March 28, 2024
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St. Agatha furnace to be replaced, not repaired

ST. AGATHA – Costs to repair the volunteer fire department’s furnace are more expensive than the appliance is worth for the town, according to Town Manager Ryan Pelletier.

The 1989 furnace needs repairs that could cost as much as $7,000. A new furnace can be purchased and installed for about $6,500.

Surprisingly, the furnace needs the repairs or replacement only because it is in a public building.

“When the furnace is removed, it will probably go into a private building and work well for years,” Pelletier said. “It works well now.

“We just can’t get an insurance certificate,” he said.

Since the fire department building is a public facility, an insurance inspector views the structure each year. If nothing is found by the inspection, the state issues a certificate of insurability. This year St. Agatha’s certificate was canceled.

It seems that in 2005, the furnace needed repairs. The town hired a local welder, considered one of the best in the St. John Valley, to make the repairs. There was a section that needed a patch, Pelletier said Sunday.

A patch was made, installed and welded around its entire perimeter. The repair work was not done by a certified technician who carries an R stamp on his certificate – there are as few as two of them in Maine.

The closest certified technician lives in Lincoln. When the certificate was canceled, both Maine technicians were contacted and sent photos of the work done. Both told the town that the needed work would be more expensive than the purchase of a new furnace.

Pelletier said the Lincoln technician reported that the work, which includes removing the repair done already, would involve installing new pieces that could cost $7,000 or more.

Pelletier said a new furnace can be installed by a local dealer, a move that will be done fairly soon, at a cost of about $6,500. Money for the new furnace was approved at the annual town meeting last March.

A new furnace needs to be in place by the end of the fiscal year, Jan. 30, Pelletier said.

Pelletier said original repairs could have been done by a certified technician for a couple of thousand dollars. Now, it’s a situation of dismantling what has been done and making new repairs.

Pelletier said the citation received by the town simply says “did not pass inspection.” The failed work was called a “lat patch.”

Pelletier said that is simply a square steel plate, welded all around onto the firebox.


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