Board OKs plan to get new use out of old boiler

Monday, August 21, 2006 A salvaged boiler will be used to replace a failing one at a middle school. By HAROLD GWIN VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER YOUNGSTOWN — Stockpiling some older heating equipment from school buildings being razed has paid off again for the city school district. The board of education will be asked to approve a plan Tuesday that calls for a boiler taken from the old North Elementary School to be used to replace an older unit at Hayes Middle School. The move should save the district about $35,000. That's the cost of a new boiler. This wouldn't be the first time the district has been able to make use of used boilers salvaged from its demolished buildings, said Anthony DeNiro, assistant superintendent of school business affairs. Youngstown has done it twice before, putting a recycled boiler into West Elementary and another into East Middle School to replace failing units, he added. Hayes has two steam boilers, both 45 years old, and one of them will no longer pass its annual state inspection because its metal is too thin, Harry Evans, chief of maintenance and operations for the district, told the board's business committee. The boiler removed from North is only 12 years old and will pass that inspection, he said. Replacement plan The plan calls for Prout Boiler Heating & Welding Inc. to remove the old boiler and replace it with the North unit at a cost not to exceed $40,900, Evans said. It's a big job. A hole has to be dug in the parking lot next to the building and a hole opened in the brick wall to get the old boiler out and the new one in, he said. Prout was the lowest of two quotes for the task, he said. The move will leave Hayes with two operational boilers, although only one is needed to heat the building. The other serves as a backup, Evans said, pointing out that, if the building had only one boiler and it failed during heating season, the school would have to be closed for three weeks while a replacement is put in. This job can be done while school is in session this fall, he said. The district could try to repair the old boiler at Hayes, but that comes with a $23,000 price tag and no guarantees, Evans said. The district could also look at renting a boiler, but that would cost $7,000 a month and involve a $10,000 hook-up expense, he added. DeNiro said the district will be using the Hayes building for three more years and it doesn't make sense to buy a new boiler at this point. gwin@vindy.com