Dalkita

Architecture & Construction - Distilled Spirits Plants

building code

How Many Toilets Are Required In a Building

The IBC (International Building Code) and the IPC (International Plumbing Code) provide prescriptive requirements to calculating the minimum number of plumbing facilities needed in a building, including toilets, sinks, & drinking fountains. 

Calculate Occupant Load

First you need to calculate the number of occupants for a space. The occupant load table in chapter 10 of the building code show the square feet per occupant based on the function of the space. Please see the table below:

So, let go through an example of a bar/ tasting room that is 1,000 SF.

If there is loose, non-fixed furniture, we would use the occupant load factor above of 15 net sf.

The difference between net & gross is that net sf does not include unusable areas such as wall depths, hallways, etc…whereas gross sf includes all areas of the building. If you have a fixed bar in your tasting room, that area can be discounted from the net sf. 

1,000 / 15 = 67 occupants. Simple as that! Of course, these calculations can get much more involved when you begin to have multiple functions of space, etc. Hint… the back of the bar where customers do not go can actually be counted as a business occupancy, which is a different factor of 100 sf per person!

Calculate Minimum Number of Plumbing Fixtures

Now we have determined that we have 67 people. Lets figure out how many bathrooms that equates to. 

We go to Table 2902.1 in the IBC (or Table 403.1 in the IPC) to resolve the minimum plumbing fixtures required. The table takes into consideration the occupancy, and a more descriptive use of the space for these purposes. Check out the chart below:

For a bar, we would simply go with the A-2, Bar category. The Water Closets (Toilets) are required to be 1 fixture per 40 people, of each sex. So, We have 33.5 Males, and 33.5 Females. 33.5/40 is .84, so we are required to have 1 toilet for each sex. In most cases, you are required to have separate facilities for each sex (i.e. a separate mens room and womens room), but there are a few exceptions. If there are less than 15 occupants, a shared bathroom can be used. 

The lavatories (sinks) would be 33.5/75= .45, which would also just round up to 1 sink for each sex. 

The occupant loads and bathrooms can be a critical consideration when designing or remodeling a facility. If you are on the cusp of going over 1 toilet for each sex, that could mean totally different and larger bathrooms. About 80 occupants (40 male and 40 female) would be the threshold to stay under to keep it at 1 toilet for each sex. That translates to approximately 12oo sf for a tasting room area. 

Written By:

Matthew Taylor-Rennert

Prohibition On Flammable Liquids In Plastic Totes

What Are IBC Plastic Totes and what is prohibited from being stored in them?

If you’ve been to a few distilleries, you might have seen these around: Large plastic IBC (intermediate bulk container) totes.

IBC totes are lightweight, come in a variety of sizes (often seen in 275 gallons or more),  and are affordable. They are great for storing water and some other nonhazardous liquids, but they are actually prohibited by code to be used to store certain flammable liquids inside buildings, including alcohol over about 16% ABV.

Where in the code is this prohibited?

The building and fire codes can be tricky. Below is the code path that leads to this determination:

2012 IFC Chapter 2
Definitions- Tank, Portable
A packaging of more than 60-gallon capacity and designed primarily to be loaded into or on or temporarily attached to a transport vehicle or shop and equipped with skids, mountings or accessories to facilitate handling of tank by mechanical means. It does not include any cylinder having less than a 1,000-pound water capacity, cargo tank, tank car tank or trailers carrying cylinders of more than 1,000-pound water capacity.

2012 IFC 5704.3
Container & Portable Tank Storage
Storage of flammable & combustible liquids in closed containers that do not exceed 60 gallons in individual capacity & portable tanks that do not exceed 660 gallons in individual capacity, and limited transfers incidental thereto, shall comply with sections 5704.3.1 through 5704.3.8.5.

2012 IFC 5704.3.1
Design, construction & capacity of containers & portable tanks
The design, construction, & capacity of containers for the storage of Class I, II, & IIIA liquids shall be in accordance with this section & section 9.4 of NFPA30.

2015 NFPA30 9.4.3
The maximum allowable size of container, intermediate bulk container, or metal portable tank for class I, II, & IIIA liquids shall not exceed that specified in table 9.4.3

2015 NFPA 30 Table 9.4.3
Chart shows that  IBCs & Composite IBCs are NP (Not Permitted) in Any Size to have Class IB & IC Flammable liquids stored in them. Chart also shows that Approved metal portable tanks and IBCS are permitted up to 793 gallons in size, containing Class IB & IC Flammable liquids.

Why are spirits delivered in plastic totes, and why is it dangerous?

