Riverboat casino uses clean air technology to create
08/01/2001
by Mark A. DeSorbo
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When cigarette and cigar smoke posed too much of a gamble for some Grand Victoria Casino patrons, the owners of the 400-foot riverboat put their money on contamination control technology.
The bid was far from a crapshoot, for the same kind of cleanroom apparatuses that are used in electronic manufacturing environments proved to be the solution—a first for an Illinois casino.
Pete Dominguez, the riverboat casino's general manager, says improving air quality along with upgrading the HVAC system was the primary goal. "We wanted to make it seem as close to a non-smoking environment as possible," he adds.
Smoke on the water
Before the upgrade, the atmosphere was quite stagnant within the riverboat that rests along the banks of the Fox River, says Joey Bastone, president of Pure Air Werks (St. Charles, IL), the designer and installer of the five-stage air filtration system.
"You'd walk up to the ramp and you could smell it," Bastone says. "On the main floor, there was a thick haze, and it was even bad on the lower level, which is a non-smoking area."
The project, completed in late June, took more than three months to finish, Bastone says.
At the time of this report, Pure Air Werks was continuing to conduct tests on the system in an attempt to keep contaminant levels to a minimum. Acceptable levels, he adds, are expected to fall within American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers standards (ASHRAE; Atlanta). That means no more than 700 parts per million of carbon dioxide, 0.15 milligrams per cubic meter (pcm) of particles, 0.56 milligrams pcm of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and 0.010 milligrams pcm of nicotine.
Determining ambient levels of gases, vapors, particles and nicotine was the first phase of the project, Bastone says. Theodore J. Hogan and Associates Inc. (Lemont, IL) was contracted to do the environmental monitoring. The health and workplace safety consultant determined frequent air changes to the tune of several thousand cubic feet per minute (cfm) were required.
Airing out
Pure Air Werks proposed and later installed six air handlers, four 10,000 cfm and two 5,000 cfm units. The air handlers were custom made for the riverboat by Sparks Technology Inc. (Batavia, IL).
"This machine builder has dealt with cleanrooms in the past, that's why we contacted them," Bastone says, adding that HVAC work was completed by Deljo HVAC (Chicago).
"Those machines are pushing 60,000 cfm. We overkilled it a little bit because we wanted to push a lot of air and form an airflow pattern," he says.
Air goes through five phases, Bastone says. First, air is moved through pre-filters to weed out large particles, mold spores, dust mites and hair. Air then flows through HEPA filters, capturing 99.97 percent of particles less than 0.3 micron. Carbon filters capture dust generated by ash, while chemical filters eliminate odors and gases. In the final phase, air flowing into the casino is exposed to ozone-producing ultraviolet light, which Bastone says further oxygenates air.
"In Vegas, they pump oxygen into the room, so this system employs that same concept," Bastone says.
Piecemeal project
Because it was a casino and a riverboat, which is owned by the Mandalay Bay Group (Las Vegas, NV), the project faced several challenges, Bastone says.
Pure Air Werks as well as other contractors had to get the job done without interrupting the constant flow of activity around the casino's slot machines, blackjack, roulette, Baccarat, poker and craps tables.
"The casino opens every day at 8:30 in the morning, and it closes at 6 a.m. the next day," Bastone says. "So, we only had about a two-hour window to work on the boat. We'd get in there at 6, rope off areas and start working."
Another obstacle was the overall shape of the casino. The rectangular-shaped room has ceilings of varying heights that graduate to a 55-foot-high atrium, a design that posed airflow constraints.
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"There are lower ceiling levels, where smoke would get captured," Bastone adds, noting the built-in redundancy of six air handlers that crank out 60,000 cfm. "Plus, we could not have any units exposed on the gaming floor. The machines are on the top of the boat, which was another reason why we wanted to move a lot of air."
On top of that, contractors had to comply with specifications from the boat manufacturer, Guido Perla (Seattle, WA), as well as US Coast Guard and Illinois gaming board regulations. "Every application had to pass through them," Bastone adds. "There was a lot of red tape."
Additional ventilation work is planned for casino bathrooms, cafeteria and restaurants.
"We had been looking to upgrade the ventilation system for a couple of years, and Pure Air Werks had the solution we were looking for," Dominguez says.
Although they are still awaiting quantitative results, Dominguez says there is a noticeable difference in the air throughout the casino. "We no longer see smoke, lingering around lights," he says. "It's now a very nice, clean atmosphere, and it's nice to hear our patrons say they do not smell like smoke when they get home."