Fresh from today’s Assessment Committee meeting, here is the video presentation seen today for your review. Note this is a lower-resolution video for web preview. If you would like a DVD of this video presentation, feel free to contact Lonny Paul for a free copy.

Maintenance Project Summary

Cooling Towers: As you can see this is your existing cooling towers system; only three out of six cooling towers are working, that means that the entire building cooling system is working at 50% capacity.

We are equipped with two chillers that cool the common areas, the commercial areas, as well as the 4th and 5th floors residential unit. The rest of the residential units are cooled by individual Heat Pumps. With the exception of a hand full of central or mini-split air conditioners the rest of the cooling system works with water and the cooling towers are the only means to cool off the condensing water. We have already purchased the new cooling towers. It will be a three stainless steel Marley cooling tower system that will allow the cooling system to work at 100% capacity with an energy and water consumption savings of over 50% from the existing system.

The new cooling towers are expected to be delivered by the end of September and will be stored until November/December and then installed. The reason we do not want to install the new cooling tower system before the winter months is because we will be without air conditioning for approximately two weeks. Even though we are a few days away from October, the out side temperature is well over 90 degrees each day.

Cooling Towers Chemical Feeders: We need to install an automatic chemical feeder for the new cooling towers. This chemical feeder will electronically read the condensing water chemical level and will release bromine or chlorine as needed to maintain the desired chemical level and to protect the new towers from corrosion, scaling and bacteria build-up.

Roof Replacement: Some time ago and probably right after Hurricane Andrew, the existing roof was installed; however, the old roof was not removed. You have two roofing membranes at the present time. The original roof was a gravel roof and the second layer is a modified roof membrane which was applied right on top of each other. This is not legal today. I don’t know if it was legal then, but I doubt it very much. The existing roof rain water drains are higher than the roof pitch and water will pond at different areas of the roof.

The existing roof is already leaking in several areas and there are several damaged sections, as well as the total damage under the cooling towers. The roof needs to be completely removed and replaced with a modified mineral surface roof.

West Stairs Louvers: The building was designed for the landings on the west stairwells to be open and to serve as a smoke escape route in case of a fire emergency. The only purpose of this particular design is to save money by not having to install smoke exhaust fans and dumpers in each individual hallway. What the designing Architect never considered, was that this is Miami, home of the Hurricanes and a simple summer rain storm will flood the landings and water will intrude into the hallways.

The only way to control this problem and be within the City and State Fire Codes is to install a seven inch louver window that will allow air flow for smoke to escape and will reduce water intrusion to about 100% on a regular rain storm and to about 90% on a major rain storm.

Trash Chute Doors and Throat: There are 24 trash chute rooms in the tower. In more that half of them, the trash chute doors and throats are damaged or are not closing properly. Forget about odors escaping into your hallways. Most important, this is a FIRE HAZARD! The trash compactor is very vulnerable to fire. Smoke, as well as fire, will go up the chute and if your trash chute doors are not completely closed, fire and smoke will invade your hallways.

Fire Protection Water System (Phase one): Your fire protection water test and drain lines are located inside the trash chute rooms and 90% of them are leaking. There are several control valves and damper switches that are located at the central stairwells that are leaking or not working at all.

The fire protection water pipe lines that are located in the garage levels, as well as the fire sprinkler heads, are corroded and leaking to a point that if we scrape them to apply a fresh coat of paint they will burst. This is a very big and costly job, which is why we decided to repair the fire protection water system in two phases.

Hot Water Pipe Insulation (Garage Levels): The boilers supply hot water to the commercial areas as well as the 4th and 5th floor residential units. These pipe lines run through the 5th, 6th and 7th floor garage levels and are not insulated. This is a waste of money because your gas boilers have to continuously heat up the water in order to provide hot water to the areas which it serves.

Floor Drains (Garage Levels): There are only two existing floor drains in the garage floors. Just a simple rain shower will pond the garage in many different areas. I am sure that all of you are very well aware of this problem. We need to install several floor drains in specific areas of the garage to allow the rain or fire sprinkler water to drain down, and not flood the garage.

Fire Rated Doors: There are several fire rated doors that are damaged and failed the Fire Marshal’s Inspection conducted in early September of this year. These doors need to be replaced within three months of the date of inspection or we will be fined $300.00 per day per door until the doors are replaced.
The North and West emergency stairs from the 9th floor down to the 1st floor are locked for security purposes. A new fire code was established this year which indicates that each door on every 4th floor inside the stairwell, must be installed with panic bar to be used as an a emergency escape route without having to look for a key or having to find the key hole when the stairs are full of smoke.

