ISU Power Plant Fire?

isucy86

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Apr 13, 2006
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Telling them to go home for the weekend seems to hint at it not being a short term thing.
From a safety standpoint, unless ISU is going to put students up in hotels- they pretty much have to tell kids to go home.

I live in eastern Iowa and my apt doesn't have A/C- it was 92 when I stopped by to get some stuff at 10am this morning. So with today's temps approaching 100 and tomorrow expected to be mid-90's, best to go home or stay with a friend.
 
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GMackey32

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So each building doesn't have it's own dedicated system so if something goes down it doesn't effect the others? If not........what idiot designed and what idiot approved of that?
Has to deal with the tunnels etc. Would cost a lot of money to retro fit a lot of the buildings. We lost A/C because the chilled water plant uses a lot of power and the fire at the power plant caused them to shut down a lot of high electricity users so they could fix it. Things like the lights and outlets don’t use that much and they can still use part of the city’s grid to power that. At least that’s how I understood it from the FPM guy that came in.
 

wxman1

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Dear Iowa State University community,

Facilities, Planning and Management crews are working diligently to repair the damage from a fire at the power plant earlier today, which has disrupted the campus cooling system.

At this time, crews have restored two of the four chillers that support the cooling system. They also have stabilized the air conditioning for the residence halls. As previously communicated to students in non-air conditioned rooms, all dens and community spaces will continue to be available 24/7 during this period of excessive heat.

The City of Ames Electrical Department is providing power to maintain electricity on campus as repairs are made. The Ames Fire Department responded at 10:45 a.m. and extinguished the fire within an hour. No injuries were reported.

A reminder that classes on Friday, Aug. 25 will be virtual or canceled. Students should check email and Canvas for updates from their instructors. University Human Resources has developed guidance for employees to make arrangements with their supervisors on Friday.

Updates, cancellations and closures will continue to be provided at: https://www.news.iastate.edu/news/2023/08/24/power-plant-fire. Please note that most campus buildings will be locked on Friday, Aug. 25.

Thank you for your patience and understanding during this time.
 
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Gonzo

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Dear Iowa State University community,

Facilities, Planning and Management crews are working diligently to repair the damage from a fire at the power plant earlier today, which has disrupted the campus cooling system.

At this time, crews have restored two of the four chillers that support the cooling system. They also have stabilized the air conditioning for the residence halls. As previously communicated to students in non-air conditioned rooms, all dens and community spaces will continue to be available 24/7 during this period of excessive heat.

The City of Ames Electrical Department is providing power to maintain electricity on campus as repairs are made. The Ames Fire Department responded at 10:45 a.m. and extinguished the fire within an hour. No injuries were reported.

A reminder that classes on Friday, Aug. 25 will be virtual or canceled. Students should check email and Canvas for updates from their instructors. University Human Resources has developed guidance for employees to make arrangements with their supervisors on Friday.

Updates, cancellations and closures will continue to be provided at: https://www.news.iastate.edu/news/2023/08/24/power-plant-fire. Please note that most campus buildings will be locked on Friday, Aug. 25.

Thank you for your patience and understanding during this time.
This obviously caught everyone off guard but I will say it seems like they're doing a good job of communicating, collaborating with the city, and getting sh*t fixed.
 

jsb

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My wing of friley wasn’t air conditioned 20 years ago. I’m wondering if that is still the case.
 
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dafarmer

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Wimps! In my day we would all skinny dip in Lake Laverne. We had people streaking in the middle of winter, FGS.
 

inCyteful

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Wimps! In my day we would all skinny dip in Lake Laverne. We had people streaking in the middle of winter, FGS.
Lake Latrine was no joke. I did a lot of crazy stuff but driving a bike into whatever they called the liquid in there was probably the riskiest.
 
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VTXCyRyD

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My son is in Willow and said the AC is fine there.

I'm surprised more people who went to ISU didn't know the power plant has water chillers that pump cold water to cool buildings around campus.

Chillers​

The Power Plant has four large centrifugal chillers that serve the cooling needs of the university. Three chillers use a steam turbine to drive the refrigerant compressor and the fourth chiller uses an electric motor drive. The chillers generate chilled water at 42° F which is pumped throughout the campus to cool the buildings. The total cooling capacity at the Power Plant is 17,000 tons of air conditioning.
 

Pope

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This obviously caught everyone off guard but I will say it seems like they're doing a good job of communicating, collaborating with the city, and getting sh*t fixed.
I agree. This event had the potential to be a huge disaster, but credit University leaders for taking decisive and effective action to minimize the harm.
 
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wxman1

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Dear Iowa State community,
The campus cooling system is back up and running thanks to the hard work of Facilities, Planning and Management crews to restore the chillers following a fire at the university’s power plant on Aug. 24.
Crews were able to make repairs sooner than expected based on initial estimates. However, it will take time for some campus buildings to return to regular temperatures, which is why the university worked to prioritize student services for those who are still on campus. Friday classes will remain virtual or canceled. In-person classes will resume on Monday.
With the cooling system restored, the following campus services plan to re-open – all have regular operating hours unless noted:
• ISU Dining
o Grab-and-go breakfast at Seasons, Wallace-Wilson and UDCC from 8-10 a.m.
o Lunch at UDM and Seasons from 11:30 a.m. -1:30 p.m.
o Grab-and-go lunch at Wallace-Wilson from 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
o Dinner at UDM and Seasons from 5 p.m.-7 p.m.
o East and west side markets will be open 11 a.m.-5 p.m.
• ISU Bookstore – opening at 9 a.m.
• Memorial Union
• Thielen Student Health Center
• Student Services Building
• Sloss House
• Hixon-Lied Student Success Center
• Lied Recreation Center, State Gym and Beyer Hall
• The SHOP, located at Beyer Hall
Additional updates for other services and events will be posted at: www.news.iastate.edu/news/2023/08/24/power-plant-fire. Most academic buildings remain locked.
Facilities crews continue to make repairs, which may result in some temporary disruptions. Thank you for your continued patience during this time.
 

Ms3r4ISU

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I went in to my office to get a folder earlier this morning and in between the first set of double doors (coming into the building) it was nearly freezing. Got progressively warmer as I went through doors. Ended up turning off a fan in our main office and taking out our large garbage can/bag of trash because it was already starting to smell, before I came back home.
I'll gladly work from home today, including a zoom interview with a student, because I can control the temperature, ceiling fans, and trash accumulation.
 

Sousaclone

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So each building doesn't have it's own dedicated system so if something goes down it doesn't effect the others? If not........what idiot designed and what idiot approved of that?

That's how the majority of infrastructure works? NYC is setup like this, parts of downtown Omaha are setup like this, etc. Economies of scale are a real thing.

Also, it's the same thing with the AC in your house and the power grid. You don't have a dozen backup window AC units if your central AC goes down nor do most people have backup generators in the event of a power outage.
 

VeloClone

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That's how the majority of infrastructure works? NYC is setup like this, parts of downtown Omaha are setup like this, etc. Economies of scale are a real thing.

Also, it's the same thing with the AC in your house and the power grid. You don't have a dozen backup window AC units if your central AC goes down nor do most people have backup generators in the event of a power outage.
Exactly. Most of the major buildings I work in throughout downtown Minneapolis operate on chilled water and steam from the energy plant. It is a lot more efficient than each building having their own plants.
 

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