Argiro commented.
"The fact that they're bringing in too much air combined with the fact that the teachers and students are complaining could be the reason the system isn't working right," explained Argiro, who said he will not issue an occupancy permit to the South School until the HVAC system problems are resolved.
According to Ingrasall and Connelly, the school department has also had major repairs made to one of the South School's roof chillers and also found rooms within the elementary school that have not been properly insulated.
To date, the building committee has spent $3000 for repairs to the South School HVAC system, says Hogan.
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