Nanuet Library Approves Costly HVAC Project

With several heat alerts being issued last summer, the library was concerned that all three air conditioning units on the roof are past their life expectancy and one of the three is malfunctioning.

Back in July, the Nanuet Library Board met and discussed the failing air conditioning unit with Honeywell representatives, which is the company the library uses for its current units. Last Wednesday, they held a special meeting with Steve Spangler of Savin Engineers, P. C. to go over their proposal.

The unit is faltering due to the hot weather and last summer, a temporary solution being used is a continuous spray of water on the problematic unit to cool it. However, last August, water from the sprinkler caused water to seep through the roof and into the children's room, damaging a section of new books on one of the shelves.

The project's cost is about $120,600, with $29,000 as the fee for Savin and the vote passed 3-2. Check back with Nanuet Patch later today for more details on the cost and the vote.

The board meets tonight at 7 p.m.

The Proposal

“We are in the process of doing major work around here and are looking to figure out how to stage and finance all of these projects,” said Board President Ellen Kimmel. “The largest unit is the one that needs replacing.”

“The whole proposal is to replace all three at the same time,” said Spangler. He added that although there may be some cost savings of switching from electric units, which is the type of unit currently being used, “the savings are not huge for a building of this size. You would save money if you change from electric heat, but the payback is not great. I suggest you replace three units as they are. You have a nice set of boilers that seem to be functioning fine. Ripping it out and putting in a new system (is not worth it).”

The issue with the faltering unit is a specific coil, however, the board decided in an earlier meeting that it would not be wise to replace a coil in a unit that’s already past its life expectancy. Also, the board decided that although two are still functioning, replacing all three would be best because not only are all three past their prime, the cost of bringing in labor and a crane a second or third time to replace the other two in the future is not financially feasible.

The air conditioning unit in the adult reference area is the original from the late 60s.

The scope of services for the work:

• Verify existing conditions
• Provide construction document drawings and specs
• Provide SED filing
• Promote projects to prospective bidders and attend walkthroughs and bid openings
• Qualify low bidder and make recommendations of award
• Processing shop drawings and other submittals
• Perform two periodic inspections and a site inspection after the work is substantially complete
• Process requisitions and invoices, including the collection of certified payroll reports to be forwarded to the Owner
• Issuance of punch list and final inspection

The Plan

The Scope of work:

• Demolish the existing three roof mounted units, two packaged HVAC units and one air cooled condenser, and replace them in kind with of similar size and configuration, including all required electrical work to support the replacement
• Demolish existing unit controls and replace with new
• Install curb adapters to accommodate new packaged HVAC units (This will raise the units’ height about 18 inches)

“The cheapest thing to do is to go out and hire a contractor and replace it,” said Spangler. “But you’re a public school district library and you need to do a public bidding. You have to get drawings together and send them up to the state for approval.”

Spangler added that the bid for the contractor is public, but not for the units themselves, that the library can just go to the manufacturer and price some units out. He also suggested waiting a few years before buying a maintenance package for the units.

“We would close the building for the construction,” said Library Director Gretchen Bell.

Timeline

“Another challenge is your schedule and you need a few months to get everything together,” said Spangler. He said that it takes 8-12 weeks for the state to respond and 10 weeks to get the units after the library orders them. “We would be installing them in September and miss the whole summer. We need to get the units pre-ordered while waiting for the state to get their approval back to us. It’s the only way to maybe meet the summer schedule.”

Design 1/11-3/08 SED Review 3/08-5/08 Bid/Award 5/08-6/1 Submittal 6/1-6/7 Order equipment* 6/7-5/22 Substantially Complete** 7/10 Final Completion 7/10-8/31

*separate bid for equipment **Substantially complete means that everything’s functioning

Board Member Arthur Winoker added that the timeline was so tight because the board didn’t know until recently that they had to get approval from the state since they were a school district public library.

Board Member Paul Corriel was nervous about the timeline.

“This is not a hard schedule, but this is the best case scenario. I don’t think it’ll be done on time,” he said.

“Since it’s clear it won’t be ready for the beginning of summer, we need to make some plans to keep the building and staff cool,” said Board member Tim Donnelly.

Related Patch Posts:

• Nanuet Library Discusses Costly HVAC Updates
• UPDATE: Leaky Roof Damages Books at Nanuet Library