YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Some downtown businesses were without steam heat Friday morning due to a water issue at the SOBE Thermal Energy System plant.
“We just have a water issue,” said David Ferro, CEO of SOBE. “We’re bypassing it right now, and it should be back up momentarily.”
The problem wasn’t due to a frozen pipe, he said.
Crews were working midmorning to bypass the line that was being used and reconnect it.
“It will just take us a little bit of time to do that, but we’ll have it up momentarily,” Ferro said.
The company operates a plant on North Avenue.
“Every customer has been notified of the issue – we communicate with our customers directly, so we do that through an email,” he said. “We’ve notified every client, and we’ll have this issue resolved quickly.”
The Ohio One building, which houses The Business Journal, is one of those affected.
SOBE, based in Dublin, Ohio, purchased Youngstown Thermal out of receivership in December 2021 after more than two years of managing its operations. As of summer 2022, the company provided district heating and cooling services to 35 customers in or near downtown.
Friday’s water issue affected all customers.
“When you have to shut down water and do something and then bypass it, then all customers will be affected because your water source is critical for boiler operations,” Ferro said. “It’s not a long-term issue. It’s an unfortunate situation that nobody can predict. It just happened, so we’re solving it.”
Pictured at top: The SOBE Thermal Energy System plant on North Avenue in Youngstown.