It may not feel like winter outside, but Palmerton Area School District’s board of directors was forced to think ahead to cold weather Tuesday night due to problems with two of its three boilers at the high school.

Failing heat exchangers on the two units, both around 15 years old, led to leaks that got into gas lines for the fuel valves.

“We’re faced with three options,” Joe Faenza, Palmerton’s building and grounds director, said. “We can repair the two boilers for $162,000, replace two of them for $170,000 or replace all three of our boilers at the high school for $235,000.”

The district could start the school year with just the one working boiler, Faenza said, but by the time really cold weather starts rolling in, it needs a second one to fully heat the building.

“My suggestion is that we replace at least the two that aren’t currently working,” Faenza said. “They would come with a 10-year warranty on the heat exchangers, which is the main component of the unit, kind of like an engine for a car.”

Matt Blanski of 3B Services, the mechanical contractor who would install the units, said it is an “extremely labor intensive process” to repair the heat exchangers in an existing boiler as opposed to just putting in an entirely new boiler, which is why the cost for repairing versus replacing is so close.

While there are many different types of units on the market, Faenza said the district uses condensing boilers because they are more energy efficient than others.

“You get about 93 to 95% energy efficiency out of them,” he said. “The only down side is they do short cycle quite a bit. There are other boilers that may last longer, but they aren’t anywhere near as energy efficient.”

Palmerton could purchase the units through the state’s cooperative purchasing (CO-STARS) program, meaning the normal competitive bidding requirement would be lifted.

“I can promise you these are good prices,” Blanski said. “We’re a family business that has been around for 60 years. Honesty is number one for us.”

The board agreed to discuss the item further and possibly take a vote at its Aug. 2 meeting.

Time is of the essence, according to Faenza.

“With the way things are going in the country right now, I’m a little concerned with the lead time in getting this equipment in,” he said. “Come January, maybe even earlier depending on the temperatures, we need more than the one boiler to handle the full load.”

The estimated lead time, according to Jonathan Keller of JFO Energy Solutions, is about three to four weeks.