diff --git a/flow/activities/flowable.go b/flow/activities/flowable.go
index 8fe8e4be2b..7d2cc8b566 100644
--- a/flow/activities/flowable.go
+++ b/flow/activities/flowable.go
@@ -742,6 +742,11 @@ func (a *FlowableActivity) getPostgresPeerConfigs(ctx context.Context) ([]*proto
 }
 
 func (a *FlowableActivity) SendWALHeartbeat(ctx context.Context) error {
+	if !peerdbenv.PeerDBEnableWALHeartbeat() {
+		slog.InfoContext(ctx, "wal heartbeat is disabled")
+		return nil
+	}
+
 	sendTimeout := 10 * time.Minute
 	ticker := time.NewTicker(sendTimeout)
 	defer ticker.Stop()
diff --git a/flow/connectors/snowflake/snowflake.go b/flow/connectors/snowflake/snowflake.go
index e487f6ad51..e47c27a5f4 100644
--- a/flow/connectors/snowflake/snowflake.go
+++ b/flow/connectors/snowflake/snowflake.go
@@ -824,7 +824,8 @@ func (c *SnowflakeConnector) generateAndExecuteMergeStatement(
 
 	flattenedCastsSQLArray := make([]string, 0, len(normalizedTableSchema.Columns))
 	for columnName, genericColumnType := range normalizedTableSchema.Columns {
-		sfType, err := qValueKindToSnowflakeType(qvalue.QValueKind(genericColumnType))
+		qvKind := qvalue.QValueKind(genericColumnType)
+		sfType, err := qValueKindToSnowflakeType(qvKind)
 		if err != nil {
 			return 0, fmt.Errorf("failed to convert column type %s to snowflake type: %w",
 				genericColumnType, err)
@@ -849,9 +850,10 @@ func (c *SnowflakeConnector) generateAndExecuteMergeStatement(
 		// 		"Microseconds*1000) "+
 		// 		"AS %s,", toVariantColumnName, columnName, columnName))
 		default:
-			if sfType == "NUMBER(38, 9)" {
-				flattenedCastsSQLArray = append(flattenedCastsSQLArray, fmt.Sprintf("TRY_CAST((%s:\"%s\")::text AS %s) AS %s,",
-					toVariantColumnName, columnName, sfType, targetColumnName))
+			if qvKind == qvalue.QValueKindNumeric {
+				flattenedCastsSQLArray = append(flattenedCastsSQLArray,
+					fmt.Sprintf("TRY_CAST((%s:\"%s\")::text AS %s) AS %s,",
+						toVariantColumnName, columnName, sfType, targetColumnName))
 			} else {
 				flattenedCastsSQLArray = append(flattenedCastsSQLArray, fmt.Sprintf("CAST(%s:\"%s\" AS %s) AS %s,",
 					toVariantColumnName, columnName, sfType, targetColumnName))
diff --git a/flow/peerdbenv/config.go b/flow/peerdbenv/config.go
index 33b1058066..cdefa6a376 100644
--- a/flow/peerdbenv/config.go
+++ b/flow/peerdbenv/config.go
@@ -80,3 +80,8 @@ func PeerDBAlertingGapMinutesAsDuration() time.Duration {
 func PeerDBOpenConnectionsAlertThreshold() uint32 {
 	return getEnvUint32("PEERDB_PGPEER_OPEN_CONNECTIONS_ALERT_THRESHOLD", 5)
 }
+
+// PEERDB_ENABLE_WAL_HEARTBEAT
+func PeerDBEnableWALHeartbeat() bool {
+	return getEnvBool("PEERDB_ENABLE_WAL_HEARTBEAT", false)
+}
diff --git a/flow/peerdbenv/env.go b/flow/peerdbenv/env.go
index 11e363d1eb..3bba77c46d 100644
--- a/flow/peerdbenv/env.go
+++ b/flow/peerdbenv/env.go
@@ -46,6 +46,23 @@ func getEnvUint32(name string, defaultValue uint32) uint32 {
 	return uint32(i)
 }
 
+// getEnvBool returns the value of the environment variable with the given name
+// or defaultValue if the environment variable is not set or is not a valid
+// boolean value.
+func getEnvBool(name string, defaultValue bool) bool {
+	val, ok := getEnv(name)
+	if !ok {
+		return defaultValue
+	}
+
+	b, err := strconv.ParseBool(val)
+	if err != nil {
+		return defaultValue
+	}
+
+	return b
+}
+
 // GetEnvString returns the value of the environment variable with the given name
 // or defaultValue if the environment variable is not set.
 func getEnvString(name string, defaultValue string) string {