Why is it so hot in campus buildings?

IU’s heating and cooling system is complex.

“It’s not like going to the thermostat in your home and turning it from heat to cool,” said Hank Hewetson, assistant vice president for facility operations for the IU Physical Plant.

The Physical Plant oversees the transition from hot air to cold air in campus buildings. There isn’t one central button that Hewetson can press to switch all buildings from hot air to cold. It can sometimes take several weeks to get some buildings ready to make the switch.

Pipes in the buildings are filled with hot water when the heat is on and cool water when the air is on. In most campus buildings, the water has to be gradually cooled down before the switch from hot air to cold air can be made, Hewetson said.

The Physical Plant works with representatives in each campus building to set a schedule to get the air turned on. Generally, the plant likes to have all the buildings switched to cool by April 15.

But the dramatic shift to warmer weather hinders those schedules.

“You can’t take 110 degree water and immediately turn it cold,” Hewetson said. “If it literally goes from the 40s to the 80s immediately, like last week, we find ourselves catching up.”

The average high temperature for the past seven days was 76 degrees. The average low was 48 degrees.

“IU is such a big place, with so many buildings and so many people,” Hewetson said. “We’re dealing with buildings that are one year old and buildings that are 100 years old. It takes some work to get them all up and running.”

— Larry Buchanan