Humboldt County supervisors hear update on courthouse heating leaks, temporary repairs under way

Humboldt County Board of Supervisors members spent part of their meeting discussing recent leaks and control problems in the county courthouse heating system and described immediate and potential longer-term repairs.

County facilities staff told the board that crews discovered a leak ‘‘downstairs behind the wall in the veil’’ and that the condensate return line was leaking. ‘‘I took the patch out, saw what was leaking. It was on the condensate return line, so I just shut the radiator down,’’ said Speaker 4, identified in the meeting record as facilities staff. Crews patched the visible damage and are working on repairs.

Why it matters: the affected radiator sits behind a decorative brick and marble casing on the stair landing, and staff said they cannot access its controls without altering the facade. Speaker 4 said the radiator ‘‘is all encased in a brick casing, and then it has granite or marble in front of it. So they couldn’t get to it to redo that part before.’’ The inability to access that unit’s controls has left the stairway area unregulated and uncomfortably hot, staff said.

Staff described two near-term actions: patch the existing leak and attempt to tie into the steam line outside the building to install a valve or manual control so the radiator can be regulated without permanently altering the visible facade. ‘‘The only thing we could possibly do is try to tie into the line outside before it goes in and put a valve there so we can control it,’’ Speaker 4 said. The speaker also said crews installed a ‘‘big steam lock downstairs that stopped all the steam coming back into the basement’’ and that stopped a related moisture issue.

On the boiler: facilities staff reported the boiler is operating as intended. ‘‘It’ll reach 5 PSI with the steam, and then it’ll modulate down and it’ll hold there...We should notice considerable gas savings in that this year,’’ Speaker 4 told the board. The staff member said they ran the system through a recent cold period and maintained temperatures in offices while addressing the leak.

Scope and remaining risks: staff said the courtyard/stairway radiator lacks any accessible controls and that removing the marble without breakage would be difficult. ‘‘I’m not getting that marble off without breaking it,’’ Speaker 4 said. The facilities staff also noted the courthouse has roughly ‘‘90 some radiators and probably 700 connections’’ to monitor and maintain, increasing the repair workload and the potential for additional failures to appear as the system operates.

Board members asked about options and expressed preference for fixes that preserve the stairway appearance. One supervisor suggested a manual control if it can be installed discreetly; others emphasized avoiding unnecessary demolition of the marble facade.

The board directed staff to proceed with the repairs under discussion and to report back if additional work or a change to the building appearance would be required.