The Floral-Park Bellerose School District is considering converting the heating systems for John Lewis Elementary School and Floral Park-Bellerose Elementary School from steam to hot water and cooling various spaces.
The project will involve converting the heating and ventilation systems, adding unit ventilators with air conditioning in offices and classrooms, adding auditorium air conditioning and other piping and mechanical repairs. It is estimated at $28,602,940 for heating conversion and AC systems or $20,276,715 for only a heating conversion system and prepares for future AC units.
It will be up for a bond vote on Jan. 28.
Ralph Cassetta, president of Campbell Cassetta Architects, presented recommendations for the heating and cooling systems to the Floral Park-Bellerose Board of Education.
Also, Campbell Cassetta Architects and Energia Engineering — both of whom have 15 years of experience working in the two elementary schools — prepared a study for the board.
“Our task was to assess the existing heating and cooling systems, recommend a replacement system to the current heating system, recommend various cooling systems and develop a construction schedule and cost estimates,” Cassetta said.
Cassetta said the age of the steam heating system is the “biggest reason” for this project. Much of the steam and condensate piping in the buildings is approaching 100 years old, and many of the classroom unit ventilators are from the 1950s.
“Most of the piping is inaccessible — behind walls, below concrete slabs, in vertical chases and that includes the steam traps for the system, which some of them we don’t even know where they are because they’re behind locations that have been renovated and there’s no record of it,” Cassetta said.
Cassetta said the district has experienced several failures over the past decade with the steam heating system. The failures resulted in costly repairs and made spaces unusable until the problem was repaired.
One of the system failures occurred at John Lewis Elementary School in 2013, costing over $160,000. As a result, three classrooms had to be shut down temporarily.
In 2018, one of the pre-k classrooms in the Floral Park-Bellerose Elementary School needed to be renovated entirely due to deteriorated steam and condensate piping failure. Construction costs exceeded $300,000.
This year, the piping in the boiler room of John Lewis Elementary School failed. It needed to be re-piped, and this was the second time the piping system had to be repaired.
Cassetta said it’s difficult to be proactive with system maintenance because the timing and location of the next failure are almost impossible to predict and budget for.
Cassetta recommended a hydronic heating system, which he said is more energy-efficient, longer-lasting, evenly distributes heat better, lower maintenance and has no steam traps. This system can also provide air conditioning. Its lifespan is estimated to be about 40 to 50 years, with occasional maintenance starting at 20 years.
“Based on our reviews of the buildings’ piping systems and layout, we believe that the best approach is to maximize the work installed prior to converting from steam to hot water, minimizing the amount of time the heating system will be out of service,” Cassetta said.
Under the proposed project, the first phase of construction would start August 2026 through July 2027. This would involve installing hot water mains and piping. The existing heating system would remain in operation throughout this phase.
The second phase would be from November 2026 to November 2027. The equipment would be replaced in April 2027, and construction would occur after normal class hours. All existing unit ventilators, air handlers, steam coils, convectors and fan coils with hot water equipment will be replaced during the summer. The new heating system would then be operational by October 2027.
In construction phase three, from July 2027 to February 2028, all of the boilers would be completely renovated. The out-of-service piping would be removed after normal class hours. In the spring of 2028, the new AC systems would be operational.
If the bond passes, the bid date for this project is in June 2026.
