ZELIENOPLE — A housing development for senior citizens has been without hot water since March 15 and won't see its return until Thursday.

Maple Court, a housing development at 214 S. High St. in Zelienople, contains 75 units, all of which are without hot water.

“We're having to redo the whole boiler system that's within the property,” said Edward Mauk, CEO of the Butler County Housing and Redevelopment Authority.

The hot water system consists of a cast iron boiler and backup boilers, which push clean water through a heat exchanger before it comes out of faucets in the apartments, Mauk said.

The heat exchanger is broken, Mauk said, and there is no one part that can be replaced.

Mauk said the work to replace the boiler system began Tuesday. He said the whole system was removed on Tuesday with new boilers to be picked up on Wednesday and the necessary pumps were to be “express shipped” and installed by Thursday.

“We expect to be back up by Thursday,” he said.

The cost of completely redoing the system is more than $25,000, Mauk said, and it would take “a couple of days to complete the job,” with a small chance of a faster turnaround.

Although there was a cheaper option between $7,000 to 8,000 to fix the system, Mauk said opting for the lower cost would take nearly three weeks to get hot water again.

“We're trying to get them water as soon as we can,” he said.

He added that the water currently coming out isn't “cold,” but it is about “room temperature,” which he said isn't ideal for either residents or the housing authority.

“There is some heat being exchanged, and some heat in it,” he said. “It's just to a point where we're not satisfied with it, and the residents aren't satisfied with it.”

In the meantime, Mauk said there wasn't much he could recommend for residents to do at this time for showering, washing dishes or other living necessities.

“Obviously, you can boil water on a stove if you need hot water,” he said. “It's not an ideal situation. We just have to get it corrected.”

A resident, who asked to remain anonymous, said the situation upset her because she felt the residents weren't being offered “any help.”

“There are a lot of people here (who) are also seniors who are handicapped and disabled,” she said, “and this is not a good thing. It's not like we can jump in a car and stay at somebody's house.”

Mauk said the maintenance team has been working to resolve the problem since it was identified, but due to the extent of the problem, there isn't much that can be done immediately.

“It's a major system that has to be fully installed,” he said.