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Roof
View with holes cut and covered for new furnaces |
Old
Smoke Stacks |
At
a recent luncheon held at the Mill Casino, the Coquille Tribal
Community Fund awarded the Little Theatre on the Bay $15,000 for
the LTOB Building Fund. LTOB gratefully accepted the
money and now submits this community report of its doings with
the grant.
During
the winter of 2004 -- 2005, the Little Theatre on the Bay discovered
that it had serious problems with the oil-fired furnaces which have
heated the Liberty Theater Building for most of the forty-six years
that LTOB has been the occupant. One night, perhaps the coldest
night of December, a rehearsal for Anne of Green Gables had to be
cancelled because the furnaces failed to operate.
Upon
inspection and subsequent repair for the immediate problem, Jason
Denton, President of LTOB along with Jeff Cragun, House Manager,
and Don Williston, Director of Anne of Green Gables and of Public
Relations for LTOB, decided that the oil furnaces were at the
end of their useful life.
Fortunately,
Northwest Natural Gas is installing natural gas in North Bend.
Messers Denton, Cragun and Williston hoped that the oil furnaces
would work for the remainder of the winter season, also hoping the
LTOB Building Fund might raise enough money for new gas furnaces.
Mr.
Denton met with several consultants to learn of natural gas heating
and recommended to the LTOB Board of Directors that roof-top mounted
natural gas furnaces with the added feature of cooling in summer
may be the best approach to long term LTOB HVAC (Heating, Ventilation
and Air Conditioning) needs. The Liberty Building has never
had air conditioning and summer Opry audiences can attest to the
discomfort of no air conditioning even in the mild Oregon coastal
climate.
Further
inspection of the old furnaces disclosed that the Liberty Theater
Building also lacked fresh air circulation. The only fresh
air introduced into the theater building during the heating season
was from six inch holes in the two furnace rooms, fresh air presented
for proper combustion but not adequate for ventilation.
The
complete solution for LTOB will be six roof-top mounted natural
gas furnaces, two for the area behind the curtain and four in
the auditorium. The extra two in the auditorium will be
to maximize the cooling effects for summer audiences, while the
two behind the curtain will allow the curtain to be closed when
there are no audiences in the building.
Early
arriving audiences for Anne of Green Gables and other winter audiences
have been "treated" to a dancing curtain effect on nights
when the curtain was inadvertently left closed after performances.
Behind
the closed curtain temperatures can be more than twenty degrees
different from temperatures in the auditorium. Such variations
in temperature make the curtain "dance".
The
two natural gas furnaces currently being installed each have a
capacity of 150,000 BTU's, which is more than the old furnaces
had when new and very much more than they had this past winter.
The cost for two units, installed and made operational, is $14,900
plus additional moneys to complete the carpentry and electrical
work.
On
March Second, the Coquille Tribal Community Fund approved the
use of the $15,000 grant for the purpose of the installation of
the two furnaces. LTOB entered into several contracts with
local firms and the pictures show that the work is almost completed.
It is hoped the new furnaces will be fully operational in time
for the premiere of Biloxi Blues, April 8th.
Not
only will the new furnaces heat with greater efficiency than the
old furnaces, but also the new furnaces will both recirculate
the air in the building and introduce fresh outside air.
It is expected that the rumored stale air smells of LTOB will
be gone forever.
The
LTOB Board of Directors recently solicitied additional moneys from
interested members of the community, and with the Coquille Tribal
Community Fund Grant, the new furnaces are now a reality!
LTOB thanks everyone who has assisted in this, and all, phases of
the Building Fund project.
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