Aging Schools, Aging HVAC

A Practical Path to Lower Risk

A recent Buildings article on caring for aging schools laid out a sobering reality: deteriorating infrastructure isn't just a maintenance headache; it's a risk-management problem. Nearly 40% of U.S. schools are over 55 years old and need critical systems upgrades, and HVAC sits alongside roofing and electrical as one of the highest-loss potential categories, driving up insurance premiums and claims frequency.

The piece also notes that specialists recommend updating HVAC and boiler systems once they reach 20 years of age, with corrosion, lack of preventive maintenance, and usage levels typically determining their condition. But here's the problem facility managers already know well: full HVAC replacement is rarely a line item that fits the budget. The 21st Century School Fund puts the national gap between what schools should be spending on facilities and what's actually being spent at more than $85 billion. Replacement isn't happening on the timeline these systems need.

That gap is exactly where a different strategy matters: extending the life and efficiency of the equipment you already have, instead of waiting for capital funding that may not arrive for years.

The Real Cost of Waiting

Aging HVAC systems don't just become less efficient over time; they become a documented liability. The school infrastructure conversation increasingly ties straight back to indoor air quality and student outcomes. Most school HVAC systems nationally are now operating well beyond their rated service life, and the maintenance backlog this creates is consistently the largest single category of deferred work across public school facilities. Meanwhile, poor classroom ventilation has been directly linked to higher absenteeism and lower academic performance, adding a human cost to every deferred repair.

For facility managers across any sector managing aging equipment under budget pressure, this dynamic should sound familiar: the same corrosion, the same deferred maintenance cycle, and the same difficult math between what's needed and what's funded.

Extend Aging HVAC Equipment Life Without Waiting for Capital Budget

This is exactly the kind of challenge Energy Performance Solutions set out to address. Rather than treating coil corrosion and cabinet degradation as inevitable countdown clocks to full replacement, EPS coatings restore and protect existing HVAC equipment, often at a fraction of the cost of replacement.

CoilSafe forms a thin, covalent-bonded, glass-like layer on HVACR coils that protects against the corrosion driving so much of this aging-infrastructure risk, without reducing heat transfer. That means a unit can hold its factory efficiency rating well past the point where corrosion would otherwise force it offline. With over 6,000 hours of salt fog testing and proven performance in harsh, demanding environments, it's a practical way to add years of service life to equipment that a budget cycle isn't ready to replace.

ThermalBlock tackles the building envelope side of the equation. Applied to HVAC cabinets, ductwork, and rooftops, this coating reflects 89% of visible light and rejects 87% of external heat gain, directly reducing the cooling load on systems already working harder than they should. For older buildings where the envelope itself contributes to inefficiency, that reduction in thermal load translates to real operating savings and less strain on aging equipment.

A Bridge, Not a Band-Aid

Capital replacement will always be part of the long-term plan for aging facilities. But for the years in between, protective coatings offer a documented, proactive maintenance strategy, exactly the kind of risk mitigation that reduces both energy costs and the liability tied to deferred infrastructure.

Want to find out what CoilSafe and ThermalBlock could do for your aging HVAC systems? Contact Energy Performance Solutions to start the conversation.

Citation List

1. Whitten, A. and Gouker, D., "Caring for Aging Schools: How to Mitigate Risk," Buildings (May 22, 2026). buildings.com

2. 21st Century School Fund, facilities funding gap data, as cited in Whitten & Gouker, Buildings (2026).

3. Oxmaint, "School and University HVAC Maintenance: Healthy Learning Environments on Tight Budgets" (March 2026). oxmaint.com

4. Oxmaint, "School Indoor Air Quality Maintenance Program for Student Health and Performance" (March 2026). oxmaint.com

5. American Lung Association, "How Your School's Indoor Air Quality Affects Health and Learning." lung.org