Carrie Feistner

Are you prepared to stay cool this fall?

Students living in residence halls are trying to find ways to stay cool when the rooms heat up.

“The dorms were hot last year and I was only on first floor,” Suzy Olson, a Mathews Hall resident said. “I think every single floor in the dorm is hot. It’s been hot so far this year, but there’s not much you can do about it. You just hope it gets cooler at night.”

Residential Life monitors daytime and nighttime temperatures to determine when to turn on the heat for the dorms. The heat has not been turned on yet.

“We try to do our best on when to turn it on, because when it’s on it will stay on,” Michael Kervin, Associate Director of Residential Life, said.

The Department of Residential Life totally replaced the heating system in Waneta Hall this past summer which included heat controls in each room. Berg and Bailey Halls are the only campus housing that is air-conditioned.

“One of the current halls was looked at four years ago for air-conditioning, but we’ve chosen not to do it at this time,” Kervin said. “This would be considered as part of the construction in any new dorms in the future.”

So what are the recommendations for staying cool in the residence halls?

“Open the windows or have a fan,” Kervin said. “You need to understand the building will stay hot once it heats up. The residence halls are not like a family home that can turn the heat on and off as the temperature fluctuates.”

Roger Thue, a campus Utility Systems Engineer, explained that the “hydronic radiant heat” system is a steam-type heat that sustains the temperature in the whole building. Hot water flows through a series of pipes to each section.

“We have very limited control with heat in individual rooms,” Thue said. “There are very large numbers of rooms fed off one converter.”

Thue suggests resident assistants and hall directors should get together and decide if the temperature of the dorm is at a reasonable level. Concerns about the heat can then be channeled through Residential Life.

“We can’t help people feel comfortable in their room if we don’t know the problem,” Thue said.

#1.886803:807164604.jpg:dog days.jpg:SDSU students demonstrate how they stay cool during the fall and winter heat waves in their dorm room. There?s nothing quite like the whirring of a multitute of fans to lull you into an afternoon stupor.: