Photo By Staff Sgt. Karen Sampson | Work on upgrading geothermal units continues on Fort Johnson.... read more read more
FORT JOHNSON, La. — Corvias cares about Soldiers and their Family members’ quality of life. Whether it’s renovating homes, providing consistent, quality maintenance or upgrading foundational systems within homes, Corvias works to provide the best possible resident experience.
One of those upgrades comes in the form of updating about 600 existing geothermal units at Fort Johnson. That includes changing out the equipment and, when needed, digging additional wells if they are too small or short. Many of the current geothermal units are reaching the end of their useful life cycles, so Corvias is replacing them. In fact, some air-to-air systems are also being converted to geothermal units.
“Geothermal systems are one of the most efficient systems on the market. They seem to be working very well on the installation and have been for decades,” said Beth Worthley, Corvias renewable energy and utilities manager.
Once upgraded, residents will continue to have full control over the temperature range settings in their homes. The systems will be better able to heat and cool to their desired temperature.
When it comes to water heaters, the geothermal Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning systems move excess heat in the home and move it to pre-heat water. The excess heat is being used to heat the water in the tanks, reducing the extra consumption of electricity.
“There is a financial benefit to that savings. By using the excess heat, we aren’t spending as much money to heat the water. In this entire project, every time we talk about savings, all of that (money) will get reinvested into improving Fort Johnson housing,” Worthley said.
Those are all good things. However, with any new system, there can be an adjustment period in which refinements must be made and Fort Johnson residents have had some concerns.
It’s extremely hot in Louisiana and in limited instances, some older HVAC systems were challenged to cool to the desired temperature. The new systems design allows for more efficient heating and cooling, but if residents experience any issues, all they need to do is submit a work order and maintenance will help correct the situation.
In addition, some of the water heaters were not heating to the temperature people were accustomed to.
“We heard those concerns and have now eliminated that problem completely. We took resident feedback seriously and have changed operations for all homes going forward and are going back and adjusting the homes that were upgraded previously,” Worthley said.
Peter Therrell, Corvias senior vice president of asset management, said Corvias always wants to make those adjustments to better serve residents.
Therrell said when the upgrading process began, various factors were considered to set the parameters of the system, such as the likely timeframes of when residents would be home and using hot water.
“Adjustments were made because some of our calculations were slightly off. The reality is much more complex and varied than we originally thought. So, we have removed the original pivot points in the system to open the system to garner full coverage for hot water,” Therrell said. “It’s not a failure of the system to perform, it’s a change in the settings at which it’s performing.”
When isolated incidents like this occur, it’s encouraged that, like any maintenance situation within the home, a work order be submitted.
Denise Hauck, Corvias senior vice president of property operations, said home upgrades are implemented with residents in mind to modernize and improve their homes.
“However, if a resident has concerns, our maintenance and resident teams are here to help. Resident care is at the heart of what we do.”
Kirk Green, Fort Johnson operations director, said feedback is critical to improving customer service.
“We are always listening and willing to pivot whenever feasible to provide the best living experience for our Fort Johnson residents,” Green said.
Big or little, if you need help with something in your home, Corvias encourages you to call in a work order.
How to submit a work order:
Submitting work orders with Corvias is simple. Routine maintenance tasks can be submitted online through our user-friendly Resident Portal, https://johnson.corviaspm.com/residents, or by calling (337) 537-5050, ensuring a prompt response to address non-urgent issues.
For urgent matters requiring immediate attention, please contact our emergency hotline at 866-436-2047 for swift assistance. Please do not use the Resident Portal for emergency work orders.
| Date Taken: | 12.02.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 12.17.2024 15:54 |
| Story ID: | 487733 |
| Location: | FORT JOHNSON, LOUISIANA, US |
| Web Views: | 47 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Fort Johnson community residents at heart of everything Corvias does, by Angie Thorne, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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