Prospects for collaboration with Adamah’s Climate Action Fund (Speculation)

THE CLIMATE ACTION FUND of Adamah, the leading Jewish environmental organization, provides 50% matching grants (up to $20K) and 5-year interest-free loans (up to $250K) for projects that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions. 

In our case, such reductions could result from three possible efforts:

• Improving energy efficiency;
• Converting stoves/ovens and water heaters from gas to electric power; and/or
• Installing solar panels. 

Below the jump, I explore the prospects for our participation in their program.…

School water heater: Unfinished business? (Background Report)

WE WERE FORTUNATE to find a plumber who made sure to tell us what would need to be done in order to meet the current building code requirements, when our water heater recently failed. That prompted us to consider measures that we were not previously aware of. Out of the four items that he informed us about, we agreed to implement two of them, as described HERE. 

However, we opted to defer the other two items, for three reasons: they would be very costly; they would be needed only in very extreme circumstances that were unlikely in a brand-new system; and we could have them done later for the same price. 

On his written estimate, the plumber then noted the two deferred items explicitly:

Customer understands and agrees that the following items are not included in this estimate and will be completed at a later date under a separate quote/authorization:
• Run T&P (temperature & pressure relief) discharge line to the exterior
• Run drain pan discharge line to the exterior

What I have since learned, however, seems to support our decision not to pay for those two recommended changes.

Below the jump, this post describes those lingering items and their status, in more detail.…

Capital improvements accompany new water heater (Background Report)

TODAY’S REPLACEMENT of our school building’s water heater includes the installation of two new items that are required by the current building code—and for good reason. Both of them are designed not only to improve safety, but also to lengthen the life of the plumbing and of the water heater. Namely, a sediment trap (commonly called a “drip leg”) in the gas supply line, and an expansion tank in the water line. 

The rooftop vents for our school’s water heater
(Two square inlets on the left;
one round exhaust on the right.

You see that rusting cap that’s visible atop the exhaust vent? It is being replaced today, to prevent rust flakes from harming the burners down below them. Yet important as that is, it is mere maintenance. Metaphorically speaking, it’s the new capital improvements that will truly “cap off” today’s changes!

Because these small capital improvements are new to Mishkon, let me introduce them to you. Below the jump, I describe their respective functions and maintenance needs.…

New water heater in school building (Activity Report)

WHEN THE GAS COMPANY technicians came to restore service immediately after the termite fumigation, they noticed that the water heater in the school building was not working properly: its burner jets were producing luminous yellow flames. They said that for them to relight the water heater’s pilot light would be unsafe, and therefore against company policy. So they slapped on red tags instead.

Red “danger” tags at our old water heater

Happily, on the next work day a plumber came to diagnose the problem. The prognosis: after 24 years of faithful service, our water heater had reached the end of its useful life. Repairing it would cost almost as much as replacing it.

As I write this, the water heater is being replaced with a far more efficient unit. According to my previous calculations, the new unit should use almost half as much energy to heat the water that our building needs. (By law, new units are more energy efficient than they were 24 years ago; and the new 30-gal tank better fits our limited hot water use than the previous 50-gal tank.) Which means that it will mostly pay for itself if it lasts for its predicted lifetime. 

Below the jump are before-and-after photos.…

Summary status report on our facilities needs

STARTING A NEW fiscal year, with some new officers and directors, let us take stock of where we stand. From this vantage point, our recent accomplishments and imminent projects are taken as givens. What matters most are the challenges that we have yet to address.

The focus in this post is not on making improvements per se, but more simply on attending to what we currently have, beyond routine maintenance. I further restrict my focus here to items that are not obvious. (Which excludes repairing the flood damage in the basement.) This gives us our baseline for moving forward beyond this summer’s projects.

Below the jump, this post sums up the needs of our facilities major areas of concern. The list is not exhaustive. What is listed here alone will cost more than $180K. Most of the expenditures have been discussed by, and authorized by, the board of directors.

UPDATE: When is the right time to replace a water heater?

ABOUT THREE MONTHS AGO, in a post HERE (2/14/22), I discussed the principle that special measures ($$) are warranted whenever there’s a premium placed on the reliability of services. I used the example of the water heater that supplies hot water to our school/office building — which houses our burgeoning preschool. 

It now appears that I had picked a very good illustration for this principle of facilities management. This week, I received a strongly worded email from each of the two main figures behind our preschool. The present post takes note of their express desire — namely, that our synagogue do whatever it takes to avoid disruptions of the preschool’s scheduled days of operation.

When is the right time to replace a water heater?

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it!" That's a standard guideline for many things in life. Normally it applies to water heaters, as well. But as you know, in contemporary society many items are replaced as a matter of course before they actually break. For example, aircraft engine turbine blades. And the timing belt on the engine of your car. Why? Because they are considered critical parts. If they fail, the whole system may go down — in some cases, literally. 

In this post, I will discuss a case in which a water heater appears to be a critical part — and therefore warrants replacement even before it fails.