Project to switch Naugatuck Town Hall from oil to natural gas

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By Andreas Yilma, Staff Writer

NAUGATUCK — Borough officials are making a change at Town Hall. They’re switching heating fuel from oil to natural gas.

“It was the perfect time to switch over to gas because our existing oil tank reached its life,” Public Works Director Jim Stewart said. “The cost to switch over to gas is less than to replace the oil tank.”

The Board of Mayor and Burgesses Oct. 6 unanimously awarded a contract to Red Technologies of Portland for $7,000 to remove the 30-year-old, 4,000 gallon oil tank that lies about 2 feet underneath the driveway at Town Hall that runs next to the Howard Whittemore Memorial Library.

Stewart said officials are looking to remove the tank within 30 days. Removing the tank will take a couple days, he said.

The board also awarded a bid for a new gas burner and to convert the boiler at Town Hall to run on natural gas to SAV-MOR Cooling and Heating of Southington for $16,500.

The boiler is designed to work with gas or oil, Stewart said.

The borough will tap into a gas line that Eversouce Energy recently upgraded along Church Street from the Tuttle House to Town Hall.

Stewart said a temporary, 330-gallon oil tank will be installed under an overhang at Town Hall while the work is done.

Stewart said the borough will save money by not having to replace the old oil tank and it’s less expensive to heat Town Hall with gas at this point. The environmental risk is less as well, he added.

As part of the project, officials also plan to widen the driveway about 3 to 4 feet, according to Stewart.

Stewart hopes to finish the conversion to natural gas by the end of the year, while widening the driveway may not be completed until the spring.

“Basically, the tank had to be removed,” Stewart said. “We can see some energy and cost savings by switching to gas.”

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