Putnam County Schools beginning the process of replacing one of the HVAC units atop the Prescott South Elementary gym.
Deputy Director of Schools Tim Martin said there are two 20-ton units on top of the gym and one of them has finally stopped working. Martin said despite efforts to fix it, a company came in and said now was time to replace the unit.
“We’ve been having trouble with it for nine or ten months,” Martin said. “And tried to do some work on it, get it back up and running, but it just hasn’t worked out for us.”
Martin said the unit is some 20 years old, so it was likely due for a replacement anyways. The replacement set for some $54,900.
“Oftentimes, we’ll get in there and check the freon levels,” Martin said. “And we check the different compressors and things like that. Make sure that valves aren’t leaking, or if there are motors in there, we check those and check for bad bearings and things like that.”
Martin said the replacement was budgeted, as the school system expects to replace a few units each year. He said the details and timeline for the project have not been confirmed.
Martin said a crane will likely need to be brought in to remove the existing unit from the roof and to lift the new one. In the meantime, Martin said the other unit at the gym should be enough to keep the Prescott South Elementary gym in use.
“I do think the one unit that’s fully functioning is going to keep it livable in that area,” Martin said. “It’s not going to be as good as we want it t be, but it’ll be livable in there until we can get the other one replaced.”
