SENIOR HIGH RISE
Woonsocket Senior Center gets new heating and AC system
WOONSOCKET – If you saw that big crane on Social Street on Thursday, you got a look at the work the city is conducting to lower its facility and energy costs.
The Bay Crane crew was at the Woonsocket Senior Center removing old HVAC units from the building’s roof and replacing them with state-of-the-art, energy-efficient units the city acquired under its ongoing energy saving capital work.
Ben Dube, the owner of Kafin Oil & HVAC, a contractor on the project said the big crane was needed to speed the removal work and installation of the heating and air conditioning units on the building’s roof.
The Senior Center was closed this week and its patrons directed to other senior centers so the work could be carried out safely.
Dube said a total of six units on the roof would be replaced by the end of work on Thursday and one additional unit would be replaced at a later date.
The units were selected by ADI Energy of Smithfield, the city’s consultant on its energy efficiency improvement work, and will help the city save approximately $10,000 a year in heating and air-conditioning costs at the Senior Center alone, according to John Rizzo, ADI’s president.
“We are putting in high efficiency roof top units and had to take out the old units to install the new ones,” Rizzo said. Seniors using the city-owned Center will find its environment much warmer in the winter and more comfortable in the summer. The technology in the units allows for the drafting of naturally cool air in the spring or fall for air conditioning when those conditions are available. Many of the existing units were not functioning properly and that would have a noticeable impact on the Center’s environment, he noted.
The work is part of an energy update project the city has been working on since 2015 that has already addressed heating and venti- lation systems at City Hall, the Woonsocket Public Library, and Fire Station No. 1, Rizzo said.
Improvements will also be completed at Fire Station No. 2, Station 3 and Station 4
before the contract ends on October 1, Rizzo added. That work should help the city save approximately $75,000 a year, he noted.
The city also installed energy-efficient LED lights in its ornamental street lights on local road as part of the improvements
“In total the city will be saving about $160,000 a year on its energy and operational costs,” Rizzo said of the total upgrade program. The city also received grant assistance and support from National Grid to conduct the energy efficiency projects, according to Rizzo.
City Public Works Director Steven D’Agostino said he was pleased to see the new units up on the roof at the Senior Center on Thursday. “So far so good,” he said. “If the rain holds off, we should get this up and running today,” he added.
The contractors were going to connect up the natural gas and electrical lines to the units Thursday and also complete the weatherproofing work in advance of a rainstorm expected in the area today.
D’Agostino said rain in the area last week had already put off the planned work once and he was glad that there had been a break in the bad weather this week to get the units replaced.
The last unit scheduled to be replaced is a larger unit than those swapped out on Thursday and D’Agostino said he hoped the installation can be conducted after hours for the Senior Center so that its patrons will not be inconvenienced again.
Dube said the units taken down from the Senior Center roof would be cleaned of any refrigerant materials and then disassembled for recycling.