Como Hotel

Boiler Progress

2012-01-23T17:15:00.000-07:00

Boiler move

2012-01-03T20:09:00.000-07:00

And I forget the name, apologies.

2011-07-20T21:05:00.000-06:00

But a striking pose.

What is the Spanish for Allez?

2011-06-30T21:05:00.000-06:00

Unfortunately my prime TV years coincided with Fawlty Towers so I have a hard time with anyone who comes from Barcelona.

But they did beat MANUre.

The Barca Shirt is a bit of a give away

2011-06-30T15:06:00.000-06:00

Joel's first beer en route, his first ion the USA. He mentioned that he is the start of the Spanish invasion, look our for a lot more next year.

Interestingly he seems to have gone much faster today...... He did say he wants to catch up the group ahead.

Joel had a few problems, with his bike and infection in his fingers, both fixed in Frisco.

Big Beers for Big Boys

2011-06-30T15:01:00.000-06:00

Breakfast Wednesday

2011-06-30T14:58:00.000-06:00

The South African contingent took very little persuasion, small one each.

Sheila's

2011-06-30T14:55:00.000-06:00

No beer for the Sheila's, one way I knew they were not Australian.

Wednesday Morning at the Depot

2011-06-30T14:52:00.001-06:00

A couple of Sheilas, the Texan rather than Australian kind.

Reinhold, Kevin, Will, Luke and Marian, I must have left someone out...

The wonders of modern technology

2011-06-28T19:58:00.000-06:00

I had mislaid my Camera, but a customer had his camera phone so he took this of Jon in full action and e mailed it to me.

The good news

2011-06-27T22:04:00.000-06:00

They are staying tonight.

The bad, they want breakfast at 5.30.

Long discussions were held, with our other customers, and finally concerning the odd situation regarding Americans unwillingness to partake of an ale or two.

How can you perform at the highest level without a couple of beers afterwards?

Mark, Simon and Greg

2011-06-27T22:01:00.000-06:00

Jon felt he could catch up the others

2011-06-27T10:47:00.000-06:00

Jackie on her way.

2011-06-27T10:41:00.000-06:00

My gassifying wood boilers behind.

Swift departure

2011-06-26T14:04:00.000-06:00

I mentioned Jackie had reached the top of the pass.....

The importance of adequate rehydration

2011-06-26T14:02:00.000-06:00

Luke and Markley

2011-06-26T14:00:00.000-06:00

Daniel and John, 16 oz and 12 oz. Tori was 12 oz.

Tori heading out

2011-06-26T13:58:00.000-06:00

Tori roade previously across Africa, the continent, just in case there is a town by that name.

Tori with beer

2011-06-26T13:57:00.000-06:00

Ben carried on heading for Hartsel

2011-06-22T20:19:00.000-06:00

Ben accepted the beer with thanks.

Dejay looks like he will next be in, c lunchtime tomorrow, followed by a gaggle.

Yorkshire Pride

2011-06-22T16:42:00.000-06:00

Note strapping on left thigh.

If you are wondering what the bike is I think it is this one:

On One, Yorkshire's finest.

Mike at the Bar

2011-06-22T16:06:00.000-06:00

Mike refused a beer, but being from Yorkshire was very happy to take tea. (PG Tips with Milk)

Steve was hungry

2011-06-21T10:45:00.000-06:00

And thirsty, many tanks to La Tour Beer sponsor.

Currently leaving Breckenridge.

And he is off!

2011-06-20T14:29:00.000-06:00

Ross contemplating his next move

2011-06-20T14:28:00.000-06:00

Discussing tactics at the bar, not Coffee not Beer.

2011-06-20T11:21:00.000-06:00

Then Ethan

2011-06-20T11:17:00.000-06:00

After a shower and breakfast he felt it was time to go.

Wind was blowing and the damp and wind makes it deeply unpleasant. But as they say if you do not like the weather, wait 10 minutes.

Dave heading out

2011-06-20T11:15:00.000-06:00

Sorry, it was too cold and nasty to go out and photo. But the overnight snow has partly melted.