Pneumatic Control System: Our pneumatic compressor controls the chillers and the boilers control panels. There is no control panel installed for the pneumatic compressor to indicate to us that there is a problem or that the system failed to operate. The only way I can know that the system is down is by physically inspecting the compressor all day long or when some one calls and advises us that it is very hot int the common areas, commercial areas, and inside the 4th and 5th floors residential units.

The Pneumatic Control system will send an alarm signal to my computer, the Front Desk computer and my cell phone, if I am not on the property, and advise me of the nature of the problem.

Chillers and Boilers Strainers/Filters: There are three original strainers/filters installed in the chillers and hot water systems. These strainers/filters collect all sediments within your air conditioning condensing water and within your hot water pipe lines. The strainers/filters are corroded and are not collecting anything at the present time. These strainers are supposed to be cleaned every week as preventive maintenance to help in maintaining your air conditioner coils and to keep them clean and free of sediments.

Boiler Overhaul: One of two boilers is presently down, due to corrosion and seal leaks. This boiler servers as a backup boiler in case the main boiler goes down. If we lose the primary boiler today, the residents of the 4th and 5th floors as well as the commercial areas, will be without hot water until the boiler is repaired, and this can very well be several days.

Hot Water Insulation (Boiler Room): There is approximately 300’ of hot water pipe lines inside the chillers and boilers mechanical rooms that are not insulated. And just like the hot water, non-insulated garage pipe lines, this is a waste of money.

Pool Chemical Feeders: Two Chlorine and two Muriatic Acid (PH) automatic feeders are needed in the pool pump room. These feeders will maintain the pools chlorine and PH levels within the Florida Health Department mandate levels 24/7.

Domestic Water System: Your existing domestic water system is three pumps, high and low level zone system, controlled by a high pressure and low pressure control system. Only two of three pumps are working. The control panel is burned out and the low zone clave-valve is broken. In order to maintain the recommended water pressure for a building like this one, you need a Sentry-Triplex Pre-piped and Constant, Variable Flow Water Booster System that is capable of providing 450 gallons of water per minute at a level of 340 feet and maintain at least 147 of pounds per square inch of water pressure. This pump system will automatically rotate the pumps and will turn off or turn on the pumps in accordance with the building’s water demands at any given moment.

Fire Pump Motor Block Heater and Battery Charger: The fire pump diesel motor is designed to have a block heater to keep the motor oil warm at all times and a battery charger to maintain both 24-V batteries fully charged. The fire pump diesel motor block heater is broken and is not heating up the motor oil. This is dangerous to the motor block and just by turning the motor on for test purposes you can damage the motor block. The battery charger is also broken and a new charger needs to be installed.

Generator Motors Block Heater and Battery Charger: The Generator’s diesel motor is designed to have a block heater to keep the motor oil warm at all times and also a battery charger to maintain both 24-V batteries fully charged. The Generator’s diesel motor block heater is broken and is not heating up the motor oil. This is dangerous to the motor block and just by turning the motor on for test purposes you can damage the motor block. The battery charger is also broken and a new charger needs to be installed.

Commercial Elevators: Both commercial elevator pistons are leaking oil to the point that is unsafe to operate these two elevators. Both elevators need full replacement and at least one needs to be replaced immediately. We are allowing outsiders to ride our residential elevators, to have access to the commercial levels and to Mike’s Restaurant, and this is a security risk to all residents as well as an inconvenience to all in general.

Northeast Sump-Pumps: There are two lift-stations at the lower parking garage; one at the Southwest corner and the other at the Northeast corner of the parking garage. The two Southwest sump-pumps were replaced approximately one month ago because they failed to operate and only one out of the two Northeast sump-pumps are working and it is working without a control panel. In the event of a major storm or Hurricane, the lower parking garage will be flooded and the sump-pumps will not be able to pump the water out of lower parking.

Security and Cameras System: The existing security camera system is in bad shape and we are not able to record most of them for future use. None of the doors that lead to the exterior of the building are equipped with a security alarm devise (sensor) and/or a security camera. In order to provide an accurate security system, we need to install several cameras and several door alarm devises in different areas of the building, as well as, inside all residential and commercial elevators. These cameras will be digitals and will be able to record and maintain the recording for a minimum of 30 days.