Boiler goes but environment and bottom line to benefit
Kirsten Bolinger
Public relations assistant
Cooranbong, New South Wales, Australia
Avondale College’s decision to decommission its long-serving boiler and replace it with a more efficient gas heating system will have environmental and financial benefits.
Plumber John Vosper, who served at Avondale for 39 years, symbolically turns off the boiler, which ceased operating on September 30. A new gas heating system now provides hot water for the cafeteria and each of the residences on the Lake Macquarie campus. Credit: Ann Stafford.
Campus supervisor and projects officer Bruce Cantrill says the boiler had to be replaced because the pipes carrying water from it to the cafeteria and the residences on the Lake Macquarie campus were deteriorating.
It did not work efficiently, either. According to vice-president (finance) Francois Keet, the boiler used 450,000 litres of gas a year. The new gas heating system will use only 150,000 litres a year. It will also save on electricity—the boiler operated 24 hours a day to distribute hot water through the pipes—and labour, adds Francois.
John Vosper, the former plumber at Avondale, checked the boiler twice a day, every day. “There was no alarm system to tell us if something went wrong,” he says.
The gas heating system includes two gas hot water systems in the cafeteria and in each of the residences, eight in total.
Avondale plans to sell the boiler for scrap metal.
Tags: Green Avondale