Housing and Residence Life Promises HVAC Solution

Rachael Brown

Issues with the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) that began in the fall are still ongoing in The Oaks, Center Pointe and Bowdon Hall, but Housing and Residence Life staff say that they are working towards a solution.

“Thanks to the work with our third-party contractor, Daikin, we have identified the issues,” said Cassidy Nelson, director of Housing and Residence Life. “The challenges we continue to face with these systems are having multiple failures at varying points of time, coupled withlong lead times on parts to fix the issue. These systems are very sophisticated and require highly skilled technicians to repair them and parts are not readily available to make repairs.”

The HVAC systems were not quite at the end of their lifespan and not expected to malfunction so soon.

“Systems in Bowdon, Oaks and Center Pointe were installed in 2012 and 2013,” Nelson said. “These systems on average last up to 15 years, but a number of factors can affect thelongevity of these systems. This makes itdifficult to project how long these systems will work effectively. We have been working on a long-term solution to replace these systems over the last two years.”

In addition to the unexpected nature of the outages, the systems are extremely difficult and expensive to replace.

“It takes a significant amount of time to repair these issues because of repair costs and the administrative work related to paying for the repairs and acquiring the parts,” Nelson said. “These systems are very difficult to replace because of the cost to replace them. It can cost more than $60,000 to replace one system, and there are 11 systems for Bowdon, and more than 15 for Center Pointe and the Oaks, respectively.”

Housing announced that they have purchased window units and are scheduled to install them in May in hopes of providing some relief for students, but after a year of experiencing issues, many residents see this measure as too little too late. This has left some students considering off-campus housing instead. Housing and Residence Life staff claim to be just as frustrated with the situation as they are.

“We understand your frustration,” Nelson said. “Your health, safety and comfort are of utmost importance. Housing and Residence Life is committed to your experienceat UWG, and we want to ensure that you are able to be comfortable in your home away from home. We worktirelessly to provide the best service possible.

“We take all of these concerns seriously and have been working to address all the concerns in a timely manner,” Nelson continued. “We share the same frustration that these issues have not yet been resolved. We will work until all of these issues are addressed.”