As the semester moves forward and Greiner Hall still lacks hot water, residents have run out of patience. Complaints have piled up, and the university is finally responding.
The biggest problem for the students living in Greiner has been its unreliable hot water. Residents claim it takes between 10 to 30 minutes for the water to warm up, and even at its hottest temperature, the water is only mildly warm.
"If you're really lucky you'll get a hot shower, which is unbelievable," said Gabe Miller, a sophomore communication major and Greiner resident.
Recently, residents have noticed an increase in response to the issue. Maintenance men and officials have been in Greiner trying to check for the solution from inside the building, hoping to fix the problem non-invasively, which would mean a quicker fix for the residents.
"There appeared to be two janitors and two higher level men," said Ben Tarhan, a sophomore engineering major and Greiner resident, in an email. "They brought thermometers and measured the temperature on both my showerhead and the sink. They opened up a panel in my ceiling and looked at some pipes. After a couple of minutes they agreed that the water didn't get hot – it topped off at about 85 degrees. They said contractors would be coming by to take a look."
The university is now working with LP Ciminelli, D.V. Brown, and Cannon Design – the construction, plumbing, and engineering contractors – to fix the problems. Andrea Costantino, the interim director of Campus Living – along with the Campus Living office – has outlined an extensive plan in order to check any source of cold water entering the hot water system. She hopes the plan will remedy the problem as soon as they come to a definitive answer as to what's causing the hot water to malfunction.
"I've talked with my assistant hall director numerous times, and he told me they were fixing [the problem]," Miller said. "It seemed like they had for a few days, but today it was incredibly cold again. They led me to believe they fixed the problem, but clearly did not. If they had, I would have had a hot shower this morning.
University officials are working hard with the contractors to get the water back to normal, and as they work to find the real problem, the hot water seems to have become even more sporadic.
The apparent fix, reported by Miller and other residents – who wish to remain anonymous – was only temporary. Over the last few weeks, there have been days where the hot water seems to be up to par, which only frustrates the residents more when their next shower is cold.
The engineers have gone over the design plans for the building and have not found an obvious answer for the inadequate hot water. The plumbing contractor has done non-invasive spot checks for cross connections – a condition where cold water enters the hot water system. The university has installed backflow prevention devices in the washing machines to ensure that cold water from the machines cannot enter the hot water system, according to an email from Costantino.
Should these non-invasive system checks fail to yield any serious result, there are plans for in-depth solutions.
The contractors will disable the mixing valve that currently regulates the hot water temperature. The mixing valve mixes 140-degree water with 110-degree water. If needed, the university will disengage this and send 120-degree water directly into the piping that runs to shower heads throughout the building, according to the same email.
"Should these steps not work out there are other, even more invasive steps we will take," Costantino said. "These may require one or more longer system shut downs to search for a piping cross connection wing by wing, floor by floor, pipe section by pipe section."
The university has assured students and parents that they are taking the issue of inadequate hot water very seriously. The response from Campus Living, and the contractors, seems to have finally gotten serious. Despite complains that the search for solutions has been extremely delayed, Costantino reassures the student body that they "are doing everything they can think of."
"I can understand that Greiner is a new building, and will have a few kinks here and there, but the fact that there's no hot water is just unacceptable," Miller said. "I've asked other people living in Greiner and it's pretty unanimous."
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