Grain Neutral Spirits are often delivered in plastic totes. The main reason for this is that when they are in transit, they are subject to the department of transportation regulations. Once they enter a building, they are subject to the local jurisdiction’s adoptions of the code, usually some version of the International Building/ Fire codes & NFPA standards mentioned above.

The primary reason for these code prohibitions are that plastic is combustible, and can build up a static charge with no way of being dissipated. This could potentially create a spark that could potentially quickly spread to the plastic.

What other options are there?

The answer is simple: metal! Essentially metal containers are permitted to be used to store large quantities of spirits. Of course, there are many other regulations regarding these containers including but not limited to: static grounding, fire protection, secondary containment, spacing, etc.

When selecting a portable container to store spirits at your distillery, metal is the safe and smart way to go!

 

Article by:

Matthew Taylor-Rennert

Dalkita Architecture & Construction

 

Important Considerations for a Design of Boiler Rooms in Distilleries

example of a steam boiler used in a distillery

Location, Location, Location

Ideally, the location of a boiler room in your distillery wants to be as close to the equipment that it is serving as possible.  In general, this means as close to your still and fermenters as possible. This is meant to minimize the distance that steam, cold water, etc. needs to travel to get to and from your equipment, which reduces piping costs and heating/cooling loss. There isn’t a well-defined rule about proximity to equipment, but it is an important design consideration.

Boilers don’t necessarily need to be in a separate room from the distilling equipment, but often are.
Some important considerations regarding a separate boiler room include:

Cleanliness- Distillation & Fermentation can be rather wet processes, so it may be a good idea to keep boilers & other equipment separated.
Noise- Boilers, air compressors, & ancillary equipment can often be noisy.
Heat- Boilers put off significant heat, and can make the environment uncomfortable to be nearby.
Combustion- While there are safe ways to have combustion nearby your flammable liquid production (i.e. your still), it is generally a good idea to keep these 2 ingredients separated.

Boiler rooms need to have combustion air coming in from the outside as well as exhaust flues for fuel burning to release outside. Because the boiler room has connections to the outside, you generally want to place it near an exterior wall, or have available routing to the roof.

Certain equipment inside the boiler room will release some water at times, so a small floor drain is usually required. In existing buildings, be aware of the existing location of underground sewer lines and how a new drain will be able tie into the existing system. Distance from the existing sewer lines and depth of the existing sewer line both play a role, as sewer lines usually slope at about ¼” per foot.

example of a boiler room plan

Area

For small to medium craft distilleries, with production space ranging from approximately 1000-5000 square feet, we see boiler room areas ranging from approximately 130-270 square feet. This is 5%-12% of this area required for this room, with a higher percentage in the smaller distilleries, where the overall space is smaller, but the mechanical/boiler needs are still relatively large.  The size of the room varies greatly based on still size, fermentation & mashing processes, and overall process decisions.

The physical size of equipment in the boiler room, as well as clearances for equipment need to be taken into consideration. The boiler itself is usually the largest piece of equipment and usually has the largest clearances, with at least one or all sides needing access, of generally 2’-3’ clearance. The sizes and clearances of the boiler and all equipment vary quite greatly and will need to be analyzed on a case by case basis as equipment is selected.

boiler room in the corner of a production space

inside a boiler room

Equipment in the Boiler room

Most distilleries will have the following equipment in the boiler room:

Very Likely:
-Steam Boiler
-Boiler Feedwater Tank
-Blow Down Separator

Somewhat likely:
-Domestic Water Heaters
-Instant Water Heaters

-Process Water Heaters
-Instant Water Heaters

-Chiller Ancillary Equipment
-Glycol Feed Tank
-Brine Storage Tank

-Air Compressor

Less Likely:

-Water Entry Filtration (i.e. Reverse Osmosis Filtration)
-Hot or Cold water storage tanks
-Heat Exchangers
-Expansion Tanks

The boiler is usually sometimes required to be in separate room, so it is most logical that much of its ancillary equipment, such as the feedwater tank and blowdown separator be near it. Not all equipment is necessarily located inside the boiler room, but for the convenience of having all the “back of house” equipment in one place, it is often a good idea. The boiler room can sometimes serve as a sort of utility room, and can also have some electrical equipment in it if need be. Boiler rooms are not supposed to be considered storage though, and should not have any combustible storage in them.

Building Heating, Ventilation, & Cooling (HVAC) is always located in a distillery boiler room, but can be. HVAC equipment that provides general heating and cooling for the building is often located outside, on the roof or adjacent to the building.

Most distilleries use a chiller to provide cooling to the still and fermenters. Chillers are usually outside, as they put off a significant amount of heat. They are usually on the roof or adjacent to the building. Depending on the chiller system, there are some pieces of ancillary equipment that goes inside, which can be in the boiler room.

