BY LAYLI WHYTE
Staff Writer
RUMSON — Students of Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School might find it difficult to navigate the hallways of the school this year.
Due to the ongoing renovations at the school, portions of the hallways have had temporary walls installed so that work may continue throughout the school year, without disturbing students.
The funds for the renovations, including a new geo-thermal heating and cooling system, were approved in a $14.6 million referendum last December.
The district was eligible for state funds to cover 40 percent of the cost of the renovations, leaving the taxpayers of the two sending districts to cover the remaining $8.7 million.
The renovations at the school are very much based on the new heating and cooling system being installed.
“If an area was going to be dismantled anyway for the new system, then we looked for what could and should be done to the space otherwise — to get all the work done at once,” Business Administrator Margaret Neathery said.
The referendum covered the new HVAC system, new electrical system, new fire detection and suppression system, the replacement of all energy inefficient windows and doors, upgraded lockers and an upgrade to the cafeteria.
The existing HVAC system is original to the building. Since the school has slowly been expanding throughout the years, there are some parts of the HVAC system that are close to 70 years old. Parts of the school building date to 1935, 1957, 1963 and 1971. Each area is still using its original HVAC system.
Despite the temporary walls for the construction, the school looks in order on the inside, since all of the ceiling panels that had been removed for work over the summer have been replaced.
On the exterior, however, the practice field has been fenced off and dug up, in order to install the piping and other equipment for the geo-thermal system.
Neathery referred to the mound of soil visible outside as the “bore field,” because about 162 bores will be made in the ground in order to install pipes 150 feet down into the earth.
The pipes will be filled with pure water, containing no anti-freeze, and that water will be heated or cooled, in turn, heating and cooling the school. The water will remain in the closed-loop system, meaning that none of the water will interact directly with the water that the school uses.
A special type of concrete, called bentinite, is filled in around the pipes, to help with the transfer of heat to the water used by the school.
Excavation work required several permits, including a permit from the state Department of Environmental Protection.
“When we reached around 300 feet, we found beach sand and seashells,” said Buildings and Grounds Supervisor Arno Weber.
The system to heat the 160,000-square-foot school is one of the most energy-efficient, according to Neathery, and each room will have its own thermostat.
“Rooms that need to be cooled, like those with southern exposure, can be cooled,” Neathery said. “Rooms that need to be heated can be heated — all at the same time.”
The hope is, according to Neathery and Weber, that the geo-thermal system will be completed by late spring or early summer of next year.
“Of course, it depends on the weather,” Weber said.
Weber said he hopes the entire project will be up and running by the end of September 2005, since the project is under-budget and ahead of schedule.