[Staff] [Board] UUCB Heating System

[Wes Ernsberger]

Hi Emily,

Thanks for your questions.

Drainage:  I have studied the situation several times and concluded that
all the water that goes over the back parking lot from the discharge well
seems to be soaking into the ground at the south edge where the bank
starts, so long as the ground is not frozen.  So I don't think we need to
do anything there.  From studying the pitch of the parking lot surface, I'm
convinced that the puddle that forms in front of the visitor signs and the
puddle that forms in the connector to the Guthrie lot are separate drainage
problems that are unrelated to the overtopping of the discharge well.  In
the short term, they may benefit from additional ditches or better clearing
the existing ones .. but probably not much.  There needs to be a larger
scale project to deal with those and I think Guthrie needs to be involved.
Carl is our rep to Guthrie and he is aware of this problem.

Visitor signs:  As you know, I think those signs should be removed until
the drainage problem has been resolved.  However, that is just my opinion.
I think we need to have a reasonable amount of consensus before we remove
them:  *All:  Does anyone object to our temporarily removing those signs?*
 One variation on this is to move the signs elsewhere but that takes up
parking spaces and is a fair amount of work to do.  So my vote is to simply
take them out and store them in the shed.

Wes

On Sat, Mar 23, 2024 at 10:20 AM Hotchkiss-Plowe Family <
hotchkiss.plowe at gmail.com> wrote:

> Wes,
>
> Is any additional ditch digging required to help with the excess overflow?
>
> Also, are we planning on removing the First Sunday Visitor Parking signs
> as was suggested? Is assistance needed?
>
> Ben and/or I can help as needed, just don’t want to do things without
> consultation.
>
> Emily
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Mar 22, 2024, at 8:24 PM, Wes Ernsberger via Board <
> board at uubinghamton.org> wrote:
>
> 
> Update: I've switched us back to the GSHP system a bit quicker than I had
> expected because the backup system stopped working.  That means that the
> overtopping of the discharge well is back.  We can work on the backup
> system starting Tuesday when Ed gets back home.  Meanwhile, looking at the
> weather forecast, I believe we'll be ok although there may be some ice
> forming on the back parking lot on some mornings, melting later in the day.
>
> Wes
>
> On Tue, Mar 19, 2024 at 7:46 AM Wes Ernsberger <wesernsberger at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> FYI, the GSHP discharge well (near the bottom of the steps to the back
>> parking lot) overtopped again yesterday, resulting in water flowing over
>> the back parking lot.  I talked it over with Ed and Scott.  Since there is
>> below-freezing weather coming up and we don't want ice to form on the back
>> parking lot and become a potential safety hazard, we decided to switch to
>> the backup system, which I did yesterday evening.
>>
>> Note: We continue to use the GSHP system to heat the Fireside Lobby and
>> the Chapel because those areas are not covered by the backup system.  The
>> amount of water used for just this area is small enough that the discharge
>> well can handle it and it doesn't overtop.
>>
>> We don't use the backup system much so there may be uneven heating in
>> some of the rooms. Feel free to adjust the temperatures on the old system
>> thermostats, as necessary, and also feel free to contact me
>> about anything.  If you adjust the temperatures, be sure to use HOLD so
>> that it won't revert back to its program (of 60 degrees) at the start of
>> the next setback time period.
>>
>> I have notified Dailey Geothermal, our installer.  Until this problem is
>> resolved, my plan is to go back to the GSHP system once we get warmer
>> weather because then there is no freezing issue in case it overtops again.
>> We would just get some water on the back parking lot.
>>
>> Wes
>>
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