New school boilers expected to improve learning environment

Lona Carter-Scanlon, principal at Jefferson Elementary, said temperatures in the 66-year-old school would swing from sweltering hot to freezing cold when the buildings original boiler was used.

It was either hot, like 110, or freezing, like mid-40s-50s depending on how the boiler was feeling, Carter-Scanlon said.

For the first time, students at Jefferson wont be dealing with those temperature extremes anymore.

Several decades-old boilers are being replaced by the Helena school district this summer. New boilers are being installed in the Ray Bjork Learning Center, Jefferson Elementary and Broadwater Elementary.

The boiler projects are one piece of the

$3 million worth of projects the school district undertook across public schools this summer, John Carter, director of support services with the school district, said.

The funds for the boilers came from the elementary building reserve levy that voters passed in November 2013. The levy allocates $1.25 million in taxpayer money to building projects to take care of some of the much-needed maintenance in Helenas elementary schools.

Carter said the boilers replaced this summer removed the only remaining systems that operated off one boiler. The replacements were necessary because the boilers were all reaching their last legs, and if one went down, there was no backup that could have kept the schools functioning.

The new boilers dont run that risk.

For instance, the single boiler at Ray Bjork was replaced with three high-efficiency hot water boilers. Not only will the boilers save money by increasing efficiency by 15 percent, up to 95 percent, they also operate smartly, shutting off one or running on low power if the building has enough heat.

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New school boilers expected to improve learning environment