Keene superintendent says middle-school heating pumps, rooftop units tripped; district replacing small tubing and monitoring units

Superintendent Rob Malay and facilities staff told the Keene Board of Education on Jan. 21 that crews responded early that morning to multiple faults in the Keene Middle School heating system and have taken steps to restore and stabilize temperatures.

“Today we detected that two of the pumps that feed hot water up to the rooftop units … they had tripped off, and so they were able to restart those immediately,” Malay said in his superintendent’s report. He described the system as having two main components: rooftop units that mix outside air and a hot-water distribution loop that feeds radiant panels.

Facilities director Ken Dooley and his team identified two separate issues: (1) two rooftop units went into a fault status and were restarted, and (2) some of the smaller-diameter tubing that serves radiant panels had become partially blocked over time. The district said crews are installing larger-diameter replacement tubing in affected runs to reduce the risk of future blockages and are systematically bringing the upgraded runs back into service.

Temperature readings that morning ranged from roughly 60 degrees in the coldest rooms to about 71.7 degrees after repairs and circulation improved. Malay said the district uses 60 degrees as a decision marker and would close a building only if temperatures reached mid‑50s or lower; administrators said they would decide before 7:00 a.m. if a school needed to close.

Electricians were at the building to monitor intermittent faults, and the district said a contracted HVAC service provider is on standby if the local crew cannot resolve the rooftop-unit faults. Malay noted the district had experienced a prior incident in which all rooftop units tripped because of external power-supply issues that required utility work; he said Eversource later made changes to address that past problem.

Why it matters: the condition and reliability of school heating systems affect student safety, learning conditions and potential unplanned closures. Facilities staff told the board they were addressing both the immediate faults and the underlying causes to reduce future incidents.

Clarifying details cited by administrators

- Two pumps feeding rooftop units had tripped and were restarted that morning; two of four rooftop units had tripped to a fault state and were brought back online by facilities staff.

- Small-diameter radiant tubing that was partially blocked is being replaced with larger-diameter tubing; facilities staff are bringing affected circuits back into service as they complete work.

- Temperature range reported for the building that morning: low about 60°F in some rooms, up to 71.7°F after circulation improved.

- The district said electricians and a contracted HVAC vendor were monitoring and standing ready to assist if intermittent electrical faults persisted.

Provenance

- topicintro: {"block_id":"block_973.225","local_start":0,"local_end":320,"evidence_excerpt":"So you have the superintendent report in your drive, and I'm happy to go anywhere in that report that you'd like to, for further clarification. Just as a point of a point just to share with you with regard to heating over at the middle school today..."}

- topfinish: {"block_id":"block_1374.105","local_start":0,"local_end":210,"evidence_excerpt":"It's like any heating system. I know a lot of us experience this at home. They're not necessarily designed to go off as often as they have to go off when it's, you know, 4 or 5, 6 degrees outside. If there's any flaw in your system, this is when it's gonna get exposed."}