Dave and Ross

2011-06-19T20:23:00.000-06:00

Ross had a beer but I was not quick enough with my Camera to get it.

He also had the Prime Rib.

Kurt and his machine

2011-06-19T19:54:00.000-06:00

Kurt

2011-06-19T19:53:00.000-06:00

7.45pm, cold and he wants to get to Salida, tonight...

Craig and spot the dog

2011-06-18T14:16:00.000-06:00

Craig is from Shrivenham, not Swindon as posted on the Tour Divide web site.

Not that far from where I used to live in Great Shefford.

Pete pulls in on his single speed

2011-06-18T14:13:00.000-06:00

For those not famiiar with bicycles that means he has one gear rather than the 27 most have.

Allez!

2011-06-18T07:21:00.000-06:00

Franck in better shape.

2011-06-18T07:20:00.000-06:00

Russ decided to cary on and see what happens.

2011-06-18T07:19:00.001-06:00

Nothbound Russ

2011-06-18T07:18:00.000-06:00

Tour Divide

2011-06-16T20:27:00.000-06:00

The sign says it all.

Tour Divide

2011-06-16T20:26:00.000-06:00

Paul heading for Boreas Pass.

Tour Divide

2011-06-16T20:18:00.000-06:00

Paul is the first one to reach us.

For more info go to www.tourdivide.org

My sketch for the Boiler Room

2011-06-13T21:24:00.000-06:00

The electrics was not much better, all gone.

2011-06-13T21:22:00.000-06:00

Still pains me to remember the old 'system'.

2011-06-13T21:21:00.001-06:00

The brains and main distribution panel

2011-06-13T21:19:00.000-06:00

Plumbing etc in the North Tower

2011-06-13T21:18:00.000-06:00

Pipes, pipes and more pipes

2011-06-13T21:17:00.000-06:00

Running through the Kitchen

2011-06-13T21:16:00.000-06:00

Glycol in the pipes

2011-06-13T21:15:00.000-06:00

Earlier in the install - the Boiler Room

2011-06-13T21:14:00.000-06:00

Piping under North Side

2011-06-13T21:13:00.000-06:00

June Update 2011!

2011-06-13T16:10:00.000-06:00

Well the Boilers are here.

They need to go in a new building to be constructed in the rear.

I need to post more pictures of the rest of the install.

2011-06-13T16:06:00.000-06:00

June Update

2010-06-27T20:16:00.000-06:00

It has been a long time since I posted, a lot has happened. The Hotel is now open.

Most of the refurbished windows are in, the remaining ones will follow this week. Ditto on the doors.

The big issue is of course the Heating, we have a GEO Grant to help us put in our ideal system using 2 Garn Boilers. I have signed the contract and just waiting for them to do the same so we can get going. The summer around here passes too quickly.

North Tower Propping

2010-04-04T23:38:00.000-06:00

Still short of volunteers to help me dig out the North Tower Basement, full of debris from the 1896 fire. Need toi do some propping, like this.

Roof

2010-04-04T23:35:00.000-06:00

We had hoped to get a grant application in by the 1st April, thanks for all those who supplied letters of support. However the technical details did not come together, still need to research and get costs nailed down.

We have competing requirements to be historically correct, comply with County code, environmentally aware and cost practical. I have a problem with asphalt tiles for all sorts of reasons, something I associate with garden sheds.

http://www.davinciroofscapes.com/

They make a durable product, but it is not wood. Regular Cedar shingles can be obtained in a quality that will last BUT they can only reach Class B for fire protection and the treatment seriously effects their life. I presume the fire requirement is more an issue for those living close to other buildings or vegetation, we have none but the code is the code. Wind survivavbility is a more important issue.

Burn Calculator

2010-03-10T23:28:00.001-07:00

Want to know how much wood you will burn in the next 24 hours?

http://www.nofossil.org/weather/delphi.php

In fact the whole site is very good source of heating with wood information.

New Solar Hot Water product from Golden

2010-02-23T20:14:00.002-07:00

Heat Exchagers

2010-02-15T11:50:00.003-07:00

OK I know there knowledge of geography may be iffy, but looks interesting.

