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Fumes and ventilation


dkr02

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We are in the process of getting our special use permit for zoning, and are on the issue of fumes inside the distillery area as well as the barrel storage area. What do you guys do as to ventilation? Are there enough fumes in these areas to be a concern, and will a fan ventilation system be sufficient? Thanks for the help!

Rick

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Funny... I'm smack in the middle of dealing with this same issue. What I've learned in all the dealings with fire/building inspectors, architects, and engineers is that every space is different and requires it's own prescribed ventilation solution based on a number of variables.

Are there enough fumes to be concerned... that sort of depends on your MAQ (maximum allowable quantity) of distillate stored in open containers - as well as any natural gas powered appliances in your space. Chances are, you will never have an issue with fumes from spirit in storage or during production, BUT, I strongly recommend that you seek out an architect or engineer to do a lower flammable limit calculation for your facility and then prescribe a ventilation solution (if needed). It can save you a ton of headache down the road and provide the piece of mind to know that your operating within a safe facility.

If you have any other questions or need a recommendation on an architect or engineer that is familiar with this stuff, feel free to shoot me a pm.

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Do you have any studies or reports that we can possibly use? I think that it will be a non issue for us, as we're only going to be operating one day a week, and are using a 200 gallon rig, but if we can find something attesting to the non issue of this for the permit, it would greatly help. thanks!

Rick

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You're probably not going to find a blanket study that will attest to the non-issue of fumes/vapors/etc for your facility, regardless of the limited usage or still capacity. I'm not saying this to beat down your hopes of things being resolved quickly and easily — I pushed very hard to find such documents that would prove to local inspectors that my operation was not going to produce any "vapors" to be concerned with. In the end, most inspectors (certainly my local inspectors) are not going to give you a pass based on a document that does not apply to your exact production possess. Maybe I'm wrong though — this was just MY experience and I feel like I learned a lot. I'm sure others have had it easier and others have had it much harder.

I can share some material that was prepared for me by both an architect and an engineer, but they are specific to my MAQs, building, storage intentions, Btu usage, and current ventilation. Most importantly to building officials, these documents have been stamped and signed by industry professionals and that frees the inspectors of liability.

Feel free to shoot me an email (len@deerhammer.com) or call (7199667611) and I can talk to you more about this stuff.

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