Aspen Inn receives facelift

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Joshua Stevens
  • 28th Bomb Wing Public Affairs
ELLSWORTH AIR FORCE BASE, S.D. --  Since the beginning of September, the 28th Civil Engineer Squadron, in conjunction with the 28th Force Support Squadron, has been renovating the Aspen Inn, a temporary lodging facility for military members moving to and from Ellsworth.

"The Aspen Inn has had ongoing issues for the past eight years," said Master Sgt. Chris Vanwell, 28 CES Heating, Ventilating and Air Conditioning NCO in charge. "Once we found out [force support] was planning on renovating the building, it gave us the perfect opportunity to fix the HVAC problems."

The Air Force Lodging Fund at the Air Force Services Agency in San Antonio approved $550,000 for the 28 FSS to renovate the Aspen Inn in August 2007.

"After receiving the funding approval, we worked with designers and contractors to get everything ordered to get the project underway," said Jennifer Herron, 28 FSS guest service manager. "We will be replacing all of the carpeting, vinyl and furniture, as well as installing new TVs, DVD players, artwork and lighting fixtures."

The main project facing the HVAC team is the updating of piping throughout the building.

Prior to our updates, the building's piping had one loop, Sergeant Vanwell said. Now, though, we have installed a main pump control which has two loops, feeding the north and south ends of the building. This will help prevent air pockets throughout the system and make repairs easier.

In addition, civil engineer personnel are going to install an easy-access entry to the main control, located in a small room adjacent to the central part of the hallway, so repairers do not have to crawl underneath the floor, all the way from the far ends of the hallway, to reach the control.

Six-man teams have put much work into the project. Not only are HVAC concerns being taken care of, but members of the 28 CES electrical shop are also contributing to the undertaking.

"Our electricians are updating all of the lighting in the building, as well as installing all of the electrical circuitry for the pump system's control," Sergeant Vanwell said.

The 28 CES portion of the project will cost approximately $35,000 in the end, but had the potential to cost much more.

"The fact we have conducted these renovations entirely without contracted help has probably saved the Air Force at least $500,000," said Ed Davis, 28 CES HVAC foreman.

Sergeant Vanwell agreed, and said, "This has been a huge project for us. One of this magnitude, uncontracted, is a great training opportunity. Our staff likes taking on big projects. Working around the Air Expeditionary Force rotations is a continuous challenge, but we're getting it done."

Projected completion of the HVAC and electrical renovations is early October, but the majority of force support renovations should not be completed until late November or early December.

After these renovations are completed, guests of the Aspen Inn can expect better heating in the winter and better cooling in the summer, Sergeant Vanwell said. This is a big deal, because often this building serves as their first and last impression of this base. These updates ensure those impressions are good ones.