Facilities Management hopes to replace the entire high temperature hot water distribution system north of Faunce House by September this year as part of a $30 million project to upgrade the campus hot and chilled water networks and electrical duct banks.
"Facilities Management staff spends a lot of time fixing things as they break," said Courtney McCracken, project manager for Facilities Management. "You want to be fixing things before they break. For the number of buildings at Brown, Facilities Management is actually very small. Fixing the infrastructure should mean more time spent on preventative maintenance."
The insulation on the heating system piping has begun to crack, McCracken said, leading to costly repairs. The leak last winter on the Main Green cost the University $300,000 to $350,000, The Herald reported last February.
The replacement piping will be of a nearly identical design but built with stronger materials, McCracken said. "It will be more modern and more durable and could last as long as 75 to 100 years if it isn't damaged," he said.
Work on the system will not start until after Memorial Day, so most residence halls will be unoccupied while the changes are taking place. But students living on Pembroke campus over the summer may notice the construction work - the piping at Alumnae, Smith-Buonanno and Pembroke halls will be among the first to be replaced.
The heating system includes three large boilers at the Central Heat Plant on Lloyd Avenue, where water is heated under pressure to approximately 300 degrees Fahrenheit. The water is then carried through a series of 12-inch tubes to local heating centers around the campus, which convert the water to 180 degrees Fahrenheit and channel it into various campus buildings. The water tubes, which were originally laid in the 1960s, are insulated within larger, 24-inch shells and buried under eight feet of earth.
