The annual steam shutdown will take place during the week following spring commencement—Sunday, May 3 – Friday, May 8 (weather permitting). This outage is required to provide maintenance and service of the boilers and steam distribution system on campus. This planned maintenance improves the reliability of our system and reduces the likelihood of an unplanned failure during the winter heating season.
There will not be heat or hot water in the affected buildings during the steam shutdown. There will be no distilled water available from the steam-driven stills. Steam-driven autoclaves/sterilizers will not be operational.
The buildings affected will include:
- Administration Building
- ROTC Building
- Academic Offices Building
- Annex Building
- Electrical Energy Resources
- DOW Envir Sciences & Eng Bldg
- Rozsa Performing Arts & Educ
- Walker – Arts & Humanities
- Minerals & Materials Engr Bldg
- Grover C. Dillman Hall
- Fisher Hall
- J.R. Van Pelt Library
- U.J. Noblet Forestry Building
- Chemical Sciences & Engr Building
- R.L. Smith (MEEM) Building
- Student Development Complex
- Kanwal and Ann Rekhi Hall
- Douglass Houghton Hall
- Memorial Union Building
- Wadsworth Hall
- McNair Hall
- Central Heating Plant
- Facilities Management
- Hillside Place
- Great Lakes Research Center
Facilities Management has developed a five-year rotating plan to service the 12,470-volt switchgear and associated breakers on campus. Our campus electrical distribution system depends on this gear being in good working condition. This work requires a two-night power outage that affects the least number of buildings possible. Please note that in most cases elevators, fume hoods, exhaust fans, ventilation equipment, normal lighting, plug-in appliances, and plug-in equipment will not operate during the outage.
Only items connected to the building emergency generator will have power during the outage; the building emergency generators and battery systems that supply power to emergency/egress lighting and special equipment should function as normal. If you are unsure if your equipment connects to the building emergency generator, please contact the Facilities Management Building Mechanic for your building.
Information Technology will turn off all network equipment in the affected buildings for these outages starting at 5 p.m. You should plan to save any work and shut down your computer systems and exit buildings before the outages. Additionally, some buildings with power will be without phone or internet service. Only the buildings listed will have their power shut off during the scheduled outages.
There will be two power outages.
Power Outage One: Begins at 6 p.m. Wednesday, May 6 until 6 a.m. Thursday, May 7.
Power Outage Two: Begins at 6 p.m. Thursday, May 7 until 6 a.m. Friday, May 8.
Building affected will include:
- Rekhi
- Dillman
- Fisher
- Hamar House / CDI
- Forestry
- M&M
- ME-EM
- ROTC
- Academic Office Building
- Alumni House
- Annex
Buildings with power but no phone or internet:
- Gates Tennis Center
- Little Huskies
- US Forest Service Labs
- EMS/SLS Garage
You can find more details and updates on the Facilities Management website. If there are questions or concerns with this plan, contact Energy Management or Facilities Management at 7-2303.
By Energy Management and Facilities Management.