After a lightning strike hit the control panel within the HVAC system located at Wheeler Hall on Sunday, Aug. 12, the entire building was left without air conditioning, according to Doug Howell, associate director for residential operations.
Howell said the unit was “significantly damaged.”
“This meant that (the) air conditioner was lost within Wheeler (Hall) for a period of several days until a temporary chiller unit was delivered on Wednesday night, August 15,” said Howell.
Ultimately, roughly 118 students are impacted by the outage. Throughout the outage, power was never lost, according to Howell.
In the effort to restore air conditioning on a shorter notice, a temporary rental chiller was placed outside of Cox Hall parked on Madison St. with multiples lines servicing Wheeler.
“A crew of eight technicians worked throughout the night to restore cooling service on Thursday morning (Aug. 16),” said Howell.
Howell said the temporary chiller started working around 10 a.m. on Aug. 16 to bring down temperatures due to the high temperatures outside.
“When we activated the rental and were monitoring the system to see if it was responding...we were seeing temps in the high 80s low 90s, rooms that were occupied with windows open were in the upper 70s. We actually recovered the building to an average of 72 degrees before lunch,” said Energy Manager Kevin Miller.
Residential and Commuter Life (RCL) Wheeler Desk Aid Morgan Garrison said the temperature “feels fine now”.
According to Howell, Longwood is contemplating the financial situation of whether or not to replace the 11-year-old system versus fixing it.
“Discussions are still underway to determine the most cost effective means to fully restore the cooling need,” said Howell.
When that decision is made, that will determine the length of time the temporary chiller will be needed to service Wheeler, per Howell.
“The temporary one (chiller) is doing a really good job we haven’t had any issues with it since they had gotten it fixed,” said Garrison.
According to Miller, the student response to the situation made everything go smoothly.
“It was a tough job but having that thankfulness and thoughtfulness extended added a little pep in everyone’s step,” said Miller. “Although having to do the job wasn’t exactly great, seeing the students do that was a great way to start off this school year.”
Garrison said RCL worked “all hours of the day” to get the temporary chiller up and running.
“Obviously it was hot and people don’t like it hot so they were on top of it before it got way too bad where it got to the point of you couldn’t even stand to be in here (Wheeler),” said Garrison.
Howell also commended Wheeler residents for understanding the situation at hand.
“When a facility crisis challenges our campus, we come together as campus partner, with a mindset of resilience and grit,” said Howell.
Continue to follow The Rotunda for more updates.
The temporary rental chiller sits outside of Cox Hall on Madison Street with multiple lines running to Wheeler Hall.
