Q&A
Concerns and issues related to temporary boilers
0:42:47
·
147 sec
Council Member Chris Banks raises concerns about temporary boilers, including their removal timing and air quality issues. Keith Grossman and Dylan Baker-Rice explain NYCHA's use and management of temporary boilers.
- Temporary boilers are installed for various reasons, including capital projects and aging infrastructure
- In the operations portfolio, 13 temporary boilers are deployed
- On the capital side, 52 temporary boilers are in use
- All temporary boilers on the capital side use natural gas to address air quality concerns
- Regular maintenance and testing are performed on temporary boilers, including pressure tests and flame analysis
Chris Banks
0:42:47
Residents have raised, concerns about the temporary boilers, including that they're not being removed in time and that they cause air quality problems.
0:42:58
How does NYCHA track and, and and de and remediate these issues related to the temporary boilers?
Keith Grossman
0:43:05
Thank you, Chair.
0:43:06
So those, mobile boilers or temporary boilers can be installed for any number of reasons, any number of any number of reasons.
0:43:16
So there's some are installed as part of a capital project or improvement.
0:43:20
Right?
0:43:21
So if we're doing a full plant replacement, as Dylan said, I mentioned earlier, we will attach a mobile boiler to that property.
0:43:28
It's typically supplied by the gas utility that will provide heat while we're dismantling, removing, and rebuilding a new boiler.
0:43:38
The other the other piece is if we have a boiler room that is aging and waiting for a replacement or in need of a major capital repair, and it's not able to produce the proper amount of pressure, we'll add a mobile boiler to increase the horsepower of that steam pressure going on to the property.
0:43:55
So that that's the other reason to do it.
Chris Banks
0:43:58
Right.
0:43:59
How many, developments now are operating off of a temporary boiler system?
Keith Grossman
0:44:04
So from in the operations portfolio, we have 13 deployed.
0:44:08
Do you have the number on the capital side?
Dylan Baker-Rice
0:44:09
Yeah, on the capital side we have 52.
0:44:12
And to your question before, Chair, for all the 52 that we have on the capital side, they are natural gas, so we switched over to natural gas, for the concerns with oil.
Chris Banks
0:44:24
And how many of those particular, developments that, have temporary boilers, was the was there also are they were they also part of the preparedness plan, or were they were there tests that were done?
Keith Grossman
0:44:41
Yeah.
0:44:41
Okay.
0:44:42
Short answer is yes.
0:44:43
Every year, every every asset goes through some sort of preventative maintenance.
0:44:47
It's like a, you know, a car tune up.
0:44:49
Right?
0:44:49
You take it in every 3 months.
0:44:51
So, it's the same thing.
0:44:53
All the assets, they get pressure tested.
0:44:55
There's, they do, they do a flame analyzation on it to make sure that we're not producing excess, soot into the atmosphere.
0:45:04
And, obviously, prior to installation, we have to install a stack, to ensure that, it blows away from the building in accordance with the OB standards.
