Miami Hotel Sits Empty After Legionella Death

Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009 | Building Maintenance Industry News, HVAC Maintenance and Efficiency

Photo - Hotel Room If you ever had any doubts about the importance of cooling tower cleaning and maintenance, look no further than the current trials and tribulations of the Epic Hotel and Residences in Miami, Florida. It currently sits empty – at a cost of about $200,000 per day in lost room revenues — because three non-related guests became ill with Legionnaire’s disease and one of them died.

The hotel’s water supply was initially believed to be the cause of the incidents. And, while the Epic has since been cleared by Miami-Dade County public health authorities, it will remain closed until authorities determine what did happen. Guests have been transferred to other area hotels and for the time being, the Epic is not accepting any new reservations. A skeleton staff remains to perform needed maintenance.

Three cases of Legionella reported to public health authorities in recent months all had one thing in common – all the victims had been guests at the Epic Hotel, a unit of Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants. One, a European man, died of the disease and two others, while infected, eventually recovered. Speculation originally centered on the hotel’s water systems, including the cooling towers associated with the air conditioning system.

According to an article in the Miami Herald, once authorities determined the Epic was a common factor in all three cases, they sent investigators to take samples of water from various locations in the hotel, including the cooling towers, showers, kitchens and even individual room faucets. The investigators ruled out the air conditioning but determined that the hotel’s water system was removing too much chlorine from the city water it was bringing into the hotel, making it possible for bacteria to grow.

Hotel management said it will superchlorinate the water system during the ten days it will take for the samples to be processed in various Floida labs, so chlorine levels will rise to acceptable levels.

For the time being, until authorities determine what did cause the three cases of Legionella, the Epic Hotel remains closed.

Rich Silverman
Goodway Blogging Team

Photo by loftcwyouth courtesy of wikipedia commons under a Creative Commons Attribution Sharealike license.

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Written by: Goodway Blogging Team

Tags: cooling towers, HVAC Maintenance, Legionella