Humane Society of the United States Expo 2017

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info@ Humane Society of the United States Expo 2017 Building Systems: The building systems: mechanical, plumbing, lighting, electrical and noise control systems are critical for success in animal

1 Humane Society of the United States Expo 2017 Building Systems: The building systems: mechanical, plumbing, lighting, electrical and noise control systems are critical for success in animal shelter design. Unlike other buildings, the engineering of these systems is intricately linked to many aspects of the architectural design as well as the shelter protocols. Engineers need to have an extensive understanding of shelter operations and protocols as well as input into the architectural floor planning to create successful building systems. All of these elements affect the engineering of the systems: Auditory and olfactory stimulation, as well as visual stimulation under certain circumstances, have a major impact on stress and territorial reactions in animals; systems must be designed to mitigate this impact Architecturally, the placement of corridors, sequential design of intake areas, separate storage areas for clean and dirty sections of the shelter and smaller groupings of animals Operationally, the method of staff assignment to animal zones (specific staff to specific areas) and methods of cleaning impact the choice and intensity of mechanical and some plumbing systems Disease history and probability of disease transmission: fomite (people, surfaces), vector (ticks, fleas), aerosol, oral, and direct contact, all affect the mechanical system design. In all cases, the engineered systems must work together, particularly the lighting, mechanical and cleaning systems. These elements should work from front-to-back, clean-to-dirty in the animal enclosure rooms. Mechanical Systems Animal care facility HVAC systems should be engineered in an entirely different manner from those designed for human occupancy, including medical buildings. In fact the best human building analogy to animal care is a commercial restaurant kitchen or a factory, not a medical facility. There should be many smaller zones rather than a few large zones Air flows should be two to three times that of human occupied buildings All systems require dehumidification capability Fresh air flow rates should be 25% to 35% of total air flow, not 10% typical of office spaces nor 100% Supply air systems require directed, vertical air flow with minimal turbulence Distribution should be opposite to that of a typical office or retail space Actual airflows are determined room by room in proper ventilation analysis and are affected by air treatment, fresh air rates, duct distribution, animal disease history, sources of moisture, and budget. 1

2 Zoning In general, there should be individual, separate HVAC systems for each public space, multipurpose room, service area, holding room, bathing zone and the shelter medicine area itself, including separate zones for animal wards and surgery. Every animal enclosure area should have an independent, non-communicating, separately ducted system. All zones require excellent distribution, high airflow rates, high fresh air dilution rates, filtration, dehumidification, and biological air treatment. Floor plans must include intervening corridor systems that operate on dedicated HVAC zones. These hallways also provide excellent noise separation and fire control zones. The mechanical systems are designed to reduce animal stress, permit a wide range of temperature and humidity control simultaneously in multiple areas of the facility, and create a disease and odor mitigated environment. Animals often identify their environments through olfactory stimulation first, followed by auditory and then visual stimulation. Creating multiple, small mechanical zones that are entirely independent greatly help to eliminate olfactory and, to an extent, auditory stimulation from one animal area to another; smells and sounds from one animal zone are never introduced to other animal zones. Humidity Control Humidity is the enemy of animal care facilities. We include dehumidification control in every animal care facility we engineer. Virulence of disease and pathogenicity as well as survival of pathogens on surfaces grows exponentially as humidity levels rise above 50%. Humidity in the air will be strongly correlated with increased bacterial virulence. Humidity also correlates with surface moisture on walls and floors, which can encourage fungal and bacterial colonies. Include separate, dedicated commercial dehumidification systems for each zone. Proper engineering requires a psychrometric analysis illustrating the peak dehumidification times durig the day. Fresh Air & Exhaust A shelter requires a substantial amount of fresh air. Fresh air flow rates are based on the number of animals, caging type, and disease history, not the 10% typical of office spaces nor the air-changes-per hour method typical of animal laboratory facilities using 100% outside air. In fact, air changes per hour is a very poor method of sizing air systems and should not be used in this application. Properly designed, odor free animal care HVAC systems have multiple, smaller, independent zones, ducted return air with animal specific ionizers, encapsulating exhaust at sources of odor and moisture, and significant fresh air dilution. Air changes per hour (ACH) method of engineering design is still appropriately used in laboratories that study disease and is intended for applications where there is 100% air exchange. ACH was popularized in the technical literature of animal care starting in the 1970 s primarily due to government publications for laboratory animal facilities. Today only laboratories designed for 100% air replacement should use this method. It is extremely excessive, highly variable depending on building or zone volume, very expensive to heat and cool, and far beyond what is necessary or even effective. It is a huge waste of energy. 2

