01-30-06 Special Called City Council Retreat Meeting of La Porte City Council

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o Air -to -heat exchanger: A relatively expensive process for reclaiming the heat or • air conditioning from the used air before it is exhausted. The exchanger effectively preheats/cools the new air as it is drawn into the system. Environments for Exotics With increasing frequency, shelters are creating special environments for housing exotics. Exotic wards often require special venting and additional heat. Using a radiant ceiling panel or wall unit will add the required heating capacity. A "reheat coil" set into the duct that supplies the exotic environment offers another way of providing custom heating for this species -specific area. ODOR CONTROL Odors arise in dirty or damp environments. To isolate odors, you should divide your shelter into mechanical zones that correspond to your functional modules. Separate air handling units, including heating and cooling, should service these zones. Each zone should have its own supply and return so that air from one zone doesn't cross into another. Air pressure separations isolate odors. If you exhaust more air in the animal habitats than you put in, you create a negative air pressure. And, in the public zone, if you put more air in than you exhaust, you create positive pressure. The positive air pressure in • the public zones keep the odors trapped in the negative pressure animal habitats. Exhaust fans play a significant role in creating the negative pressure zones, particularly in the animal areas. By using exhaust fans, you can typically vent 120 percent of the air that you put into the animal areas. Effectively exhausting air from your shelter is probably the single best thing you can do to control odors and to decrease drying time in the runs. It is often a good idea to install a high -volume exhaust fan to be available in the animal areas for emergency situations. Odor control can be best accomplished by eliminating the source. Frequent cleaning of the runs and cage areas is the first and most obvious step in the control of odor. Locate water hose bibbs in convenient locations. When things are easy to use, the job gets done more efficiently. High-pressure washing systems with flow -monitoring injection pumps for chemical disinfectant are extremely efficient for cleaning animal holding areas. Valves control the flow of fresh rinsing water and water containing disinfectant. Quick disconnects used with spray wands or hose reels mounted from the ceiling make the system easy to use. Animal Enclosures A major consideration in evaluating which run enclosure is best for your shelter should not only be ease of cleaning, but also how throughly the enclosure can be cleaned. • Concrete -Block Runs - Concrete -block runs are durable and easily cleaned when filled and painted with epoxy paint. These are quieter than modular metal or fiberglass runs. In addition, concrete block provides a relatively inexpensive solution for separating 2