One of our local school districts is looking for money (again). In the past, to save money, they didn’t install AC in all of the grade schools, 21 in total.
Now the parents are griping and moaning about the heat, yada yada yada. Well the bill to retrofit each school to have AC is around $15 million or $800,000 each.
That seems incredibly high, but I’m not an HVAC guys. Are they getting a bill of goods on this price estimate?
Low-e storm panels improve the energy efficiency of these old sash windows without changing their classic look.
"I have learned so much thanks to the searchable articles on the FHB website. I can confidently say that I expect to be a life-long subscriber." - M.K.
Dig into cutting-edge approaches and decades of proven solutions with total access to our experts and tradespeople.
Start Free Trial NowGet instant access to the latest developments in green building, research, and reports from the field.
Start Free Trial Now
Replies
Chicago explains it?
$120K for the ac, x for each school board member, y for the aldermen, z for inspectors, yada, yada.....
How big are the schools?
Recall an ARI article (dont recall where) that $1.50 to $13 sq foot are "reasonable" #'s for taxpayer paid projects for ac. BIG range.
Far west burbs, not in the actual city-o-greasy-palms.
I'm not sure how big, but I would call them average, 500-800 students each. Probably 20-30 classrooms, cafeteria/gym, library, offices, etc.
Knowing this is the Chicago area, all of them are already set up with a heating system. Would new ducts need to be run?
If the school has minimal HVAC equipment (radiator heat) then it can get quite involved to install AC. Either they must install new ductwork or do hotel-style AC units in each room. Either is going to require at least some structural modification.
Even just installing window units would require major rewiring, plus installing support frames for the units, plus of course the units themselves.
I'm guessing the very cheapest you could get away with (using window units) is about $2K per room, plus on the order of $100K for new power to the building. Could easily balloon to $20K per room.
Cant really help you, but this seems funny to me. When I went to school (back in my day) I never had A/C in school.
We were basically told to "suck it up".
Yeah, but now they have paper to write on, instead of those clay tablets. All sorts of new things!
So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable Creature, since it enables one to find or make a Reason for everything one has a mind to do. --Benjamin Franklin
I remember the day the computer came in. There was one for the entire school district. We got to play "Oregon Trail". The storage medium was a cassette tape.
It would take about three minutes everytime you made a choice on the screen.
It was an old Tandy (Radio Shack) computer.
If I rememeber correctly it was about 1976?
When I was in college our comp sci department set up one of the first computer-in-the-classroom networks for the local high schools. They had teletypes in the classrooms (10 characters per second, punched paper tape "disk storage", "ear muff" acoustic coupler modem) and a Hewlett Packard 2000 Time Shared Basic box in the basement of the main engineering building. Could handle 16 terminals at once. This was 1970-1972.
So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable Creature, since it enables one to find or make a Reason for everything one has a mind to do. --Benjamin Franklin
Most school HVAC systems are quite different from other systems you may encounter. Most, but not all, use a Unit Ventilator for HVAC. These have provision for heating and/or cooling (coil, no combustion eqt. in classrooms) depending on how they were spec'd at build time. They also have dampers that provide for a minimum of fresh air to each classroom and free cooling when temperatures allow. Fresh air is now required in all classrooms. If there is no provision in the UV for a cooling coil then each UV will have to be replaced, controls upgraded or replaced, some sort of either condensing unit for each UV installed or a central chiller(s) installed with upgraded electrical service to handle the additional load, as well as any additional piping.
Just some quick and dirty numbers, these may be off a ways but usually are not too far off.
Chiller 150k to 200k
Unit Ventilators 10k to 15k each plus labor (don't forget all of the offices, gym etc. )
Controls 5k each depending on features, performance, etc
Electrical upgrade 100k
Do the math, probably not too far off. 30 classrooms will usually have about 40 UVs.
as many have posted.... depends...
for 2-4k per room they could go with a mini split... nothing structural... add another 2k per room for the electric upgrade... and I think it can be done for 4-6k per room... not counting the large rooms... since there is already heat... 5-10ton package units a/c only could be used for these areas... I bet there are ways to do it well for alot less than 800k per... but when folks are spending money that ain't theirs... hard to have kickbacks if the price is cut to the bone
p
Assuming there is ductwork in place for heat using a boiler and hot water coils connected to fan power boxes,
Now, you need a chiller and another pair of pipe loops for the supply and return water, new valving at the fan power boxes, new controls...
And this assumes that there is enough fresh air in place for a cooling system.
All this work needs to be done above a finished ceiling, in finished rooms, so it takes at least 2x as long as doing it when the building was under construction.
Eliminating the HVAC was a stupid place to save money.
The longer they wait, the more expensive it will get.
I bet all the administrative areas have cooling....