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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-04-24 Standardization Committee MinutesMINUTES COUNTY OF HAWAI'I STANDARDIZATION COMMITTEE Monday, April 24, 2023 County Building Finance Conference Room 25 Aupuni Street, Suite 2103 Hilo, Hawaii CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order by Chairperson Deanna Sako at 10:03 a.m. ATTENDANCE There was a quorum with the following committee members and staff in attendance: Deanna Sako, Director of Finance J Yoshimoto, Assistant Corporation Counsel Reid Sewake, Business Manager of Parks & Recreation Grant Nagata, Business Manager of Office of the Prosecuting Attorney Malia Kekai, Deputy Director of Public Works Also present: Diane Nakagawa, Deputy Director of Finance Sarah Yeckley, Purchasing Agent of Finance Chadwick Marote, Lead Electrician of Parks & Recreation Kevin Matsunami, Elec-Electronic Equip Repairer Parks & Recreation Crystallene Pacheco, Private Secretary of Finance Absent: Stephen Pause, Director of Public Works INTRODUCTION Those present at the meeting were introduced by Ms. Sako. MINUTES OF MARCH 13,2023 MEETING Mr. Sewake moved to approve the minutes of the March 13, 2023 meeting. Mr. Yoshimoto seconded. Motion carried. STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC (AGENDA ITEMS ONLY) There were no written statements from the public. NEW BUSINESS Agenda Item 1: Standardize the purchase of Eco-Flow Variable Frequency Drives (VFD) for the Department of Parks & Recreation. Members of the committee reviewed the written request and handouts submitted from the Department of Parks & Recreation Parks Maintenance division. Mr. Marote - Pools nm 24/7, chemicals such as muriatic and chlorine tablets are added to them. Big pumps range from 15hp to 60hp, and some run a lot of amps. When pools run at full load it uses more amps, drawing more current, using higher electricity. These VFDs will be able to ramp down the amps saving electricity. The VFD was last put out for bid in 2016 and the cost was approximately $12,000. We installed the Eco- Flow VFD in 2016, reviewed a few HELCO bills and did a comparison on the electricity cost savings from April to September for both 2015 and 2016. Savings ranged from 15% up to 36%. (A comparison chart was provided to members to review). Mr. Marote also provided a bar graph showing the monthly cost in 2015 prior to using a VFD, the monthly cost in 2016 after VFD was installed and the monthly savings after VFD. A non-Eco-Flow VFD was installed at the Pahoa pool. The pool is running full load therefore not providing savings currently. The Eco-Flow VFD will pay for itself in no time and is user friendly compared to the one used at Pahoa. To program the Pahoa VFD, you must go through a variety of parameters and it's very difficult to program using just numbers. The Eco-Flow brand will ask you questions. For example, it will ask for the current voltage used, the horsepower, the ramp desired, etc. This unit was made specifically for swimming pools, and they have a NEMA 12 configuration which offers durability for hostile pool environments; chlorine, muriatic acid, dust, and moisture. Personnel at the Eco-Flow VFD locations seem to like it due to its easy use for day- to-day operation with the simple process of pressing a button to do specified tasks. Mr. Matsunami — When the Eco-Flow VFD was installed in Kona, a HELCO Meter Reader visited the site to read the meter a couple times, a Meter Reader Supervisor also came to meet and questioned the savings with the P&R Maintenance crew. Ms. Sako — Is it a requirement to have these at all the pools? Mr. Marote — It's not a requirement, but the savings for the county are huge. Mr. Matsunami — The Eco-Flow VFDs are currently installed at Kona Community Aquatic Center (KCAC), Konawaena High School and Laupahoehoe swimming pool. If the system should fail, it can be switched to a bypass until the unit is repaired, avoiding a shutdown of the pool. Unfortunately, savings will not happen while the pool is running on the bypass during repairs. Ms. Kekai — Is there a reason why there aren't current numbers on the savings? Mr. Marote — I only made a comparison just to show the savings between when we didn't have VFD in 2015 and after installing the VFD in 2016 but we're still saving. Also, the price per day that HELCO charges fluctuates — the fuel charges make a difference to the percentages. Ms. Sako — The savings have been consistent. Mr. Marote — Yes, overall, the county is saving. If we use a conventional type of motor control starter unit with press button, running at full load. Units may cost $2,000-$3,000 each but we will not save any money. We should think about the starters that are currently in some of the pools. They will eventually fail and should have them upgraded. Ms. Sako — If this brand is approved, will you be changing the Pahoa pool? Mr. Marote — Yes. Ms. Kekai — Do you maintain these systems yourselves? Mr. Marote — Yes, we program the VFDs when they're installed and repair them when they go down. Technical support is available; their Engineers will walk you through and tell you what parts they will send out. Ms. Kekai — They have good customer service and are available 24/7? Mr. Marote — Yes. There was one incident where there was a power surge, and it crippled many parts in the unit — so we put the system in bypass and mailed the unit back to the manufacturer to repair. Mr. Nagata — What is the warranty? Mr. Marote — I don't have the answer right now. (Mr. Marote provided warranty information on April 24, 2023 to SC and the unit has a 3 year warranty). Ms. Sako — In all the years you've had this VFD, you were able to call and get support? Mr. Marote — Yes, besides the surge issue that occurred at the Laupahoehoe pool, we've never had any problems. Right now, we have the pools ramped down to 90%, we could go lower, but it depends on the turnover rate of the pool. The Department of Health (DOH) does not regulate the turnover rate, but we understand they like the pools turned over through the filters 8 times within 24 hours. The DOH checks the pool water clarity by throwing a colorful disc which is approximately 10" into the bottom of the deepest point of the pool and if can be seen from the outside the pool it's good. Ms. Yeekley — Are all the pools consistent in size? Mr. Marote — No. Ms. Yeckley — Will this unit support any size pool the county currently has? Mr. Marote —'Yes, I believe these VFDs can service 10hp to a 1500hp pools. The units must be designed to accommodate the size/volume/pump, etc. of the pool. Mr. Sewake — Is the pool at Pahoa set up at 90%? Mr. Marote — No, it's running at full load. Mr. Matsunami - The amp on the old pump is running the same right now which is at about 100+ amps. Ms. Sako — This is the reason I asked if we're replacing the Pahoa pool with the Eco-Flow brand. Ms. Kekai — Where did the $12,000 VFD get installed at? Mr. Marote — The KCAC pool. Ms. Sako — Smaller pools should be cheaper. Mr. Sewake — Seems like the Eco-Flow is easier to deal with. Mr. Matsunami — The installation of the VFD in Pahoa took almost 2 weeks to be completed by the company's representative. Mr. Marote — We read the instruction manual, and it took us 2-3 days to install the Eco-Flow VFD. Manual. Ms. Yeekley — Does your staff program all the pools? Mr. Marote — Our staff of three (3) does the programming of all the pools island -wide. Ms. Yeckley — Makes sense to me that you're trained on this one system. Mr. Nagata — Looking ahead, does this system allow for remote access, something like SCADA or connecting to the internet where you can monitor or program it? Ms. Sako — Not all our facilities are connected to the internet. We have 310 facilities of which many are in remote areas. Perhaps eventually that can happen. Mr. Marote — We are working on internet connection for the Recreation section with the IT department. We did have a chlorination system unit that we had to program as well, and the unit had the capability to connect to the internet, but we didn't have telephone lines to hook it up. Mr. Kekai — What is the useful life on these units? Mr. Marote — Not sure, so far we've had no problems. Probably a 10- or 20-year window. Ms. Sako — Looks like it pays for itself in less than a year. Mr. Sewake — We received a $10,000 energy rebate for that unit. Ms. Sako — In summary, we save money, it's easy to use and the staff can manage the units. Ms. Sako — Any other questions? None. The committee voted and motion was carried. ANNOUNCEMENTS There was no further business. Ms. Kekai made a motion to adjourn the meeting and it was seconded by Mr. Yoshimoto. The meeting adjourned at 10:26 a.m. Respectfully submitted, Crystallene Pacheco