So I looked more into Rotex, the US and Australian web sites have a lot more info.
If I have the numbers right we would need 2 or 3 for heating, with DHW 3 or 4. There is one type available that does not get a mention on the US site.

The tanks are ganged to meet demand
Heat is supplied from wood, solar or propane sources. You can certainly have solar as first, seems no reason why wood could not be second and propane third.
Issue maybe with heat, but water boils here at 192F, just under 90C

More on heating design

2010-02-14T22:00:00.001-07:00

Not a lot on the tele so started googling and found a very interesting serious of articles: http://www.deppmann.com/2009/12/14th-2/

The Laars Neotherm seems a nice back up boiler.

Load Match Next Generation

View more presentations from kiakaha.

A single pipe distribution system.

Zoning

2010-02-14T10:58:00.000-07:00

I had envisaged 5, 100,000 btu per zone. I cam across a note on the Runtall site that you should limit zones to 30,000 btu's, so could be a few more.

Equipment Costs

2010-02-14T10:52:00.000-07:00

I know how much radiaitors etc cost in the UK, you can get them from any Home Depot etc supplier.
Blue Ridge have a nice web site, gives you a good idea of the prices. I have not checked them for cometitveness.

Heating - Back Up

2010-02-14T10:49:00.000-07:00

Ideally of course we do not want to use back up at all, but there may be occasions when there is not somebody to keep the boilers full of wood.

It just makes plain sense to include this fail safe.

Current plans involve using electricity because it is cheaper than Propane and likely to be more so in the future.

There are disadvantages, a 400 Amp supply is realistically the most we can go for, Anything more and the costs escalate, big time.

We would have to commit half of that to backing up our heating system and providing power to the pumps/blower etc.

Obviously all this will need to be discussed with people who know a lot more than I do, but I am just wondering if we should look at Propane. We have a propane on demand boiler for DHW, perhaps this could be used for heat as well or add another propane boiler. There would be the advantage that with a full propane tank and a small generator we would be self sufficient from the grid.

Heating - more thoughts

2010-02-14T10:40:00.000-07:00

40°C 0.75 72°F
45°C 0.88 81°F
50°C 1.00 90°F
55°C 1.13 99°F
60°C 1.25 108°F
65°C 1.39 117°F
70°C 1.51 126°F

This chart shows the variance between a radiators rated output and the incoming water temperature.

So if you wanted to keep a temperature of 70F and you needed the rated output you would need water at 160F

If you can get much hotter water in you can produce much more output, Unfortunately up here 70 + 126 = boiling and a bit!

But if the water temperature is high and the indoor temperature is low you will get an initial output that is a lot higher than the normal state.

A Garn install

2010-02-08T08:35:00.000-07:00

http://www.flickr.com/photos/35952839@N08/sets/72157622482165687/with/4020857170/

An interesting set of photo's.

Request for Proposals as printed in the Flume

2010-02-07T14:37:00.002-07:00

CPI Presentation 2010

2010-02-07T02:47:00.000-07:00

CPI 2010 Como Presentation

Contractor

2010-02-07T01:52:00.001-07:00

We have a GC, Wattle and Daub, Web Site.

I will post the advert from the Flume tomorrow, actually later today!

Our photo of truth

2010-02-07T01:28:00.000-07:00

This is what it is all about, the Hotel, new in 1897. A look we hope to recapture. Note the bricked in windows from the Pacific Hotel in our foundations and the pot bellied stoves on the platform waiting to go in.

Insulation and Infiltarion

2010-02-07T01:01:00.000-07:00

Spaceloft an interesting product. I am somewhat sceptical of miracle products, but this might be worth investigating where we have to replace plasterwork on the inside of the brick walls.

Heating Degree Days

2010-02-07T00:57:00.000-07:00

Jan,1411,0
Feb,1222,0
Mar,1206,2
Apr,983,0
May,719,0
Jun,454,0
Jul,312,0
Aug,362,5
Sep,478,15
Oct,892,0
Nov,996,2
Dec,1474,0
Total,10509,2

To give some comparison, Denver, or New York, would be about 6,000.

