In the afternoon of Feb. 9, Livedalen Hall and the connected Normandy Building lost power and heat.
In a Cobweb sent out by Lisa Sethre-Hofstad, Vice President for Student Development and Campus Life and Dallas Fossum, Director of Mugaas Plan Operations Center, the issue was due to a transformer losing functionality.
“Livedalen residents were notified, and given the option to shelter elsewhere while the heat was being returned to the building,” the Cobweb said, “The facilities team was able to acquire a large generator capable of providing power to Livedalen and the Normandy building, and power was restored Sunday evening.”
A large Aggreko 200 kW diesel generator was placed in front of the north entrance of Livedalen Hall, blocking access of the door. All other entrances remain unblocked.
The specific operating cost of the generator is unknown at the time of publication. The current price of diesel is $3.517/gal at the time of publication. The estimated fuel needed for a full load for a 200 kW generator is 14.4 gallons per hour. It could potentially cost up to $1,215.48 a day for the generator to be operable. The cost to replace the transformer was unknown at the time of publication.
A few days later, Park Region Hall also lost hot water. Residence Life opened access for Park Region residents to shower in Fjelstad Hall. The issue, according to Sean Payette, Director of Residence Life, was a faulty valve. This issue has since been resolved.
In a statement to “The Concordian,” Payette wrote the following message:
“Residence Life, in partnership with Facilities Management, is working swiftly and effectively to resolve facility issues in Livedalen and Park Region.”
At this time, hot water has been restored in Park Region after replacing a faulty valve on the water heater. The repair took several days as a new part was not locally available and took a few days to source and ship.
Livedalen’s electricity is still being operated via generator as we explore solutions to fix the root issue of the outage that occurred Feb. 9. After an initial adjustment period, electricity service has been uninterrupted in Livedalen since Tuesday, Feb. 11.
“We are grateful for students’ patience and understanding as we have worked to solve these problems,” the message said. “We will continue to share more information with affected students as new information becomes available.”
For students who are experiencing facility issues, reach out to Residence Assistants, Hall Directors or call your respective dormitory duty phone.
