Due to Monday’s campus-wide power outage, Facilities Mangaement will provide 31 small space heaters for the staff in Business Building North to use in their classrooms and offices.
The power was shut down because of a service rate contract the University has with the Tennessee Valley Authority, which allows TVA to tell the university to shut off power when energy demands are high across the region. Due to the sub-zero temperatures, many pipes froze and busted in the buildings across campus leaving behind damage.
Kim Oatman, chief Facilities Management officer, sent an email stating he encouraged staff to keep all classroom doors open at all times so the corridor heat can be distributed.
“We are hopeful that the above actions will carry us through the three to four week period while waiting for the coils to be replaced,” Oatman said. “Next week’s forecast is fairly moderate, so it will be a good time to try this and see if it works.”
He said if he sees the plan not working or if outside temperatures get too cold, then he will look into running more circuits from the basement to the upper floors to power more temporary heaters.
“We are not taking this action initially, because it will be costly and purely for temporary purposes,” Oatman said. “Furthermore we are not entirely sure this action would safely satisfy all the heating needs anyway.”
Oatman said in the email as a last resort some classes may be moved to other buildings if Business Building North is too cold.