And the numbers do not take into account our wind chill.

A start

2010-01-28T16:39:00.000-07:00

We interviewed three General Contractors on Monday.

I am sure all three could have done the job, we reduced it to to two, it was a very difficult task selecting one.

After much deliberation we selected Wattle and Daub. We particularly want to thank TCD and KW for their participation.

Some heating thoughts

2010-01-27T16:51:00.001-07:00

I am assuming we have a normal winter load of 300,000btu's per hour and a peak load of 500,000btu's an hour. Obviously these numbers will be checked as far as they can.

It seems to be a common view amongst users that the Garn published numbers are conservative, but I have derated them because of our altitude/fuel supply. We have also the wood stove in the Bar that might add 60,000 btu's to the equation. And a bit of solar and operational gain. We also intend adding solar panels, but they would not add much to the severe weather condition.

Garn 2000
Storage 1,050,000btu
Burn rate 380,000btu per hour

Garn 1500

Storage 800,000btu

Burn rate 300,000btu per hour

The 1500 would have issues keeping up with our need under normal circumstances. If you loaded it last thing it might get through the night especially as we would not need the same heat level in the public areas. It would have no chance in really cold weather.

The 2000 should be able to keep up normally, and with its storage capacity gives us a bit of lee way if it is not kept regulary re filled. In really cold weather it probably would for a day, any longer and we would have to accept a lower temperature in the building. In really cold weather we could well find that this coincides with lower occupancy, reduced need for heating in certain areas. And it is unusual for it stay really cold for long periods. We also have the option of switching in the electrical backup, another 150,000 btu's, but expensive.

2 x 1500's is the obviously solution, Burn rate would allow us to replenish storage even in bad weather, and the storage would comfortably see us through the night. Also during the shoulder season we only would need have one on line.

And if were able to add a lot of Solar panels at some time in the future, the extra storage could make a big difference to our wood demand.

But as always at a cost.

Solar Hot Water

2010-01-27T13:00:00.001-07:00

I was looking at our demands if we tried to source most of our heating load by Solar, it would not be logical to size a system for our worst case situation:

Average winter btu load after insulation infiltration issues addressed 300,000btu

Storage required – 14 hours

BTU Production per sq ft of collector per day, average:

Winter 1,000

Summer 2,000

Storage required to get through average winter night 14x300,000 = 4,200,000

Storage per million btu’s = 2,000 gallons

Total storage required 8,500 gallons

Solar sq footage required about 6,000

Back up required for harsh weather low solar production

By comparison I worked out we would only need 200 sq ft to provide most of our hot water in the summer.

Plaster

2010-01-24T21:00:00.001-07:00

I have pretty much taken out all the additions in the North Tower.

It not all this bad, fortunately.

National Park Service brief.

Lime Supplier there is a minimum temperature to apply it.

As we have so much to fix, now is a good time to put all the conduit and boxes in for electrics etc

Some pictures

2010-01-24T19:59:00.001-07:00

This shows the Depot with the Hotel behind. Acknowledgements to the Park County archives. Note the platform, shingle roof and switchmen's hut on the Depot. The Hotel is paint free, the grading in front is pretty level. Most of the paint has weathered on the Depot, it was originally painted a light Grey with Green trim.

A sort of similar angle showing progress so far and of course the Hotel behind.

Carrying on the Swedish theme.

2010-01-24T00:10:00.001-07:00

A nice video explaining the functioning of smaller biomass boilers, from this site: Smokeless Heat

Grants Grants Grants

2010-01-23T22:36:00.000-07:00

The State Historical Fund ethos is to provide grants to recognise the costs of restoring old building to historic standards, For example the difference between going to Home Depot for a new window vs the cost of restoring the original windows.

The Governors Energy Office recognises the high initial costs of installing renewable energy systems in historic properties and have just launched a grant to assist. We will be applying so wish us luck.

CDOT also have grants available for historic buildings associated with transportation, so we will be meeting with them.

