An Ohio school district will spend $2.9 million to upgrade heating, ventilating and air-conditioning systems in its high school, middle school and district office, partly because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Strongsville Sun Star Courier reports that most of the HVAC work in the Brecksville-Broadview Heights district will be performed at the middle school, which was built in 1960 and still contains some of the original HVAC equipment, along with equipment that was part of a 1964 building addition.
The equipment is no longer functioning efficiently and doesn’t provide air conditioning in all middle school classrooms. About 30 classrooms in the fifth-grade and science wings, the guidance office area and the cafeteria will receive air conditioning for the first time.
The project will involve replacing all HVAC control systems and some duct work in the middle school. The boilers that heat the auditorium also will be replaced. The existing boilers aren’t working correctly and one is leaking.
New HVAC energy-management and control systems at both the middle and high schools will automatically adjust room temperatures as needed and monitor room temperatures every 15 minutes. This will allow maintenance workers to respond faster to problems.
Currently, the district experiences difficulty regulating room temperatures at the high school.
Covid-19 guidelines from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for school facilities says that HVAC systems should be set to maximize ventilation and bring in as much outdoor air as a system will safely allow.
In addition to the HVAC upgrades, the district will spend $903,000 to replace roofs at the middle and high schools and about $30,000 will on asbestos removal.
District administrators say the new equipment will result in an estimated annual savings of $38,000 in energy costs.
