AFFECTED HOMES TO GET NEW GAS APPLIANCES
Company to replace units in Greater Lawrence
Greater Lawrence residents affected by the Sept. 13 gas explosions will be getting all new natural gas appliances, according to Columbia Gas.
As part of the restoration process, Columbia Gas originally planned to assess the appliances — boilers, furnaces, hot water heaters, ranges and dryers — that had been damaged to either repair or replace them. Now, the appliances will be fully replaced in an effort to streamline the lengthy process.
As of Monday, the Herald reported yesterday, only 73 of 7,657 affected homes had been declared “House Ready,” with all compromised appliances replaced or repaired.
Monday night, Lawrence Mayor Dan Rivera along with North Andover Town Manager Andrew Maylor and Andover Town Manager Andrew Flanagan sent out a tweet tagging Columbia Gas that said, “In my professional opinion & the professional opinion of the Lawrence Fire Chief all residential gas appliances, including boilers and furnaces, that were impacted by the gas overpressurization of 9/13/18 should be replaced not repaired.”
A mere 13 minutes later, Columbia Gas responded to Rivera’s tweet saying, “We support the recommendation to replace all residential gas appliances impacted on Sept. 13, and will continue to work with our communities in the Merrimack Valley to safely restore gas service as soon as possible.”
Maylor said Columbia had been a bit hesitant before.
“My take on it was that initially I didn’t receive a response, which for me and the residents was clear enough. There was confusion with the residents and confusion with my office,” Maylor said, adding he took to Twitter to clarify things. “I think I took a stand so
that Columbia Gas could respond clearly.”
Maylor said although he doesn’t know where the cost of all the new appliances will fall, “it certainly won’t be the residents and it certainly won’t be the town.”
He said replacing the appliances is better than repairing them. “We don’t want to find six months from now that someone has a problem with their boiler,” he said.
According to a statement released by Columbia Gas, teams will remove the natural gas appliances from businesses and homes and test the in-home gas pressure to see if it is damaged. If the home or business passes the pressure test, the teams will install new equipment and reconnect it to the system.
Homeowners will be able to select from a standard offering of appliances or they can purchase their own. For specialty appliances like gas grills, fireplaces or pool heaters, residents will have to coordinate with the claims center.
Service is projected to be restored to all homes by Nov. 19, a deadline that Maylor said he is monitoring closely. “We can yell and scream and we sometimes do that,” he said, “but I think that the real impact is going to be on the residents.” He said he is “confident, not skeptical” about the deadline being met.
As of Monday, 20 miles out of 44 total miles of pipeline had been replaced in the affected areas and 1074 service lines out of 6,100 had been replaced according to a daily briefing from Columbia Gas.