News Articles

NEWSLETTER

January 10, 2019

 

Periodic Updates -

 

This is an unofficial publication as the Minutes are the official meeting records.

 

No Heat – As you know, we have had the replacement of the old Ajax boiler planned for months.  The Directors approved the replacement and we were hoping for it to be finished in December, but the boilers and the cooling tower had to go through another engineering review and a request for permits.  That became a lengthy process with the Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years holidays…with everyone on vacation and offices closed.  The engineering and permit prep work was completed this week and a check request for the permits is now being processed. 

 

The old Ajax boiler was fired up and circulation appeared to be working fine, but as many of you know, that was not the case.   We ordered a replacement pump and impeller unit, which had to be made and shipped here. 

 

 

It finally arrived last night so the old one could be replaced.  We tested the old one, once it could be removed, and found the motor worked well, but the impeller was not turning.  So, the new unit was installed this afternoon.  The initial test has the new pump changing pressures as it should.  Please let us know if you have no heat.

 

Because we couldn’t get the water circulated, and of course we had some unusually cold nights, we had residents that were uncomfortable.  Late Sunday we scoured Home Depots, Walmart’s and Fry’s looking for heaters, but they were barren.  One of our vendors (Servpro Coronado) was called as we thought they may have some equipment that could heat some of the units.  They too were driving around in Chula Vista and came across a truck unloading heaters.   We had them buy all they were delivering.  Hopefully we addressed any unit here that was not warm enough.  Some space heaters were sold to residents at our cost.

 

Elevator Update – One of the elevators began shuddering when reaching a floor.  Our elevator service provider, Kone, was slow in responding but finally diagnosed an electrical transformer as delivering improper voltage.  The replacement of that part was immediately authorized last Thursday, and we were told it would be removed and sent to a third party for rebuilding the following day.  That did not happen, as we were later informed.  It has been since removed, however, with the expectation it would be back sometime next week.  We apologize to everyone who has had to wait for the elevator.

 

In the background, some months ago the Association hired an elevator consultant, which required Kone to perform to their maintenance agreement.  That made a huge difference, but the next step was to go out to bid on elevator service, using the consultant’s agreement rather than the service providers.   But that had to wait until the expensive “ropes” (elevator terminology for steel braided cables) were replaced.   That expensive work was done under the Kone warranty.  Since that was done, an RFP was sent to elevator service providers so the Board can consider using a service provider under a more comprehensive maintenance plan.