The one I looked at last year was from DOLA, they have grants for renewable energy energy efficiency for rural small business. Unfortunately their application is interesting, I reckon 2 weeks solid to fill all the forms in, line up all the attachments. And its not funded, yet.

GEO are also launching a scheme for us in the boonies to benefit from subsidies for Solar PV, Wind and Solar HW that Excel etc provides to its customers. Soalr PV for us is likely to be some way away, Solar HW is definitely in our plans. Wind well either we get too much, or too little. But here is a link Windspire for a new to me product.

Renewable Energy Open Day at Fairplay

2010-01-23T21:56:00.001-07:00

The Rec Centre in Fairplay installed a Pellet based Heating system, it was very interesting to see it in operation. Very impressive, but very expensive, but then we do not have a swimming pool to heat year round.

There were a number of vendors there as well. Forest Energy Systems based in Kremmling were there, they are distributing a range of Swedish Boilers I had not seen mentioned before, Osby Parca. This is the system designated for the new school, the smallest one would suit our demand, I asked for a price. I also had a chat with BioheatUSA who I have mentioned before.

The inevitable googling came up with this document, a Swedish site but of course in excellent English. Swebo. Worth looking at for general information even if it the product is not of interest. The Airmax 300 looks suitable for our needs but does not seem to be distributed in the US. Other Swebo products are through Bioenergy.

And finally a Welsh site, do not worry it is not in welsh, for which they apologies! Ecodyfi Some good basic information.

And another Garn video.

2010-01-22T19:28:00.003-07:00

The original Garn video

2010-01-22T19:24:00.002-07:00

Insulation and Infiltarion

2010-01-20T00:19:00.000-07:00

Problem

Solid Brick Walls
No Insulation worth mentioning
110 year old double hung windows painted shut, some re-opened - 1,000 sq ft
Inside of the towers are balloon framed, you can see through in some places.
It gets cold, very cold. When the wind blows -40F plus with the wind chill.
Sprayed foam could blow the lathe and plaster on interior walls.

Solution

Plenty of space in the roof to insulate with loose fill to R60, Also loose fill the inside of the towers.
The inside of the two towers will be re shingled, hopefully the main roof will follow soon.
Spray a thin layer of foam to seal inside of towers and roof voids.
Insulate foundations, north tower has a basement filled with the rubble of the 1896 fire,
Refurbish windows as single hung, we do not need double hung feature at this altitude.
Fit double glazed exterior storm windows to existing windows, low E glaze, We get lots of solar gain in the summer, especially late afternoon.
Refurbish doors.
We will be doing a masonry trial on the brickwork in addition to repairing the cracks.

Some sources regarding heating wth wood

2010-01-19T21:24:00.000-07:00

Magazines

I have yet to come across anything that really covers this, Home Power covers it in passing but mainly covers Solar PV, Wind and Water with the odd mention of Solar HW.

Forums

Hearth is excellent, good place to start.

Manufacturers

Garn gets the first mention as it is the one we are installing
A Garn Blog detailing one users progress
A Garn video worth a look for general information.

All Green I do not know much about them, they seem to be badge engineering European boilers.

AHS worth a look just to try out their on line heat loss calculation tool.

Ahona

Econoburn

New Horizon

Bio Heat USA A major US distributor, the Froling is nice, but pricey.

Viesmann Major manufacturer in the US who have launched part of their wood gassifying range in the US, they seem to be starting with the Industrial products first.

Not currently available in the US, maybe some time soon?

Guntamatic Vorsprung durch technique!
Windhager UK site of another German manufacturer
Land S This time top quality Austrian
Uniconfort Italian, in English as they export to the UK.
Shamrock An Irish distributor of European manufacturers

The Garn, heart of the heating system

2010-01-19T10:20:00.001-07:00

We have chosen the Garn for a variety of reasons:

Price
High reputation
Simplicity, especially important in Park County, can not quite be mended with a hammer but not a lot to go wrong.
Built in storage.
Ability to vent horizontally.
Will be burn pretty much anything, not sensitive to moisture etc.
Provision to add in Solar Hot Water
Ability to include electrical elements for our back up avoiding the cost of a separate boiler.

