The heat is on for the East Coulee School Museum to install a new boiler before next winter. In actuality, however, the heat is off.
In February of this year, the 80 year old steam boiler at the School Museum broke down and is no longer working.
As a result, the School Museum is working towards having a new heating system in the building.
“We’re looking for a hot water system as a replacement, instead of steam,” said Owen Thompson, manager of the School Museum. “It needs to happen between now and Thanksgiving.”
When the boiler broke, Alberta was still in the throes of winter.
“We were lucky it was such a mild winter, otherwise our pipes could have burst,” said Thompson.
Since mid February the School Museum has relied on a backup gas heater, which is simply an open flame and a fan. However, the heater does not heat water and still left the building chilly. Thompson had to rely on a space heater to keep warm.
The breakdown is made more tragic by the fact that the School Museum prided themselves on the authenticity of their heating system. The boiler was the original one, built in the 1930’s.
“It was probably one of the oldest in use in the province, not anymore,” said Thompson.
The cause of the boiler breaking down is thought to be steam leaking, through cracks in the cast iron boiler and pipes.
A welder was found, which was hard as few welders work with cast iron, to attempt to repair the boiler. When the welder was done, the boiler was refilled up to the point where the welder stopped and the boiler appeared to work fine.
However, the boiler soon broke down again. The decision was made to purchase a new one.
“As you get further along the pipes, you find more cracks,” said Thompson. “We could go back, spend more, and fix the cracks we just found, but who’s to say where the cracks stop. The decision was made to scrap that strategy and go for a full replacement.”
At the moment, Thompson and the East Coulee School Museum board are developing a funding strategy to buy a new hot water system.
“We’re looking at somewhere between $60,000 to $80,000 to replace,” said Thompson. However, Thompson explained they are working on finding matching grants to help pay the cost.
The School Museum is optimistic that a new heating system will be ready come the winter.
