Boiler tour

Izabella, Richard, and I took a tour of the boiler room and roof of building 6 courtesy of Brenda Hundley and Sam Attard. (Left) This boiler is the one that had the dry fire. The tubes are currently being replaced and it will be fully operational shortly.


(Right) Here is a picture of one of the vacuum pumps. You can see from the water stain that it is leaking and should be replaced.




(Left) This is a picture of the boiler that our insurance carrier considered beyond repair. In order for it to be removed it must be cut up in small pieces and hoisted up by a winch over 20 feet and be carried out a standard sized door. Since 2 boilers can adequately provide heat with the third as a backup replacing this boiler is not being considered at this time.

Izabella will be teaching a self defense class on the roof. Here she is demonstrating how to gouge out the eyeball of an assailant. She forgot Richard wears glasses. Either that or they are practicing a three stooges routine. Nyuck Nyuck.

Open Forum 2/8/11

President Adam Silvera opened the meeting while throngs of supporters cheered and applauded. My mistake, that was the Super Bowl. In spite of the numerous recent problems that have popped up the shareholders were well behaved, thoughtful, and offered constructive opinions. No emergency personnel were required at any time during the meeting. The major concerns were the boilers, snow removal, and the elevator damage in building 2 caused by flooding. We are in the process of fixing the boilers and elevators, and ask for your continued patience. Not to give you a snow job, but we have experienced some severe storms lately. Many employees worked very hard to clear the grounds, and unfortunately the new tractor broke down. He is currently in therapy. Some good suggestions were made about expanded snow clearing for building access. One tenant complained about gangs of rats wilding on the premises. A google search estimates there are about 60 million in N.Y, not including ex-spouses and bailout recipients. The verminator has been on site regularly, but the rats just say keep saying "I'll be bahk". They seem to multiply faster than Charlie Sheen's court appearances. Some other topics concerned the use of revenue generated by new applicants to the waiting list (not resolved), and auditing 3 bedroom shareholders (an attempt to open up more apartments). Remember the management requires notification if you plan on doing apartment renovations, and you must leave a deposit of  $1000.00. If you don't and you cause damage they plan on suing your pants off! Not wise with freezing weather and millions of gigantic, carnivorous, rat packs running around. I don't know why, but my parents loved the rat pack.

Trapped like a rat

N.Y. has seen it's share of snow lately, and all of us have suffered. None more than the occupants of parking lot #3. While the other lots were cleared the cars in lot 3 were still buried a day later due to John having a breakdown. No not John Blackman, John Deere the small tractor. As a result many drivers needed to take an extra day off from work, but I hear their eligible for unemployment benefits. To add insult to injury it is rumored a resident had an unlicensed, uninsured, contractor working in their apartment and caused a flood. This in turn caused catastrophic damage to the elevators. As a result many of our elderly were forced to remain in their apartments, or chance the long trek up the stairway. I had to help a senior up the stairs with a large cart of laundry, and she nearly had to carry me the last two flights. So between being covered in a snowy grave and no elevators the occupants of building 2 know what it is liked to be trapped like a rat. We just can't resist that cheese whiz.

Blowin a fuse

Is it time to replace our fuse box with a circuit breaker? I am not so sure. The cost of updating all of Village View's apartments is close to 1 million dollars. After we've spent all that money what benefits can we expect? No one will ever have to replace a fuse again, although how often does that happen? Will we be any safer? I don't think so since I don't know of any fire at Village View that was caused, or originated at the fuse box. In fact it is claimed that fuses react quicker than circuit breakers when there is a short circuit. This is because the element in a fuse melts quickly and stops the current flow faster than a circuit breaker can*. The main disadvantage to fuses is that certain devices (air conditioners for instance) may surge when they are first turned on causing them to blow. You may also be prevented from using to many devices on the same line. Even with these minor problems I don't think it's economically practical to replace our fuse boxes.
REMEMBER ALWAYS REPLACE A FUSE WITH THE SAME AMP RATING!

http://www.bfs-ind.com/discussions/fuses_vs_circuit_breakers.html
Fuse is from the Latin "fusus" which means to melt.
UPDATE: A reliable source said the cost of upgrading was less than I quoted. In addition few insurance companies continue to insure buildings with fuse boxes and we may eventually have to change them anyway. It is also possible that by upgrading we may reduce our insurance premiums. Stay tuned for more info.

