In 2005, eleven schools in Kanawha County, West Virginia were named Exemplary Schools by the U.S. Department of Education. While teachers and students were raising their academics, our representative in Pittsburgh, PA has been working with the head of the school system’s in-house facilities organization and the chief installer in lowering the school system’s fuel costs. This on-going project began in 1996. By 2005, forty Triad boilers have been installed in eleven county school buildings, including in the State Capital of Charleston.

At first, the department was reluctant to switch from the old hydronic and low-pressure steam heating cast iron boilers. Part of the hesitation was fostered by the school district’s knowledge of how expensive new equipment can be, knowledge gained by maintaining and installing all its own equipment. However, they also wanted to minimize on-going maintenance and reduce fuel costs. In looking for new equipment, their primary goal was to lower fuel costs while increasing the reliability of their heating systems. To ease the reluctance, life-cycle cost comparisons were worked up for each project by an independent consulting firm using design of experiments (DOE) software. The comparisons demonstrated the life-cycle cost advantage of Triad Boilers compared to the existing cast iron boilers.

After the first Triad installation was up and running, the district was sold on the real benefits and value. The new Triad boilers produced and delivered steam to the buildings much quicker than the old cast iron boilers, while demonstrating improved control of the temperatures, which resulted in the promised fuel savings.

Each of the projects presented individual engineering challenges met by our team and representative.

Several of the schools presented their own unique challenges. One building featured a very old Columbus warm air furnace that was large enough to walk in and required a conversion from forced air to hydronic. Working with Johnson Controls, the furnaces were left in place but disabled. Hot water coils were installed on the discharge for each unit producing a saving in heating costs of approximately 30%.

A different building required a steam to water heat exchanger for a new wing of the school. While yet another building’s needs used Triad steam boilers for one wing and hot water boilers for another.

The head of the school system’s in-house facilities organization commented; “The boilers are quite affordable, heat fast, and are very efficient. And I like the whole modular system…even if one boiler goes down, we always have heat because of the redundancy.” He also applauded the service he got from his representative.

The chief installer also commended the products, saying, “The boilers take less work to install than cast iron. We can finish quickly and get on to the next project. We are always shorthanded, so this time savings means a great deal. The Triad boilers have been problem-free since their installation.

Update: In 2012 the district underwent a large Phase II and added 33 more boilers to fifteen schools. This installation featured a wide variety of Triad boilers, featuring boilers ranging from small Series 300 Hot Water units to large Series 1600 Steam and Series 2000 Hot Water units, for elementary schools, middle schools and high schools. Kanawha County Schools now has over 73 Triad Boilers.