The big minus is the inability to autofeed. It would have been nice not to have to make a regular trip to feed it. It is not that time consuming but if we are not here we are more dependent on our back up heating source.

The cheapest autofeed wood would be wood chips, but with our harsh winters they would need to be stored in a silo that stopped them freezing into one big lump. I have yet to come across a system that is targeted at the residential rather than commercial market and is available in the US. Or will likely to be anytime soon. We are at the high end of Residential Boilers, there is some overlap, a small commercial boiler is six figures, well beyond our means.

Water supply and treatment

2010-01-18T13:10:00.000-07:00

The water in Como is good for drinking, but hard and not good for washing. Longer term there will be sediment issues.

Traditional Water Softners use Salt, not opractical for us, not good for our eco system, would have a very negative effect on our septic system as well as costly.

I am looking at a new product that basically stops the calcium precipitating out, have a look at this web site: http://www.thescalesolution.com/

Pelican seem to be the other product using the same technology, and these are the only ones that have any serious claims: http://www.waterfilter-usa.com/natursoft-saltfree-softener-46-bathrooms-up-to-75-grains-p-378.html

Our well is a slow producer, we need storage capacity in addition to our treatment. As we have a commercial property we are required to add a very small percentage of Chlorine. I think last year we used 2 gallons. The Chlorine has to mix thoroughly with the water, we have a system that does this. So we will be adding an extra tank for storage for those busy weekends.

Electrical

2010-01-18T12:43:00.001-07:00

We currently have a 100 amp service, to say that is marginal is an understatement.

Most houses of this size would have at least 200 amp, and of course we have greater demands as a commercial business. We alos want to have some spare capacity for the Depot at a later stage. So the idea is to go with 400 Amp 3 phase. I looked at 440v but that would require a seperate line from the sub station and generate much greater monthly fees.

Our transformer is currently on a pole at the back of a new building, we want all the mechanical and electrical systems in the same location, next to the Boiler. We would also like to tidy up the cables, the main supply is on poles at the back of the building. Fed underground as far as is possible.

From the main supply there will be at least 3 sub boards to fees each of the two towers and the kitchen/restaurant.

At the moment Solar PV is not currently in our plans, installing disconnects would allow us to add on.

We do neeed a back up generator, whilst the supply here is pretty stable bearing in mind our location, the heating system etc requires a minimum supply to keep operating.

Heating System - Concept

2010-01-18T10:04:00.001-07:00

There will probably more about heating than anything else, this is the most interesting aspect technically and the most challenging.

We decided at the outset that Biomass was the way to go, heating a very old building at just under 10,000ft at the foot of Boreas Pass economicaly was going to be a challenge.

This winter, so far, has been relatively mild. But with the wind chill we have seen -45F. Fortunately this is not common, January has seen a relatively balmy high of 40F, and low in the teens. And of course we get sunshine and being relatively far south, longer days.

Biomass in our case means burning wood, which there is a plentiful local supply. But all the wood is softwood, Pine and Aspen, which has a lower btu value per cord than more commonly used hardwoods, and of course we are at altitude and most information assumes burning a lot nearer sea level.

Wood comes as Cord Wood, Wood Pellets and Chipped Wood. We will be using Cord Wood for reasons I will deal with in another post.

We have decided to go with a Garn 2000, www.garn.com. The Garn has a burn rate of approx 400,000btu's and a storage capacityu of approx 1,000,000btu's. Arguably we may be better served by 2 Garn 1500's, but then the cost issue arises.

We also need back up systems, the Garn has to be manually fed, so as we do not have access to Natural Gas, nor are likely to, and our guess is that propane will be more expensive than electrcicity long term, electricty it is. We have no oil deliveries here.

The system will be located in the extiting garage, the aim is eventually to remove the garage, too useful at the moment, when the equipment will be housed in its own small building.

This buildings roof will be pitched to the south and fitted with Solar Hot Water panels to provide a supplement in winter and hopefully most of our hot water in the summer.