Winter 2022–2023 Heating Repairs
The Mystery
In mid-December a small leak developed in the heating system. By early January the system began leaking water at a rate of 100 gallons per day. My testing showed that the leak was not specific to any one zone (Fellowship Hall, Sanctuary, and Education Building), but common to all three. A thorough check of walls and exposed pipes by my engineering friend Jim Smith and me showed no evidence of hissing steam or pooling water. Another telltale sign would have been billowing clouds of water vapor coming out of the chimney, but we didn’t observe that either. How can that much water vanish every day without a trace? It had to be going into the ground somewhere, but where? And if it was going into the ground, wouldn’t the ground become saturated and the water spill out somewhere eventually?
Mystery Solved
I called our boiler contractor, who arrived on February 2 to investigate. After two hours onsite they accidentally stumbled upon the source: a leaking pipe underneath the floorboards in the storage room next to the boiler room. When the heat was on, it was leaking two gallons in five minutes. The water was indeed going into the ground and immediately draining right down the boiler room wall. We couldn’t hear the hissing of the water escaping from the pipe because the roar of the boiler eight feet away drowned it out.
Replacing the Pipes
After locating the leak on a Wednesday afternoon, the contractor returned the next day, with two men taking most of the day to redo the piping. Since the pipes were old, long sections of convoluted pipe before and after the leak were replaced, along with many valves. The two-step wooden staircase leading to the adjacent storage room also had to be partially demolished and will have to be rebuilt and re-attached by our handyman.
That’s almost it for the season, although another leaking steam valve has to be rebuilt soon. That will cost several thousand dollars. In the spring 50 percent of the heating pipes in the Education Building along the back alley will also be replaced.
[Editor’s note: This story was originally relayed in a memo sent by Werner Heck, Moderator of the Property Committee, to members of the REACH team. ]
Samson Building Basement Repairs
Just around the corner from the boiler room, in the basement of the Samson Education Building, is the room known as the choir robing room. This is where the choir would gather each Sunday before their warmup to pick up their music and folders and don their robes. Over the years the floor in this room has been flooded by ground water infiltration and by leaks from steam pipes. The flooding damaged not only the floor but the lower part of the paneled walls as well. Thanks to the generosity of some Grace Church members, the Property Committee has been able to move ahead with repairs to this room.
Exterior Repairs
English ivy is lovely to look at, but it is an invasive plant that can do a lot of damage. It clings to almost any surface, sending tendrils into pores and cracks in stones and masonry as it grows. We had a fair amount of it growing up the rear exterior wall of the Samson Building. Werner Heck was able to remove most of it and, thankfully, there was not any visible damage.
Repairs to the exterior stucco are also planned.
There’s Much More to Be Done
Watch this space for news of future repairs and renovations to the basement space in the Samson Building, to the basement space in the sanctuary, and to other places in the buildings that Grace Church calls home.