The Baranof Hotel, Juneau Alaska

Low Flow, Brown Water, Dissimilar Metals, Historical Architecture

Built to rival the most lavish hotels of its day, the 230 room historic Baranof Hotel still serves as a second home to Alaska State legislators and corporate travelers doing business in Juneau.

The Problem:

Over the years, the hotel’s piping system was slowly deteriorating. Brown water, low flow, and leaks were becoming the day-to-day norm rather than the exception.

Pipe replacement was proving too expensive as it involved having to work around preservation of this historical building, asbestos abatement and revenue loss from extensive and messy shut downs associated with a re-pipe.

Over years, some of the main water lines and the risers were replaced with new copper. Primarily what remained were the hard to get at galvanized steel branch lines servicing each room and fixture. The remaining galvanized branch lines mostly ½ and ¾” in diameter were encrusted creating discolored water and insufficient flow to each room.

The Solution:

ePIPE technicians were able to restore the branch lines, riser and main lines at the Baranof without incident. To preserve historical tub/shower fixtures special bypass adapters were engineered by ACE DuraFlo systems which allowed the restoration of the piping system to be completed without having to tear out the tub/shower fixtures or tear out any of the surrounding wall.