A heat pump which failed at the leisure facility in 2019 causing the District of Houston to rely on a natural gas-fire back up boiler since then to heat water there is finally going to be replaced.
Work is scheduled to start in January and be finished in August following a council decision to add $159,436 to an original budget of $620,000 for a new total of $779,436.
The price includes a 10 per cent contingency. A BC Hydro grant of $100,840 had already been incorporated into the project plan.
A new heat pump will draw heat from the leisure facility’s geothermal field to heat pool water and because it will be connected to the arena’s refrigeration system, it will take heat from that facility and the next door curling rink particularly during spring and fall warmer temperatures, said leisure services director Cassie Henrickson.
“It’s a lot of stress on our system,” she told council of not having a functioning heat pump.
Although the back up boiler is functioning well, natural gas is expensive and taking heat from the facility’s geothermal system will reduce costs, council was told.
A memo from Henrickson to council indicated that project consultants calculated that the leisure facility’s naturl gas consumption would be cut from 3,700 gigajoules a year to just 282 gigajoules a year.
“The District would save $57,385 a year in energy savings costs. Full payback of the project costs would be complee in just under 12 years,” she added.
“The lifespan of [the new pump] should be 20 to 25 years, which is longer than the previous ones we had,” Henrickson said.
A fully functioning heat pump system would also reduce the District’s greenhouse gas emissions.
The heat pump will be installed in an expanded outbuilding on the west side of the leisure facility.
Consultants had indicated it could have been installed in the upstairs of the facility’s mechanical room where the old ones were located, a move that would cut $90,000 from the project cost.
“Though this may reduce construction costs, staff recommends against this adjustment,” Henrickson’s memo continued. “Due to the location of the previous heat pumps, access to install new heat pumps would involve extended downtime …. and extensive work to the exterior of the building as access to install the heat pump must come from outside due to the tight quarters coming up the stairs of the mechanical room.”