Delays involving an important component of Hawley School’s HVAC upgrade may mean that parts of the school will not have air conditioning when it opens to students on August 30.

School officials and representatives from Downes Construction Company are looking into a plan that will allow the school to open without the part.

A switchgear, which is composed of electrical disconnect switches, fuses or circuit breakers used to control, protect and isolate electrical equipment as part of an electrical system, has been delayed for months, with talks of delays to its shipping going back to 2022.

In December, Public Buildings and Site (PB&S) meeting minutes said it was expected to be delivered in June, but that did not happen.

School Director of Facilities John Barlow said that the switchgear’s manufacturer, Eaton Corporation, has been having “a terrible time” getting components for the switchgear and they are “backed up.” Additionally, according to the minutes of the June 27 PB&S meeting, a breaker from Mexico did not arrive and a new breaker from Windsor, Conn., was ordered and shipped to South Carolina, where the gear is being assembled. Production of the switchgear may begin next week.

A tentative ship date of July 14 was set, but there is no way of knowing if there might be additional delays.

The PB&S minutes further state that Downes needs to do testing, balancing, and commissioning on the HVAC components already installed, and that is being delayed due to the switchgear delays. Those things cannot be done while school is in session. While the option to open the school without the air conditioning active was looked at, the PB&S instead decided to go with a “backfeed” option.

Barlow said that the plan would “create a backfeed from the existing power system.”

“This will allow us to start the new air conditioning system, do the testing needed and make any adjustments needed to get school started,” said Barlow, who noted that the existing system is not “big enough” to run the whole air conditioning system.”

With everything tested by using the backfeed, school officials would only have to wait for a weekend or other time students would be away for a few days to install the new switchgear. Barlow said that the Columbus Day weekend was a likely candidate, which is October 7 to 9.

If the switchgear is shipped on time, power for the whole system could be available before the start of school. The switchgear would be expected to arrive in Newtown by August 3, with permanent power being installed and ready by August 15.

Associate Editor Jim Taylor can be reached at jim@thebee.com.