Our entire chilled water system will undergo a long-awaited overhaul starting Sunday and could result in a few slightly warmer than usual buildings on campus.

Between Dec. 18 and Feb. 1, contractors will be changing piping and pumps in all campus buildings except in Tech Village. The chilled water system provides air conditioning, which is necessary even in the winter in some of our buildings to help keep them from overheating.

After Feb. 1, piping and pumping modifications may cause a short scheduled outage in some buildings' HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) systems for a few hours during the day. If outages are necessary, you'll be notified in advance.

Wintertime air conditioning will be restored to the following buildings after Feb. 1: Bryan Fine Arts, Clement, Freshmen Residence Hall, Foster, Library, Recreation and Fitness Center and the Roaden University Center. After those buildings come back online, winter cooling will be restored to Hooper Eblen Center, Johnson Hall, Prescott Hall, Brown Hall, Bruner Hall, South Hall, and University Services.

In the meantime, Bruner Hall's electrical system is getting a complete overhaul. From Dec. 19 to Jan. 12, every electrical panel in the building will be modified, resulting in wall demolition and rebuilding, so residents can expect electrical outages. Any work that hasn't been completed by the start of classes on Jan. 17 will be done at night to minimize interruptions to the power.

"There may be some bumps in the road as these improvements are completed," says engineer Larry Wheaton, "but please be patient and report any problems to Facilities and Business Services immediately." By late next spring, when the chiller distribution projects are completed — including the replacement of our remaining CFC chiller — we can anticipate saving more than $100,000 a year in utility bills, thanks to the improved efficiency of our system.

Questions? Contact Wheaton at lwheaton or 3589.