Northeast Elementary Getting New HVAC

The Putnam County School System taking bids for new rooftop HVAC units to be installed at Northeast Elementary.

Deputy Director Tim Martin they are replacing the units due to significant and frequently recurring issues affecting students and teachers. Martin said their preliminary estimate is about $800,000 for the upgrades but the current economy makes it difficult to predict costs before bids come in.

“There haven’t been issues that we couldn’t fix, but they’ll have days where the air goes down and we have to send guys over there to get it back up and running,” Martin said. “So, you know, I don’t think we’ve been down for an entire day anytime but there’s been some uncomfortable times in some classrooms.”

Martin said the new units will come with software upgrades that allow them to be monitored and controlled remotely. Martin said the software will store data about each new piece of equipment to see how they are performing over an extended period of time.

Martin said they also notice an increase in efficiency and a decrease in costs whenever they install new HVAC units.

“It’s hard to say exactly what that looks like,” Martin said. “We’re a big system and basically our electric bill all comes at once, so it’s hard for me to pick out exactly what my savings are there. But that’s part of what the software package is about.”

Martin said the upgrades have been a part of the system’s long-range plan for some time at this point. Martin said they will organize the installation process so that it has a small of an impact as possible on the school’s operations. The project will take several months.

“The only thing that would cause a big issue with that is if one of the units actually went completely down,” Martin said. “Then obviously we would be down until we got it fixed, but that has not happened yet.”