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The University of Maine Steam Plant suffered a malfunction Sunday night, briefly disrupting heat and hot water on the Orono campus.
A link from the steam turbine to the fan broke around 7:30 p.m., according to Dan Curran, a steam plant employee. Workers immediately began the process of starting up one of the extra boilers. Most of the year, the campus is heated by a single boiler burning natural gas, which has been on 24-7 for nearly two years. During the winter months, an oil-burning boiler is used to suplement the gas-burning boiler, and while repairs are made an oil boiler will provide heat for the campus.
Starting an oil boiler on such short notice can be hard to do, because the oil needs to first be heated. Workers moved quickly to start the burner, because as the system cools it becomes harder and harder to get everything in motion again.
Curran said most people will notice little or no interruption in heat or hot water service. An earlier e-mail from UMaine Public Safety had stated that the campus might be without heat and hot water for “the better part of the night into the morning.”
Curran said the steam plant has never had a similar problem in recent memory.
Bangor Daily News