The Nottingham School Board has engaged an HVAC consultant - Mark Jobin of Jobin Construction Consultants - to address the ongoing problems in the school’s heating system. He made a presentation to the School Board on February 11, about which the School Board issued the following statement.
Some issues discussed in the meeting that were not part of that statement, but which readers of the Nottingham Blog may find interesting are:
When the metal in steel pipes dissolves into the boiler water, it increases the acidity of the water.
Jobin recommends continuing to use antifreeze because it cannot be confirmed that everywhere the pipes go is free from freezing. Although it has been recommended to address a section in the attic that has been identified as a freezing risk, blueprints of the design of the building cannot be found.
The School Board approved the proposal from ENE to flush the system over the February school vacation.
Jobin says there is a heightened chance of leaks following the flush because the removal of the sediment may unplug existing unknown leaks.
Jobin says the re-heating coils appear to be partially clogged and are not putting out the heat they should. The consultant recommends repiping the 36 reheating coils and adding valves so that sections of the system can be closed off from the rest so that they can be worked on without having to shut down the entire heating system.
The steel pipes in the system probably must be replaced. They can be inspected over the summer. It may be worthwhile to replace them with copper pipes, which are more expensive but more trouble-free.
Very happy the Superintendent has resigned! She cost the town a lot of money with her incompetence!