Heating Season

To the Campus Community:

Background

Weather forecasts show a trend to cooler weather.  We have been working with the power plant and facilities team to prepare for the heating season.  Heating the main buildings on campus is much more involved than just turning up the thermostat. The main boilers in the power plant will be started Sunday, October 13th.  Steam will be fed to the two main steam loops on campus at the beginning of next week followed by sending steam to individual buildings. This process takes about 10 days in total and spans across 24 campus buildings.  Not all buildings can be started at the same time so there will be some variations of temperature on the campus. 

Process

The process includes preparing and starting the main boilers and providing steam to the main steam loops that serve most of the campus.  Once the steam loops are at pressure then the individual buildings can begin to be supplied with steam. As the steam reaches each building, our HVAC team will be on site to manually open the valves and make sure the steam is distributed to the heating coils or radiators. We may likely experience some problems that require a little more attention and adjustment as these systems become functional.

Buildings not on the central steam system are being brought on line in a separate process which will begin next week.  These buildings include Higgins House, East Hall, Founders, Institute Hall, Fuller/Ellsworth Apartments, Stoddard A/B/C, Faraday Hall, Foisie/Messenger and the peripheral properties.  In most cases these buildings will be ready for heat more quickly than the rest of campus, however this process still needs fine-tuning and time to complete.

What you need to do

Please fill out a SchoolDude work order or call extension 5500 if you are experiencing any heating related issues. We appreciate your patience as we make our preparations for the heating season.