Alternatives

Some small distilleries that are tight on space can use electric stills, but often still need some hot water needs for mashing. This is often done by using instant water heaters and storage tanks. There are many ways to bring heat to your still, but steam is the most common.

While chillers are often used for cooling, in certain climates (more dry usually), evaporative cooling methods can be used to provide cooling to stills and fermenters. Evaporative coolers are located outside.

Additional Design Considerations

Since the walls are often built before the equipment is delivered to the building, we often design larger doorways to allow large pieces of equipment to be brought in to the room. This is often two 3’ wide double doors. This also allows easy removal/ replacement of equipment in the future when needs might change.

Who designs the boiler room?

A well-designed boiler room and distillery is the result of proper planning and an experienced, well-coordinated team. It involves proper selection of equipment to support your distillery process, usually with a knowledgeable mechanical engineer and architect. A mechanical engineer, when given the basic parameters of the process heating and cooling needs, will be able to resolve the technical aspects of the boiler room and equipment.

inside a boiler room that uses instant hot water heaters

 

boiler room plan example

 

Article by:

Matthew Taylor-Rennert

Dalkita Architecture & Construction

Secondary Containment

What is Secondary Containment?
Secondary containment requirements are found in the International Fire Code, a model code that is extensively used throughout the U.S. for safe building design and function. Most jurisdictions in the U.S. adopt this code as law, with some jurisdictions adopting a variation of it.

For the purpose of distilleries, high proof alcohol/ flammable liquid, secondary containment is a method of containing a potential spill, and containing any possible fire associated with that spill. It is used in certain situations to mitigate a risk of the spread of a dangerous material throughout a building and outside of a building.

Do I need secondary containment in my distillery?
Secondary containment comes into consideration only when you have an H (High Hazard) Occupancy in your building. You become an H-Occupancy when you exceed the Maximum Allowable Quantities of flammable liquid, which for alcohol/ethanol are 240 gallons in a fully sprinklered building and 120 gallons in a non-fully-sprinklered building. Below are a few possiblescenarios that demonstrate when you may or may not need secondary containment:

Scenarios Where Secondary Containment is required:
(Please note this applies for indoor, closed systems)

-Fully Sprinklered Building
-Over 240 gallons of alcohol over 16% ABV (Will be an H-3 Occupancy)
-Alcohol in vessels over 55 gallons, or if total capacity exceeds 1000 gallons (not barrels)

-Non-fully-sprinklered building
-Over 120 gallons of alcohol over 16% ABV (Will be an H-3 Occupancy, the H-3 Occupancy must be sprinkled*)
-Alcohol in vessels over 55 gallons, or if total capacity exceeds 1000 gallons (not barrels)

*Please note that while partially sprinkling a building is technically permitted by code, it is not advised because many fire department policies include prohibitions to this. Please check with your local authority having jurisdiction. 

Scenarios Where Secondary Containment is NOT required:
(Please note this applies for indoor, closed systems)

Fully sprinklered Building
Over 240 gallons of alcohol over 16% ABV (Will be an H-3 Occupancy)
Alcohol in wooden barrels/ casks

Fully sprinklered Building
Over 240 gallons of alcohol over 16% ABV (Will be an H-3 Occupancy)
Alcohol in vessels under 55 gallons and total capacity not totaling more than 1000 gallons.

Fully sprinklered Building
Under 240 gallons of alcohol over 16% ABV (Need not be an H-3 Occupancy)

Non- Fully sprinklered Building
Under 120 gallons of alcohol over 16% ABV (Need not be an H-3 Occupancy)

What does secondary containment look like?

Secondary containment can be achieved in several different ways. The code does not explicitly give directions on how to do this. This is an example of “performance language”, where the code give you the final goal/ requires you to design a safety feature…and it is up to the designer to make that happen. The code does specify some performance requirements, such as combustibility of materials, permeability of materials, slopes, depths, etc. Generally, we use concrete block or poured in place concrete as the containment material. Please see the IFC for further detail.  We have identified several general design methods to achieve secondary containment as shown in the following diagrams:

How big/ deep does it need to be?

The depth/ containment size is determined based on the volume of the largest vessel, plus 20 minutes of fire sprinkler water over the containment area. The sprinkler water will be determined by a fire protection engineer, but a common sprinkler flow rate for an H-3 room will be .35 GPM/SF.

For an example, a room with a 300 gallon vessel, a containment area of 160 SF, and a sprinkler flow of .35 GPM/SF, will result in a containment depth of 1′-8″.

