Hume-Fogg Happy To See Heating, AC
Central Unit
October 29, 2002
| The Tennessean
Article By NATALIA
MIELCZAREK
Staff Writer
The reason some of the windows at Hume-Fogg Magnet High School have plywood in place of glass is a happy one. The plywood marks the places where window air-conditioning units used to be, until last week. Those units been removed and replaced by a new central heating and cooling system that is hooked up to the Nashville Thermal Transfer Plant, which provides heating and cooling to dozens of downtown buildings.
Before the school got the new heating/cooling units in every classroom, it relied on window air conditioners in the summer and a basement boiler to generate heat in the winter, said Principal Tom Ward. Drilling and pounding began in January to prepare the 1912 building for pipes that transfer cool and hot water to and from the school, Ward said. But although the construction brought dust into hallways and classrooms, teachers and students say they've embraced the change.
"Since 1912 there was no air conditioning in the auditorium," Ward said. "We have it now, and it's just incredible.''
The new cooling/heating units have thermostats that allow teachers to regulate temperatures in individual rooms.
The $1.5 million project is funded by the school district's capital money for buildings and repairs. The Metro-owned thermal plant, which once burned garbage to create heating and cooling for many downtown buildings, is now using natural gas to provide the service.
Plans for a new plant that will use electricity are in the works. Ward said he was happy to say goodbye to the window units for aesthetic reasons, as well as for comfort. He said they didn't go with the look of a building that was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. Windows are "one of the defining features of a building," said Blythe Semmer, with the Metro Historical Commission. Though window units aren't pretty, they had been the only solution for the school to get cool air, Semmer said.
Theresa Rollins, a senior at the school, said she has noticed the before-and-after difference. "It's quiet now," she said. "Before, when the teacher was talking and the AC came on, it was really noisy and you couldn't hear anything. So you had to turn it off, but then it got hot." Theresa said she hopes the new heating system will distribute heat more evenly than in the past. "We had radiators, so once the heat came on, it'd be blazing hot in one area. Now, I hope the heat will spread around."
The exciting part of the project for senior Channon Grant is the relief of cool air in the auditorium. "With everybody's heat in that room, it really gets hot, almost smothering. Can you imagine 800 kids in one room with no air conditioning?"