Norwich building inspectors have their own heat problem
Norwich — On days like Tuesday, with temperatures in single digits for the second straight morning, city inspectors were prepared to field calls from tenants complaining of no or low heat and frozen pipes.
But this time, they were on the receiving end of the problem.
“I’m sitting here with my coat and gloves on,” said Dan Coley, assistant building-housing code enforcement official, at his office at 23 Union St., next door to City Hall.
A heating coil in one of the two rooftop heating units failed about two weeks ago, leaking refrigerant and leaving the right half the building without heat, said John Johnson, supervisor of buildings and grounds for the Public Works Department. Building and housing inspectors occupy the first floor, and Community Development staff occupy the right area of the second floor.
Johnson went to the building at 6:15 a.m. Tuesday and measured the rear second story area at 47 degrees. First-floor temperatures were in the 50s to a high of 61 degrees. Johnson started space heaters to warm up the rooms and get air circulating as much as possible before workers arrived after the long weekend.
Coley said his office started at 51 degrees Tuesday morning and improved to 61 by noon.
The new coil is expected to arrive Friday and will be installed by contractors using a crane to haul parts to the roof, Johnson said. The crane will be set up in the employee parking lot, avoiding traffic disruptions on narrow Union Street.
This year, the city spent $19,000 installing insulated windows in the building to improve heating efficiency and eliminate the need to put plastic over windows.
Johnson said he was at City Hall most of this past weekend checking on icy conditions and low temperatures. The coldest room was a small, unheated utility room behind Council Chambers on the third floor of City Hall, which measured 34 degrees. Johnson opened doors to draw in the heat.
No pipes froze in either building, Johnson said.
As for tenant calls, Coley said inspectors responded to several calls from tenants Tuesday with no or low heat and frozen pipes. No condemnations were necessary, he said.
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