The Chelsea Public Library has been closed for over a week as staff deal with HVAC issues that have knocked out air conditioning at the century-old building.
City Manager Fidel Maltez said the city is staying on top of its contractors to have new compressor units delivered and installed, and is also exploring other possible solutions to cool the building enough to reopen it.
“The timing could not be worse, being in the middle of a heat wave and having the library air conditioning system down is not a good thing for our employees or our residents,” said Maltez.
Last week, the compressors in the library’s two large rooftop units both died, Maltez said.
Maltez said a lot of work has been done on the library in recent years, there is still more to do. “It makes it really awkward because everything is a big, open space with really high ceilings, and it is not the easiest to cool,” said Maltez.
“The compressors went down last week and we immediately contacted our contractors to get them repaired. Our compressors have to be replaced, and we placed them on order, but because of everything in the global supply chain they told us that the compressors would take seven to 10 days of lead time.”
That order was placed last week, and Maltez said the city gave the contractor a green light to get the work done as soon as possible once the new compressors arrive.
“The same day, we called up United Rentals, we went to Home Depot as well and we ordered portable AC units … and we installed seven of them throughout the building,” said Maltez. “We saw some cooling, but because of the space being so large, we couldn’t get the building open to a level where it needed to be so it was comfortable for patrons and employees.”
Maltez said staff has been trying additional things to bring the temperature down, including covering over the building’s large skylight with an awning in hopes it would cool the space, but not enough to reopen.
“We are continuing to work on solutions,” said Maltez. “We hope that the compressors are replaced by this weekend, and we are pushing our contractor to do it as soon as possible and we ask everyone for patience as we figure this out.”
While the library has been closed, Maltez said all residents have been welcome to use the nearby senior center as a cooling station during the recent heat wave.