Campus Currents: Steam Plant
The University of Maine Steam Plant suffered a malfunction Sunday night, briefly disrupting heat and hot water on the Orono campus. Another boiler has been started, and most people should not notice a disruption in service.
Few people visit the steam plant, but the workers there know if nobody worries about it, they’re doing their jobs correctly. They know it’s best if the only thought given to how the buildings on campus are heated occurs after seeing steam leak from a manhole.
With oil prices rising above $95 per barrel last week, the University of Maine is looking for ways to conserve oil, electricity and money this winter by installing thermostats in dorms across campus.
“A lot of heat is regulated by opening the window, and this prevents that from happening,” Gordon Nelson, director of Property Management, said.
At noon on Saturday, April 28, the University of Maine will test its long-dormant Steam Plant whistle to see if it still works and examine the feasibility of integrating the whistle into an emergency alert system.
“It will be loud,” said university spokesman Joe Carr, adding that people “shouldn’t be alarmed.
Part of the steam line that runs along Long Road by Cumberland Hall has a leak that is preventing water from returning to the Steam Plant. While this problem does not affect the residence halls, it is costing $60,000 a year to add water to the Steam Plant to be treated and heated into steam.
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