3 The International Mechanical Code references ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air Conditioning Engineers) standards for animals for which all categories of farm animals have ventilation determined as a cubic foot per minute per animal method. As such, the proper design parameter is fresh air flow per animal, which we have established through experience at about 20 to 40 CFM (cubic feet per minute) per animal. The smaller end of that range is for a densely populated zone, small volume space, or healthy animals. The higher end of that range is for low population spaces, voluminous spaces, or sick animals particularly with regard to upper respiratory disease. Air that is introduced into the building must be correspondingly balanced by exhaust out of the building. We usually recommend an exhaust system located primarily over the cages and sources of odor, moisture and disease. Isolation cages, bathing tubs, dishwashing equipment, exam rooms and intake holding areas are evacuated to very high levels. Air Distribution In addition to adequate air flow and dehumidification, proper air distribution is critical. Without proper air distribution, the other features of the HVAC system will perform poorly or not at all. Air should be delivered vertically to the floor surfaces at moderate velocity using linear diffusers. Airflow arrangements are opposite to that of a human building. Air is typically returned and exhausted from the caging at the periphery of the rooms and fresh air is presented at the walkways and core of the zones, nearer the center of the building. Exhaust should be as low and close to sources of moisture, odor and disease as possible, including direct exhaust from cages. Returns should be located in intermediate locations from the perspective of odor and moisture. All of the ductwork should be metal duct with little or no flexible ductwork. All of the air distribution features work with the caging and plumbing systems to create a clean environment. In this manner, the direction of the vertical air distribution pushes clean, treated, dehumidified air in the same direction as the washing and cleaning, ideally toward the drains. Filtration All recirculated air should have four stages of filtration. This includes return filter grilles, pleated medium efficiency filters, carbon filtration, and ionization. In all areas, any new systems must have dehumidification control and a form of air treatment such as ionization. Be cautious with air treatment systems. There are many systems on the market at many different price levels with many different claims. We know of only a few products that are specifically engineered and tested for animal or analogous human airborne pathogen control. Energy Recovery Because of the excessive amounts of fresh air required for an animal facility, we recommend energy recovery ventilators to reduce cooling and heating costs. However do not use energy recovery wheels. We specify solid-state semi-permeable membrane systems that do not transfer pathogens from one airstream to the other. 3

4 Plumbing Systems Fixtures Plumbing systems should be engineered to be efficient, effective and safe. Water conservation is important in any building but in animal care facilities specifically, humidity is a constant concern. Using low consumption fixtures in animal cleaning areas minimizes water vapor creation. Drying time on surfaces is also reduced, which increases safety from slip accidents and the incidence of bacterial and fungal growth. Disease History & Control Disease history is an important factor in HVAC design. Upper respiratory canine bacterial disease (such as Bordetella) as well as most fecal-oral transmitted diseases, such as Parovirus appear to be best controlled through proper cleaning techniques, quaternary disinfectants with appropriate contact times, a reduction in humidity, and duct mounted ionization. Upper respiratory viral feline disease and canine influenza are difficult to kill. Cats also frequently harbor dormant viruses that can become active when they are stressed. These are best controlled through significant outside air dilution, high flow rate individual cage exhaust, dehumidification, and multiple, smaller zones. Giardia and other parasites can survive outside the host, particularly in damp environments. As with fecal-oral related disease, humidity reduction coupled with cleaning systems with integral peroxide based disinfectants are normally used in the industry for surface disease control. Disease history along with temperament and animal density have the single greatest direct impact on the HVAC system choices for fresh air rates, air distribution, and recirculated air treatment choices as well as the cleaning system selections. Hand Wash Water systems should include hand stations at each room along with wall mounted hand sanitizers. Operationally it is ideal to keep people assigned to specific areas such that staff and volunteers handling healthy animals are not handling isolation, quarantine or intake animals. Regardless, hand washing is the first line of defense on fomite disease control. Water Distribution Pressure drop is a common complaint in existing shelters. The engineered systems should include looped cold water and recirculating hot water distributions. This eliminates pressure drops in the systems. Hot water systems should be redundant, recirculating and fully insulated. Cleaning Systems Today there are a variety of options for cleaning. In all cases, cleaning systems should be designed and manufactured for animal care use. Cleaning systems must be carefully considered to match staff/volunteer capability, maintenance costs, disease history, and HVAC system coordination. 4

