[Joseph McDonough]

Hi Brian,

Try Sallese.

http://www.jsallese.com/

 

Good Luck!

Joe

[Joseph McDonough]

Hi Mike,
George brings up some good points and it’s working or him. I’ve considered it, but not pursued for a number of reasons:
1. It’s hard enough to get qualified maintenance staff (licensed) to work even first shift – 2nd shift further limits pool.
2. They will generally have no direct supervision during most of their shift (Maintenance Manager works days)

3. A lot of issues happen during the day that need response
4. Working first shift ensures:
a. Supply houses are open/available
b. Work order submitters are around, so techs can follow-up directly with them if needed
c. Co-workers (including custodians) around to help.

I have considered third shift custodians…..
Joe

[Joseph McDonough]

Hi Steve,

I know that you realize this already, but go rubber if you can get it. The designer and CM will try to “VE” it out of the project due to cost from feasibility right up to final docs, but fight for it and it will save you a lot of $$$ over the lifetime of the school. LVT and marmoleum are good less-costly alternatives, but as Paul noted, don’t let your overly ambitious custodians throw a coat wax on it to get the shine 🙂

Joe

 

[Joseph McDonough]

Hi Mike,

We have Johnson Controls’ Metasys DDC in all of our buildings, except the older ones with pneumatic controls. We “Metasized” all buildings in Town over several year period as part of various capital projects. We do most of the controls with with our own Controls Administrator (maintenance staff), but there are several really good service providers out there if you need to outsource. We’ve found Metasys to be user friendly enough to be allow both maintenance and custodial staff to use it.

 

Good Luck!

 

Joe

Town of Wellesley

jmcdonough@wellesleyma.gov

[Joseph McDonough]

Joe,

A vendor can probably give you a rough-order-of-magnitude cost to replace the boiler systems, but this project will likely require that you first hire an engineer to prepare bid documents per MGL Chapter 149 (vertical/building construction).  Maybe your first step is to have an engineer prepare a brief, inexpensive ($5k to $10k) study that lays out the process. Depending on the total project costs (engineer fee over $30k and construction project over $300k) you may actually need to do a solicitation (RFQ) to hire the engineer for design. You can hire anyone you want for the study phase. There are a number of good engineering consultants (GG&D, Architectural Engineers, BLW Engineers, etc.)

 

Good luck!

 

Joe

[Joseph McDonough]

CDC had said at one point that outside equipment doesn’t need to be disinfected. Maybe they changed their minds….

[Joseph McDonough]

Ken (All),

This is excellent guidance and highlights to me how much MA has dropped the ball in giving guidance to us on HVAC matters during COVID. Can we ask MA DPH to issue their own guidelines? It would be incredible helpful to all of us to be able to cite a legitimate, respected organization like MA DPH in preparing our own ventilation plans. We are all being bombarded with emails and calls from salesmen, parents, teachers, etc. telling is to look at UV light, bi-polarization, HEPA portable air cleaners, use MERV 13 minimum, etc. As you pointed out, CT DPT DOES NOT EVEN RECOMMEND using stand alone filter units in classroom. We’re looking at purchasing 140 of them!

This lack of State guidance is not only creates needless anxiety, but it is also results in significant, needless expenditures on costly equipment that could be better spent elsewhere. Some of this equipment may provide only say a 5% benefit to air quality and people want it – regardless of the cost.

Finally, is it too late for DESE to issue some sort of supplemental HVAC guidelines separately or jointly with MA DPH? It would be helpful if DESE could make this same statement as CT DPH:
<p style=”text-align: left;”>“In addition, we do not recommend separate, free-standing air cleaner or HEPA filter units for individual classrooms. These units are highly variable in their effectiveness in larger open spaces such as classrooms and in general, any effect on indoor air quality is likely insignificant and greatly outweighed by the additional costs to school systems.”</p>
Thanks for forwarding and for your help.

Joe McDonough

Town of Wellesley

jmcdonough@wellesleyma.gov

[Joseph McDonough]

Hi Chris,

All of the unions, parents and school committees appear to be asking for this information, but they don’t really seem to know exactly what they want. “Air quality” can mean so many different things. The MA Department of Public Health’s Bureau of Environmental Health (MDPH/BEA) has done hundreds and hundreds of air quality assessments in the State, including several for us in Wellesley. They measure temperature, RH, CO2 and CO. They don’t test for mold or fine particulates. If they observe wet/stained areas they will document as possible mold areas, but since there are no referenced standard for mold they don’t sample/test.  So you can’t go wrong using the same criteria that the DPH uses – at least as a start.

With COVID, air quality now includes focus on ventilation and filtration – Air Changes Per Hour (ACH) and MERV ratings (shoot for 13).  We all have portfolios of many different vintages of buildings and mechanical equipment from newly constructed schools with DDC and state-of-the art systems to 60-year old univents with pneumatics.  The right solution to me is one that balances the highest MERV rated filter you can install that: 1) doesn’t cause equipment to fail, and 2) doesn’t reduce the volume of fresh air coming into a room (ACH).  We have grouped the mechanical systems of our 10 schools into three categories (new central systems, newer univents and old univents). We are going to “pilot” a few different MERV filters at representative schools, where we will measure air volume and voltage impacts to motors under 2 or 3 different MERV filters.  We’ll see how the voltage change impacts torque, etc. using motor curves and will see what the reduction in ACH will be, and then determine what, if any, filter changes we can make. As far as what the actual ACH will be in classrooms, we all know that when it’s zero degrees outside and your trying to maximize fresh air, the 60 year old Nesbitt unit won’t be providing 70 degree air in the classroom. This also assumes the teachers haven’t turned off the unit (too noisy or cold) or blocked the univent or exhaust louver.

