BENTONVILLE -- Benton County officials said replacement of two rooftop chiller units at the county jail should begin this morning and cause little or no disruption in jail operations.
County Judge Bob Clinard said Monday two chiller units, part of the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning system, have been breaking down in recent months and need to be replaced before they completely fail. The chillers, a 170-ton unit and an 80-ton unit, are part of the original jail equipment and have exceeded their expected life spans.
County maintenance
John Sudduth, Benton County general services administrator, said the rooftop unit for the County Administration Building was replaced in 2013 at a cost of about $160,000. Two units at the county jail will cost the county about $252,000 to replace.
Source: Staff report
"From what I've been told, people in the business would say from 15 to 17 years is the normal life expectancy on those units," Clinard said. "They are original equipment, getting close to 20 years old now, so they've exceeded that."
John Sudduth, county general services administrator, oversees maintenance on county buildings. The chillers were still working Monday after part of the larger unit failed over the weekend, Sudduth said.
"I went out there this morning and we're limping by," Sudduth said Monday. "Over the weekend half of the 170-ton unit just shut down and we can't get it back up. So we're getting by with half of the big unit. The smaller of the units is running right now."
Renting a temporary cooling system could cost as much as $40,000, Sudduth said. The county wants to keep the old system running until the replacement process for the larger unit is done, he said.
"That's our goal for right now, to get the big one off and get it replaced and operating," he said.
While the chiller units at the jail have experienced periodic breakdowns, officials said the system was kept in operation and conditions were within the standards set for jails in Arkansas.
Capt. Jeremy Guyll, who oversees the jail, said temperatures were around 77 or 78 degrees in the jail cells Monday morning. Standards allow for temperatures within a range from 65 to 85 degrees. The sheriff's office has bought about $3,000 worth of fans for use in the inmate pods and taken other steps to accommodate prisoners, Guyll said.
"We let them take off their T-shirts, their black-and-white striped shirts, inside the pods," Guyll said. "We put iced water and Gatorade out in coolers in the pods. We're doing everything possible."
Inmates will remain in the jail while the replacement of the units takes place, Guyll said.
"They're going to do their best to keep it as cool as they can," he said.
Plans call for the larger unit to be removed and replaced, and a replacement unit hooked up and operating, before the smaller unit is removed and replaced, Clinard said. Removal and replacement of the larger unit could take several hours, with the work set to begin at 6 a.m. today. The smaller unit might be left in place for another day or two.
"That's to be determined," he said.
NW News on 07/28/2015