WASHINGTON — Red Line riders who use the Dupont Circle and Farragut North stations might not see any relief from the heat this summer.
Metro said this week that additional parts need to be ordered to repair the chillers that cool the two stations. The parts will have to be shipped in from overseas.
Metro most recently projected that the stations’ chillers would be restored in July. But days after the deadline passed, the transit agency reported that additional leaks had been found in the underground pipes that feed the cooling system.
The latest round of fixes to the chiller system can’t begin until the parts arrive.
If the repairs don’t work, “crews will likely need to excavate Connecticut Avenue NW for further repairs. In that eventuality, chilled air service will not be restored this year,” the updated advisory said.
The problems with the leaking pipes under Connecticut Avenue date back at least a year. Last summer, Metro said it would need to dig up several hundred feet of Connecticut Avenue to fix the pipes.
Underground Metro stations are cooled by equipment that use water as part of the cooling process. Unlike an air conditioning system, the chillers are designed to slightly reduce the temperature in the station to about 7 degrees below the temperature outdoors.
Separately, the chillers at the Rosslyn Station are also down for repairs. That work is scheduled to be finished by the end of September.
