By Kip Pesses

Last week’s steam shutdown had south campus residents nervous about their hot water supply. Some students lost hot water temporarily, but the repairs went smoothly, according to Superintendent of Buildings and Grounds Gregory Widener.

Though the shutdown started on Tuesday Oct. 4, which was earlier than expected, “there [were] no problems with the lack of steam for hot water heating,” Widener said.

Several Old Kenyon residents, however, noticed problems. “I tried a few showers – there was never heat,” Nathaniel Jamison-Root ’14 said. “A lot of people in Old Kenyon just skipped showers entirely or had to go down to the KAC [Kenyon Athletic Center].”

Another area of concern was the lack of steam in Peirce Dining Hall, but the temporary steam-generating equipment was up to the task. “The transition to the temporary boiler was seamless in the switch over and most students have not noticed that [steam-generating] equipment [provided] all the heat, hot water and steam to maintain the kitchen,” Widener said.

The warm weekend weather contributed to the smoothness of the operation. Widener initially worried that residences might suffer if low nighttime temperatures occurred, but he found that “the residential housing spaces [benefited] from the warm temperatures.”

“We have gotten very few complaints,” Interim Director of Housing and Residential Life Matt Troutman said. “I think it would have been different if it was colder.”

Maintenance progressed ahead of schedule, preventing construction from running late into the night and keeping students awake. While much of the old steam line was “removed and taken to a landfill,” some of the older pipe will be allowed to remain “buried in next to the new steam piping system,” Widener said.

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