PULLMAN – Maintenance and Utilities Services on the WSU campus began the process of refilling the central chiller system April 12 in hopes of getting the campuswide air conditioning system up and running for the warm summer months.
Larry Neal, director of maintenance and utilities services, said the chiller system takes approximately four weeks to refill and he hopes to have the air conditioning in all the buildings up and running by May 7.
The central chill water must be drained starting every October in preparation for the winter months in order to protect the coils and other equipment from freezing. The system is refilled again when the weather begins to warm, but there is still period of overlap (usually four weeks) when the system is not quite ready to begin cooling buildings.
Due to the above normal temperatures in Pullman the past week or so, Neal said, there have been a few people complaining about not being able to turn on the air conditioning in different buildings around campus. He said people sometimes think there are mechanical problems in their rooms or buildings. But most often the problem is that the chillers for their particular building have not yet been refilled.
Maintenance and Utilities Services has four-man teams working on refilling the 75 buildings on campus that have chiller air conditioning systems. Neal said the buildings are prioritized, with those that house plants, animals and research refilled first and academics usually last.
Neal and Tom Burritt, plant maintenance and repair/communication center supervisor, said the chillers hold approximately 2.5 million gallons of coolant in the 75 buildings.
Although the system might seem like an inconvenience to some people, Neal and Burritt said the chiller system saves the university quite a bit of money. They said it is about 50 percent cheaper than regular refrigerant air conditioning systems.
Neal and Burritt said if people are having issues, they can turn in a request, but should just keep in mind that their buildings will be getting refilled eventually.