Pitkin County Library boilers need repair after failure

Pitkin County Library’s boilers failed this September, leaving the county looking for a quick stopgap solution while they conduct studies about what the two buildings could get as retrofitted, efficient heating systems that will last well into the winter. 

The county has been in discussion about what to do with their aging boilers, which provide critical heat, in both the county library and health and human services buildings. 

“None of the boilers at the library are working, they have all stopped,” Pitkin County Manager Jon Peacock said at the Sept. 25 Pitkin County Board of County Commissioners meeting, where the library’s heating problem was discussed. “So they are all in need of repair.” 

The boiler failure at the library occurred as temperatures dropped in Aspen during the fall season. This left the county with only two options in the short term. 

“We want to do a check-in with the board (whether) to repair the three boilers, which is estimated around $110,000 now, (or replace the boilers),” Peacock said. “There is a quote for replacement of the boilers, which would presuppose the policy decision around whether the board is going hybrid with the electrification project at $425,000.”

Part of the consideration for the library, before the boilers failed, was whether the library could be heated with an entirely electric system or a hybrid system that would use gas boilers as a back-up. Within that discussion has been the question of whether to use electrically efficient heat pumps, which are more expensive to install according to previous board discussions, or less efficient electrical resistance heaters.

The board’s exploration of those two options has not come to a conclusion yet, and this ultimately informed the board’s decision to repair the boilers with the lower upfront cost as opposed to moving forward with blanket replacement of the heaters. 

“I think we need to move forward with something because winter is upon us, and we don’t want those books to get cold,” Commissioner Patti Clapper said.

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According to Pitkin County Deputy Manager Ryan Mahoney, the repair is likely to be finished within the next 30 days. 

“They were ordering the parts and so we’re waiting for those to come in, but this repair will get done in pretty short order, probably in the next 30 days,” Mahoney told The Aspen Times on Monday. “Then we’d be covered for the winter months.”

Fortunately, one of the boilers has returned to functionality to provide some heat for the building in the interim. However, the library is operating small, plug-in heaters to help keep up with the building’s heat demands until the repairs are completed.

“It’s a situation where we want to get this done as soon as possible so that our library patrons and employees, who are apparently working wearing jackets at times, can feel more comfortable in their workspace,” Mahoney said.