ERVING — The Senior and Community Center has a new heating and cooling system, which the Selectboard expects to be more reliable and at least as efficient as the building’s original geothermal system.
The need to replace the system was finally recognized when the weather changed this spring, said Administrative Coordinator Bryan Smith. But problems with the system had been happening increasingly frequently, especially in the last two to three years, he said.
This April, after the spring thaw, the building’s architect and a geothermal specialist looked at the system and found out why it had been operating inefficiently: sand had leaked into its underground workings.
Repairing the system would have cost about $100,000 to $125,000, Smith said. So rather than re-invest in a potentially problematic system, the Selectboard decided to convert the Senior and Community Center to an air source heat pump system (also called a “mini-split”), the kind that has been used successfully at the Fire Station and other town buildings, Smith said.
The town spent just under $100,000 on the new system, Smith said, having appropriated $125,000 for the project from the town’s free cash reserves at a town meeting in May.
“They really pushed this through because they really value our Senior and Community Center,” Senior and Community Center Director Paul Betters said. “We could have waited for this until who knows when.”
While the new system was being installed, a temporary cooling system provided by the state Department of Fire Services kept the building cool, Betters said.
With the new HVAC system in place, the Senior and Community Center may add some new landscaping work to accommodate the change to the building’s exterior, Betters said.
Reach Max Marcus at mmarcus@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 261.