Below is a real example of a tank room with secondary containment (of a much higher wall):

Thanks for reading! As you can imagine, secondary containment can certainly have some design and budgeting implications, but with proper planning, it can easily be integrated into the construction of a project. It is important to be informed on this topic when beginning to store larger vessels of alcohol at your facility. We hope you learned some important concepts here that can help lead you in the right direction if and when you may require secondary containment at your facility!

 

Article by:

Matthew Taylor-Rennert

Dalkita Architecture & Construction

ADA Compliance Overview

Welcome!

The ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) is an important topic that those involved with the construction or remodel of buildings or spaces should be aware of and informed on. This post touches on some of the main ADA design issues we often come across when working with new and existing buildings, especially in distilleries!

We hope that with the information here, you can gain a general understanding of this broad topic and have the tools & knowledge to head in the right direction to avoid any accessibility hiccups at your building.

What, Where, & How

The ADA is a civil rights law that passed in the U.S. in 1990. It is applicable in the entire United States. The ADA publishes the ADAAG (ADA Accessibility Guidelines), which set standards for accessibility in buildings. The current publication is the 2010 ADAAG.

Enforcement is generally brought on after a lawsuit is filed for non-compliance. Some jurisdictions, such as California have incorporated these guidelines into building codes, in order to pre-emptively encourage proper design and avoid frivolous litigation after the fact. The IBC (International Building Code) also has some provisions for accessibility, covered in chapter 11.

What do I need in my existing or new building?
Generally speaking, any non-compliance in a new or existing building open to the public can be exposed to liability. All new buildings are expected to be designed completely to the current ADAAG design standards.

For existing buildings, many exceptions are provided, and the code can get quite convoluted (passages for accessibility in existing building both in ADAAG & IBC Chapter 11). But, in short, existing buildings that undergo no changes are more or less grandfathered in to whatever was the standard/ law when it was built. Once a building undergoes an alteration or change of use/occupancy, the building may be subject to certain upgrades depending on the level and area of change.

The most common upgrades we see in many building remodels (i.e. turning an old factory/industrial type building into a distillery & tasting room) include:

-Upgrading the Bathrooms, including clearances, grab bars, etc…
-Providing ramps to inaccessible spaces
-Upgrading door clearances
-Providing signage
-Providing elevators to multistory spaces

Speaking of elevators, there are several exceptions to needing to provide elevators in buildings.

206.2.3 exception 1 of the ADAAG allows buildings under 3 stories or having less than 3,000 square feet per story to be exempt from providing an accessible route to connect stories. Certain facilities such as shopping centers and healthcare offices do not apply to this exception.

206.2.5 provides additional requirements and exceptions for restaurants (would include tasting rooms). You do not need to provide an accessible route to mezzanine dining areas provided the mezzanine:

– Is not required to provide an accessible route between stories (per 206.2.3)

-Contains less than 25% of the overall seating (In “alterations” can be more than 25%)

-Provides the same décor and services as the accessible area. This essentially means that the inaccessible area shall not provide anything more than the accessible level…it should not have a bigger menu, better happy hour, nicer décor, etc… As one can imagine, this could become a bit of a grey area as a lot of this could be up to interpretations.

example of a small mezzanine that may not require an elevator

General Design Standards

The ADA is intended to allow people in wheelchairs and other disabilities to access and utilize the same areas and perform the same functions as fully capable people.
Some of the most important dimensional standards for accessible building design include:

Minimum wheelchair passage width = 36”
Turning Space = 5’-0” circle minimum
Door Width = 32” clear with door open (usually with 36” door)
Handrail Height = 34”-38”
Floor Slope (Not a Ramp) = 1:20 (5%) Max
Ramps (Must have handrail)= 1:12 (8.3%) Max
Parking Space Size = 8’ wide with 5’ aisle beside
7- 50 Car Lot = 2 Accessible Spaces
51-100 Car Lot = 3 Accessible Spaces

In addition to this very concise list, the ADA covers guidelines for many more building components, including, but not limited to elevators, pools, toilet/ bathing facilities & fixtures, water fountains, kitchens, tables & chairs, signage, etc…

example of an accessible ramp

Accessible Bathrooms

New & upgraded accessible bathrooms is a very common item when building or remodeling a building. Small facilities & tasting rooms can often have single user bathrooms for each sex. We will get into the number of toilet facilities in a later blog post. Below is an example of a compliant single user bathroom:

Please see the full ADAAG for further information regarding grab bar heights & lengths, toilet location & height, sink height & knee/toe clearances, mirror locations, toilet paper locations, coat hooks, and more.

Thanks for reading! We hope you learned some important concepts, and encourage you to check out the full text of the ADAAG here:

2010 ADA Standards

 

Article by:

Matthew Taylor-Rennert

Dalkita Architecture & Construction