South Hadley is researching the limited warranty that came with the 6-year-old boilers to see if it can get any money back.
South Hadley Town Hall.SOUTH HADLEY – It may seem a tad early to be worrying about broken boilers and drafty windows, but occupants of South Hadley’s Town Hall are acting now to solve those problems before winter.
Two of the four boilers in Town Hall have broken down irretrievably, according to Town Administrator Paul Beecher. They started leaking rusty water in April.
The frustrating part of this is that the boilers were installed only six years ago, said Beecher, who was hired in 2010.
He met with representatives of the supplier and the installer of the heating system, and a number of possible problems were uncovered.
Among them: The contractor converted the existing system from steam to hot water, no strainers were installed, the system may not have been properly flushed and the pumps are too small for the boilers.
In addition, this particular line of LAARS boilers has evidently been discontinued.
Siemens Industry, which was hired to conduct an energy audit and make recommendations for energy efficiency in South Hadley’s municipal buildings, has offered to take charge of replacing the boilers.
But the estimates for boiler purchase and installation have varied so widely – numbers have ranged from $65,000 to $110,000 – that in spite of the time crunch, town officials are examining their options.
South Hadley Town Hall has been shut down twice in the past two years due to problems with heating.
Meanwhile, with the help of the town lawyer, the town is researching the limited warranty that came with the boilers to see if it can get any money back. “We’re not holding out much hope,” said Beecher, “but we’ll see what we can do.”
Another big problem with the Town Hall, which was built in 1913, is its windows. Caulking around the windows is cracked and the top sashes are drifting down, allowing both moisture and cold air to enter.
Occupants of the building also say the windows are hard to open, close and lock. Among other things, this could cause injury to someone trying to operate a window.
The report by Siemens is working its way through town departments and will be presented at Town Meeting in September along with requests to fund energy-saving changes.
The boilers and windows would have been part of that report, said Beecher, but their condition required earlier attention.