Over the past several years major capital improvement projects have received lots of attention.  In the last six months or so, ongoing maintenance has received more attention, especially with volunteers who serve more like “unpaid staff” than anything else.

HVAC FILTERS

When furnaces are unable to “keep up” on a cold day, it’s likely because of a dirty filter. Our campus infrastructure includes 34 different AC or heating units, most of which make use of pleated filters that must be changed one or two times a year. Five smaller units have washable filters.

Complicating matters is that some units require multiple filters and most units use a different size. For example: the gymnasium air handler uses 16, 20″ x 25″ x 2″ filters and each of the two sanctuary units require four, 16″ x 25″ x 2″ filters.

If you want to take responsibility for changing any (or all) of these filters just speak up!

HEATING CONTROLS

Over the years controlling the temperature of the school’s cafeteria has been very challenging.  In the late fall and early winter outside temperatures can vary significantly, which often resulted in having the air conditioning cool off the space the boiler was trying to heat up!

In December one skilled church member installed a new valve which can be more easily controlled by the programmable thermostat that already controls the air conditioning in the space.

ROOF LEAKS

With the early snow and changing temperatures an “ice dam” formed on the school roof, causing a leak in the teacher’s workroom.  We were able to clear the ice so the water drained off the roof (instead of finding its way into the building).

Leaders have identified an effective patch kit that is very easy to use. As soon as we have a stretch of drier, warmer weather volunteers can help seal the point where the water from the melting ice infiltrated the building.

HOW CAN YOU HELP?