Aarticle on trends for 2014 I noted:
One of the most interesting responses on future trends came from Kevin Twohig, Chief Executive Officer of the Spokane Public Facilities District. Kevin and his staff were tracking/testing their building envelopes through infrared scanning. In an environment where cost savings have a material effect on operating budgets and where utility costs are generally the biggest operations expense line item, this kind of analysis has never been more important. Regardless of what climate you live in there is a good chance that money is escaping through the windows, walls and doors of your building.
Infrared Thermography is the science of measuring and mapping surface temperatures. This testing methodology is used today in a wide variety of commercial applications. In electrical systems it is used to detect hot spots caused by defects in connections and components. Infrared thermography is used to find areas of excess heat (caused by increased resistance) so that problems can be identified and corrected before a component fails, causing damage to the component and creating a potential safety hazard and productivity loss.
It has been applied successfully to concrete structures. As a testing technique it is accurate, it does not inconvenience your events or the public, and it is economical.
Infrared thermography scanning measures temperature patterns based upon temperature differences. Infrared thermography testing can be performed during day or night, depending on environmental conditions and your operating environment.
I reached out to Dave Gebhardt, dgebhardt@spokanepfd.org, drector of Operations for the Spokane Public Facilities District to find out more on how they used this process and the results.
The Spokane Public Facilities District is comprised of Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena, The Spokane Convention Center and the INB Performing Arts Center.
The issue and opportunity to utilize infrared thermography came about in the development of the Spokane Arena.
The venue opened in the summer of 1995. With the nature of the summer months in Spokane with loading dock doors open, shows moving in and out, a nice breeze, nothing seemed out of balance. That changed for the facility and the staff on the first cold show day in the winter.
To quote Gebhardt, “cold air was flying through the building.” The question was why.
He remembered reading in a trade publication about infrared thermography, so contacted a provider and organized a test. First they created as much positive pressure as possible in the building and then started scanning for heat loss. They would examine large stretches of the building envelope and everything was normal and air tight. Then they would come upon a part of the building that was not insulated or the vapor barrier was not in place or properly installed and heat was pouring out.
What they also learned is that when heat can escape up high and the temperature drops, the delta in temperature creates a chimney effect that causes cold air to rush in at increased velocity pushing out warm air from the gaps in the building envelope.
Unfortunately they also learned that the cost to manage these repairs particularly up high when compared to the reasonable cost savings did not merit the investment and with that in mind they did what they could and lived with the rest.
Fast forward to 2007, when the Spokane Public Facilities District undertook an expansion and renovation of the convention center. With the knowledge learned in the arena project, Twohig and Gebhardt took steps to ensure that the building envelope issues that they learned about in the arena project would not occur in the convention center. One of the first things that they did was to use infrared thermography to make sure the product that was delivered met their expectations and it did.
The Bottom Line: There are many lessons to be learned in this story. The first is how important it is to keep an open mind and seek out new information as aggressively as possible. A great deal of that information comes from sources outside of public assembly facilities and I encourage all of you to develop those resources. Another point for me is how important it is to have operations and engineering personnel in place and participating in the design and construction process; after all they will be the people trying to manage the facility and maintain the operating budget. Last is that what we learn today may not help us right away but it is an investment into making the right decisions tomorrow.
Remember this works in your home too!
Russ Simons is...
managing partner, Venue Solutions Group, and has been in this industry for more than three decades, working in arenas, stadiums, design, construction, safety and security. Send questions about any aspect of venue operation to askruss@venuestoday.com or mail questions to Venues Today, P.O. Box 2540, Huntington Beach, CA 92647.