Why Waterford Community Center Needs Repairs

People taking a Zumba class at Waterford Community Center expect to sweat but problems with the heating and air conditioning system in the dining/function room have been making folks hot under the collar for some time.

Despite having a heating/cooling system, the humidity in the room can rise to 90 percent. That much moisture has been a contributing factor to problems with the floor, which is buckling in places and creating a safety hazard. 

Earlier this week, Waterford's Board of Selectmen approved an additional $38,995 from a Capital and Non-Recurring Undesignated Line Item to make repairs to the heating and air conditioning system. Repairs to the floor will be made at the same time, using an existing Capital appropriation of $46,250 to replace the existing vinyl plank floor which is coming up in places because of overly moist conditions. That same moisture has caused problems in the ceiling and mold in places.  

The big question, for many people, is why these problems exist in a relatively new building. The Community Center was first opened in 2005.

"It's brand new and very hard to swallow," said Senior Center Director Sally Richie.

Before asking the town for money to fix the problems, Richie said, the center tried to no avail to get the repairs paid using insurance. The company that installed the floor is out of business, so that turned out to be a dead end too. Richie does take some comfort in the fact that the town now, finally, knows what is needed to fix the problem. 

Matthew Mullen, engineering consultant for EMCOR Services New England Mechanical, conducted a review of the dining/function room to get to the root of the humidity issues. For five weeks, temperature and humidity was monitored. 

In a letter dated October 14, he explained the problem and it boils down to this. The room has just one duct system and a single air handling unit but is typically divided by partitions to create one large and one small room to accommodate different uses at different times and is only heavily occupied for a few hours a week. 

The room has a variable air volume system designed to respond to changing air temperatures in the entire space, but with the room divided, the one system routinely either overcools one space and/or fails to dehumidify the other.

The solution is to install independent air terminal units for each space to regulate the amount of cooling air in response to the different air temperatures in each space. EMCOR also suggest installing relative humidity sensors in each area so the system will respond to changing conditions in each space. 

Additionally, EMCOR recommends installing electric reheat coils on each variable air volume terminal unit to reheat the room and prevent overcooling. Using electrical reheat coils will eliminate the need to use the boiler in the summer. 

"It's something we've been searching to find an answer for," said Richie.

Now the problem is known, the work to fix both the floor, the ceiling, the ducts and to install the new heating and cooling systems can move forward, pending approval from the Board of Finance, which has to sign off on the new appropriation request. All the work will be done at the same time to minimize disruption.