Charlo opts to update old burner
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CHARLO – Charlo School Board voted to refurbish its decades-old boiler with a new burner, instead of installing a costly new wood-burning system for next school year’s heating needs.
The Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation paid for a feasibility study last school year that analyzed what kind of costs savings might be available if the school switched to a heating system that utilized a new burner that used locally-sourced wood chips or wood pellets.
The study is part of a statewide initiative that partners forest managers who need to reduce fuels with a market for those fuels. Since 2002, several schools and hospitals in Montana have opted for the biomass option.
But after studying the report issued by the DNRC, Charlo board members didn’t see the savings.
“You aren’t saving very much percentage-wise to me,” board member Reece Middlemist said.
Board member Duane Weible said it was still important to have the study.
“It is good information,” Weible said.
Depending on the wood burning systems available, upfront costs of a new biomass boiler were projected to be between $570,000 and $1.1 million, with some grants available to help cover the costs.
Engineers who crafted the report concluded that installing the biomass system would be marginally beneficial at best.
The board instead opted to purchase a $22,000 burner from a company in New Jersey to refurbish the school’s 60-year-old boiler.