5 Drainage Virtually every animal facility should have some form of drainage. We are aware of shelter, kennels and other locations that have accepted a drain free cleaning philosophy from some vendors, but inevitably our clients regret this choice when faced with an outbreak of disease or messy waste. Notably this form of cleaning has been promoted by vendors of vacuum systems with little data to support the claims. There is no system as effective as a drained facility that allows cleaning without using equipment that is in contact with the surfaces or fecal matter. Two solutions often exist for dog enclosures: individual drains and trench drains. We prefer properly designed trench drain systems over individual drains, although both can be effective. Properly designed, both of these solutions have little or no noise associated with them. Drains should always be to the back of the runs such that waste and cleaning follow the same path as the airflow: front to back, clean to dirty. Drainage should be engineered to combine sanitary and solid waste in one lateral, while all trench drains, veterinary treatment drains, wet-tables, and dog bathing fixtures are sent through a hair trap prior to being introduced to the sewer. Multiple drainage lines are designed to exit the building in a manner such that they can be easily cleaned independently. Individual Drains: This solution provides an individual drain within each kennel enclosure. The best method is to incorporate individual linear drains sized to extend approximately the width of the run. The individual linear drains are also a better choice than trench drains for applications where the enclosures are built from block walls rather than manufactured systems. The benefit to floor drains is primarily in the ease of installation. Trench drains often have a structural complication at the wall because they create a long break. Floor drain systems do not create this long break and can often be installed in any type of construction. The detriments to floor drains over trench drains include the cost of multiple drain connections as each floor drain requires a trap and a vent. Floor drains do not lend themselves to individual rinsing and harbor odors from drying urine. Trench Drains: This solution provides a linear trench that runs from one end of a section of runs to the other. The trench drain is automatically rinsed, typically for 20 seconds every 20 minutes with a small amount of tempered water. There is a solenoid control valve that is easily programmed to provide the mixed hot and cold water. These systems are silent; this is not similar to old style flush valves that were designed to flush fecal matter down the trench drains. This is a very gentle periodic rinsing to keep urine from wetting the drain surface and drying there. Trench drainage is the superior method of liquid waste removal. Flush fixtures are used for solid dog waste removal and should be located in each veterinary ward or shelter zone. The benefits to trench drains include a lower cost installation with a simpler floor pitch as the entire concrete floor is pitched effectively to one drain in the room. There are also many fewer drain connections, typically with one drain, trap, and vent in the middle (low point) of the trench drain. The periodic rinsing greatly reduces odor. 5

6 The primary detriment to trench drains is the difficult construction details where trenches cross under masonry partition walls and where trench drain systems parallel structural foundation walls. We have designed for this consideration many times, but it requires diligent contractor to get this right. Some vendors have promoted a perception that there is a risk of cross contamination between runs. We have never seen this in practice and never seen any literature to support this belief. Again, this theory originated from vendors selling drain-free cleaning systems to discredit other cleaning systems such as pressure washers that relied on drained discharge. Trench drain systems are designed to be relatively deep with plastic grates on the top. It would be difficult under normal operation for any material to pass down into the drain in one enclosure only to rise up through the grate in a downstream enclosure. Fire Protection Fire protection in animal shelters should rely on a philosophy of prevention first, detection second, and suppression last. Engineers and architects should comply with the standards set forth in the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 150, Standard on Fire and Life Safety in Animal Housing Facilities. Prevention of fire and smoke fatality is best obtained using non-combustible construction, separated zones with fire doors, and smoke control in attic, crawl space, and other interstitial spaces. Non-combustible construction with an early warning smoke detection system is a safer alternative than combustible construction, even with a fire sprinkler system. Fire sprinklers are important in controlling fire from spreading, therefore we recommend fire sprinkler inclusion in shelter projects. Smoke detection systems should be designed for early warning in animal facilities. It is very difficult to evacuate a facility in a fire and for that reason we design smoke detection in every single room, ceiling cavity, mechanical space, and attic. About Us: Design Learned, Inc. is the premiere animal care facility engineering company in the United States. We have been in business since 1993 and have provided engineering or consultation on over two hundred boarding, shelter, veterinary hospitals and other animal care facilities across the country. Our work includes the engineering blueprints of the mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire protection and noise control engineering as well as extensive interior planning and equipment selection for animal shelters, veterinary hospitals and kennels. In this capacity we have worked on new construction, renovations and remediation design. Scott Learned is a licensed mechanical engineer and a licensed electrical engineer as well as a LEED Accredited Professional and a Principal Committee Member of NFPA

BOOK 1 OVERVIEW RD2XRT INSTALLATION AND OPERATION MANUAL. Table of Contents ABOUT BOOK 1:

BOOK 1 OVERVIEW RD2XRT INSTALLATION AND OPERATION MANUAL. Table of Contents ABOUT BOOK 1: 4510 Helgesen Drive, Madison, WI, 53718 608.221.4499, 800.627.4499, Fax: 608.221.2824 support@renewaire.com www.renewaire.com RD2XRT INSTALLATION AND OPERATION MANUAL BOOK 1 OVERVIEW ABOUT BOOK 1: This