Adams Seeks Fix to Visitors Center's Ineffective Geothermal System
 The Selectmen are updated on the poor condition of the Visitors Center's geothermal system on Wednesday. |
ADAMS, Mass. — The Board of Selectmen is looking at a $22,800 interim solution to fix the Visitors Center’s troublesome geothermal heating and cooling system.
The board met with interim Town Administrator Donna Cesan, building Commissioner Don Fitzgerald, Council on Aging Director Erica Girgenti, and Mike Trzcinski with Hesnor Engineering during Wednesday night's workshop meeting to discuss possible remedies for the notoriously difficult HVAC system.
The 10-year-old center, which also houses the Council on Aging, uses what was supposed to be an energy-efficient system. The building uses water from wells deep below the earth's surface. The water is naturally warm from heat retained within the earth and is pumped up into the structure for heating or cooling, depending on need.
Cesan said there has been issues with the system since its installation in 2004. She said sometimes it is so cold, with temperatures below 50, in the winter the building has to shut down.
Girgenti said it has been an ongoing problem
"Seniors, who already have thinner blood and thinner skin, are having to eat in their jackets," Girgenti said. "We had to going out to purchase space heaters and use even more electricity. Your fingers cramp up because they are so cold and you can't type, and you can see your breath in the building. The other cold days our staff fought it out. They should not have had to, but they did."
Because the geothermal system is an open-loop system it brings up sediment from the wells below, Trzcinski said. This sediment gets into the system and both clogs and damages its components.
Trzcinski provided three remedies ranging in price and functionality. The preferred method would be to keep the geothermal wells and install a boiler and a heat exchanger to close the loop and keep debris out. The boiler will add heat to the loop, and the wells can still be used for cooling.
He said this would cost nearly $60,000. This was the cheapest of the three options with less impact on the system.
Fitzgerald suggested an interim solution costing $22,800 that would give the town up to 25 years to find money for the optimal fix.
He suggested adding a valve and a filter to close the loop and keep sediment out of the mechanics.
He added that there are also four compressors in the 19 zones that are damaged beyond repair. He said these will need to be replaced, and he expects some of the others will need to repair because of overwork. He said the system also needs to be flushed of sediments, but that would be included in the $22,800.
"We can fix the problem that you have now, and get the system up and running where it will be workable," he said. "Then you have time to create a budget and a strategy for the long term fix, but this will be a short term fix that is manageable and that will fix two problems you have."
Fitzgerald added that since 2013, the town has spent more than $18,000 on the system in maintenance, and he hopes this interim fix will "stop the bleeding."
The $22,800 will come from existing funds from the Visitors Center budget.
Fitzgerald added the system has a hard time keeping up with Berkshire County winters and a boiler should be installed to supplement the heating anyway.
Selectman Joseph Nowak said he was a manager at the building when it first opened and took a great interest in the geothermal system. He said he spoke with the installers and was told the wrong components were installed in the system. He added that he originally suggested putting a filter in the system and to his knowledge it is installed.
"There was a big upfront cost to put that thing in, and I'd hate to see all of that money squandered," Nowak said. "My feeling is to get a lot of heads in there and take a look at to see if the things that are in the system are right for the system."
Nowak also said he never received any information on the system and was not informed about any past surveys or discussion on it. He said he would like further exploration.
Selectman Jeffrey Snoonian told Nowak that they have to be able to trust professional opinions and should act on the suggested direction.
"If you don't trust a professional mechanical engineer to go in and do the job he was contracted to do, to put the system temporally back online, then the answer you are looking for isn't out here," Snoonian said. "That means you don't trust anybody we have, and … if you don't trust these three people, who do you want to bring in to do the study?"
Nowak responded that for the amount of money they are spending, he would have liked to have seen more information and run the plans by the original installers.
"I would have liked to have seen that study because I know a little bit about it, and I am just hearing 'this is wrong, this is wrong, this is wrong,' " he said, "... $23,000 on a building that was just opened a while ago is a lot of money to put into something, and … I am looking at possibilities of cheaper things that can be done to solve the same problem.”
Although the board didn't vote on the matter, members decided that they would see if a filter was actually installed and run the proposal pass the original installers to Nowak's request.
Chairman Arthur "Skip" Harrington said no matter what issues they find, they must make the building usable.
"I think we have to come to a consensus about resolving this issue for the time being," he said. "Otherwise our Council on Aging will be frozen in there, and it needs to be fixed, period. We need to make it livable."
Tags: alternative energy, energy costs, HVAC, visitors center,