Public Enemy #1

Village View has been harboring a number of criminals lately. Their hideout is the laundry room, and their ringleader is serial number 25855473. I am currently examining his rap sheet, and it is not pretty. In the period from 12/14/10-1/4/11 he was O.O.S. (out of service) at least 5 days. This is a violation of his legal obligations nearly 24% of the time. He is currently charged with petty theft, money laundering, and someone even claimed he took a leak in public. The rap sheet for rest of his gang is also very long, roughly 30 offenses in the same 21 day period. We have spoken to Fowler the company we are in contract with and have expressed our dissatisfaction at their inability to abide by the terms of our agreement. They will meet with us in a few weeks with a solution as they know we will not renew our contract under these circumstances. It's high time they cleaned up their act. Bail is currently set at 20 gallons per hour while they serve under house arrest. Visiting hours are in our laundry rooms from 8 A.M.- 9:30  P.M. Mon.-Sun. While they are not considered violent they have been known to make colors bleed.

Convict #25855473

Update:Because the technician only comes twice a week if a machine needs a part on Thurs. it isn't fixed till Tues. of the following week.This means #25855473 was out at least 7 days, or 33% of the time.

The good, the bad, and the ugly.

In response to the number of complaints we have been receiving it's time we examined our current steam generated heating system in closer detail.
The good:
1)Steam heat generated by a boiler is good for tall structures as the steam rises easily to the upper floors.
2)Steam heat warms quickly.
3)Our system let's us switch between oil and gas in order to save money.
 The bad:
1)Boiling water into steam is inherently dangerous. Possibility of explosions and dry fires.
2)Efficiency rating up to 80%, other systems as high as 98%
3)Oil tanks can leak causing environmental damage. A problem we experienced in the past.
4)Uneven heating. Radiators (contrary to their name) fail to radiate heat evenly.
5)Boilers require more maintenance than other heating methods.
6)No individual thermostat for each apartment or room.
The ugly:
1)Radiators have had little improvement other than aesthetic.
2)Radiators that do have higher efficiency use smaller diameter piping and smaller boilers (Not helpful).
3)New model radiators are expensive. Large living room units cost up to $1000*. not including installation.

Conclusion: It is too expensive to replace radiators and it offers very little benefit. Cleaning them will improve heat transfer, and valves should be replaced when they fail to close or openly completely. This is due to sedimentary deposits that have built up over time. N.Y. law requires VV to maintain a temperature of 68 degrees from 6 A.M.-10 P.M., and 55 degrees between 10 P.M.-6 A.M.**  If your apartment fails to meet those guidelines please call the maintenance office.
* http://www.steamradiators.com/pricing.html
**www.nyc.gov/html/hpd/html/pr2006/pr-10-01-06.shtml

Open Forum 1/5/11

The main topic of the night was the boiler problem. New boilers were installed in 2003 and had safety devices in place to prevent the dry fire that occurred on 12/8. The fact that our insurance will pay for the damage indicates we were not negligent. In the past they were monitored by personnel 24/7 like the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant. We all remember how that turned out. The problem of the too hot, too cold phenomenon that residents complain about I believe is a by-product of a system that was designed over 50 years ago. We may have upgraded the boilers, but the system of delivering the heat has not been upgraded. Just check out your radiators, ugh! President Adam Silvera mentioned the raise for the guards, a compensation package for eligible retirees and health insurance for the new hires. Kudos to our Treasurer Frank Gardner who was able to finance it without breaking the bank. He should head the fed instead of Ben Breakbanke. The question of lowering the parking rate was promptly dismissed. As a board member I understand that lowering the rate could cause a budget shortfall leading to maintenance increases. As a car owner I think we pay too much, but at least I can drive to the poor house. Bedbugs were a serious topic that needed to be addressed, hopefully at your address not mine. Please contact the office if you have them as they have access to an entomologist. I believe he is a bug expert named Mr. Roche.*  I hope Village View doesn't take me to court for having Roscoe the bed bug sniffing dog from Bell Environmental taking up permanent residence in my apartment. I hear he has fleas.

*Seriously, if you have a bedbug problem contact the office. They will handle it professionally and discreetly.