It’s a good question you raised and I’d be curious to see how others are responding – we’re all in this together…..

Good Luck,

Joe McDonough

Town of Wellesley

jmcdonough@wellesleyma.gov

 

 

[Joseph McDonough]

Hello MFAA Colleagues,

COVID Ventilation – next biggest challenge after cleaning. Can’t go wrong with ASHRAE, but in my mind the guidance we should all follow really starts one level up – DESE, CDC and Commonwealth of MA (Reopening Regs), which cite ASHRAE as a referenced standard.

Easy to meet guidance and recommendations when you have a new school with sophisticated digital controls, but what to do with the 60+ years old school with original univents and pneumatics? Sorry, but we can’t purchase two air filtration units for every classroom as some suggest (doesn’t address COVID anyway) – even if we had the money. In my opinion, the general options that we can all consider – subject to funding, existing condition of equipment, capacity of equipment and physical dimension of filter slots, are:

1. Purge school 1-1/2 to 2 hours before school starts: OK except not easy with pneumatics
2. Increase fresh air volume and air changes: Only with DDC controls and fairly new equipment – have to check impact to temp and humidity. If you are able to actually do this, prepare for the staff complaints (too cold, too hot, too noisy).
3. Increase MERV rating: Depends on condition, capacity and filter slot dimensions of equipment. Sure MERV 13 is recommended, but you’re not doing it on a 50-year old Nesbitt unit ventilator with MERV 1 or 2 filter.
4. Change filters 4 times per year instead of 3 (we’re all doing 3X per year, right?)
5. Add UV disinfection  – ha, don’t even go there
6.  Use windows to supplement fresh air  – excellent advice, but I’m already hearing about the windows that have no insect screens, windows that don’t open and rooms without windows.

Additional costs and staff impacts to implement these are also to be considered. Just like COVID cleaning and disinfecting, we’ll all do the best we can and will undoubtedly come out on the other side! Keep the postings coming – would love to hear what everyone else is thinking, planning and doing. We’re all in this together!

Joe McDonough

Town of Wellesley

jmcdonough@wellesleyma.gov

 

[Joseph McDonough]

Interesting – Home Depot specifically says on their website that the Honeywell version of this unit does not reduce COVID. Good for allergies though.  The COVID particles are 5X smaller than what these unit scan typically filter out. At 530 sf capacity you’ll need two per classroom. So they “can’t hurt” but other issues to think of if you are planning to also install in classrooms: cost, electricity cost, power/extension cords/tripping, equity, noise, maintenance. Be careful…..

 

Joe McDonough

Town of Wellesley

jmcdonough@wellesleyma.gov

[Joseph McDonough]

Update – after contacting over a dozen companies, we found only one on COMMBUYS, FAC112 – Sunbelt Rentals. They’ll be happy to rent us tents for two months at our ten schools for almost a half million dollars – but they don’t handle DigSafe or permits. Can’t make this stuff up. 🙂

Joe McDonough

Town of Wellesley

jmcdonough@wellesleyma.gov

 

[Joseph McDonough]

Hi Jon,

I just responded to this issue a similar MFAA post. We’ll do the same as Joyce. Current DESE guidance can’t be followed as it’s contradictory. Aside from the asthma/allergy issues, no district has a custodial staff large enough to clean and disinfect student desks after lunches. If students and staff don’t do this it just won’t get done. My approach is going to be tell it like it is – “this is what we can reasonably and feasibly do, but we’ll listen to your suggestions…..”

Joe McDonough

Town of Wellesley

jmcdonough@wellesleyma.gov

 

[Joseph McDonough]

Good Afternoon MFAAers,

It looks like FAC12 only lists three vendors: Herc Rentals, Unites Rentals and Subbelt Rentals. Do these companies rent tents? Taylor is the only other rental company I’m aware of. Any suggestions on tent vendors appreciated.

 

Thanks,

Joe McDonough

jmcdonough@wellesleyma.gov

[Joseph McDonough]

Hi Steve,

Good questions. The other challenge that we all face is that many classrooms have TABLES that students it at and not desks. How are we supposed to maintain 3’/6′ distancing for these? I looked at slick program that Cannon Architects produced, but I think I need to pull out my FORTRAN programming books from 1979 to use it.

I guess I’m not surprised by the DESE guidance. Our challenge as facilities professionals is  going to be understanding the nuances between recommendations and requirements and then the actual implementation of the necessary measures in classrooms – all with no additional budget or even less budget. At the end of the day, we’ll do what we have to do safely open schools like we always do – I just hope the State doesn’t send out inspectors with tape measures. 🙂

Joe McDonough

Town of Wellesley

jmcdonough@wellesleyma.gov

[Joseph McDonough]

Hi Tony,

I asked our “fearless leader” Ken Wertz the same question as he is on the DESE Reopening Committee. Add it to the list along with realistic guidance needed on hand sanitizer (can’t get it and can’t afford it) and cleaning/disinfecting (what are we NOT going to do to accomplish this). The signage should be an easy thing for them to do. Use these 10 or 12 standard COVID signs in these places (main entrance, nurses, main office, bathrooms, cafeteria, hallways, etc…). We print out and laminate (instead of paying $15-$25/sign) – done.  And don’t forget the miles of yellow tape we’ll all need to order to maintain social distancing the corridors. Looking forward to finally receiving DESE’s guidance.

Joe McDonough

Town of Wellesley

jmcdonough@wellesleyma.gov