“Reserve Component Failure Modes”

By Robert M. Nordlund, P.E., R.S.

When something fails, it fails, doesn’t it? Well… sometimes, sometimes not. A leaking roof has clearly failed. But when do you decide that the old (ugly) gold shag carpet and beaded doorway in the clubhouse has “failed”? Should replacement of the pool heater be handled differently from the boiler that provides hot water to the entire association? In the field of Reserve Studies, there are five general categories of failure modes.

1. Regular. Components in this category are items like wood painting and asphalt seal coating. These components require regular sealing or rejuvenation or the association will face significant related repair or replacement expenses.
   
2. Watch & Decide. Roofing and fencing are typical components in this category. The gradual approach of failure may be apparent, but the actual failure point may be delayed or accelerated due to weather or maintenance.
   
3. Benign. Components in this category are non-critical components such as pool heaters or clubhouse trash compactors. It is not a problem to stretch out the life and wait until the component fails, because it simply is no big deal for the association to survive a few days without the component.
   
4. Catastrophic. The association depends on these components: main hot water boilers, gate systems, etc. Failure of these components in an unplanned moment (or holiday weekend) causes significant expense or disruption in the association, so being proactive and replacing them before failure is often wise.
   
5. Obsolescence (technological or aesthetic). These components have functional lives longer than they can be described as “bringing value to the association”. The gold shag carpet in the clubhouse, the old and dated appearance of the elevator interior, and the old single floppy monochrome monitor PC used by the on-site manager are three good examples.

In summary, understanding the different reasons why to replace a component helps you to make wise decisions about when to replace the component.

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