It is that time of the year when the crazy Ohio weather returns. One day it’s 60 degrees and then it’s 20 degrees. How do Ashlands buildings cope with the ever changing temperatures? Rick Ewing, vice president of facilities management and planning was able to shed some light on the subject.

Ewing explained that the only buildings that use electricity for heat on campus are Kem and Amstutz, which is why there are separate heaters along the base of the wall in every room. That was the type of heating that was popular when these buildings were built. However, there is a huge downside to this. It is more inefficient to heat with electricity from a conservation standpoint than with what is used to heat the rest of the residential halls other than the senior apartments. 

“The rest of the halls are heated by hot water. So there are natural gas boilers that heat water from anywhere from 140 to 160 degrees” Ewing said. “That water is then piped through in a loop throughout the entire building. Heat is then radiated off that pipe through every room.”

Jared Pryor, a Myers Hall resident and a former Amstutz Hall resident, believes Myers heating is too hot. 

“I enjoyed the heating style in Amstutz a lot better, because I could set it at whatever I wanted to and so could the people who lived next to me and I would have never known what they set it at,” said Pryor. “In my opinion, if it costs as much money as it does to go here they should heat the buildings the way that would best please the students.”

This particular year has been harder for Ewing and his staff because of the large temperature changes. Ewing said that once the heat is turned on, even if it is not always pushing out hot water, heat is still conducted through the pipe. Many students open up their windows during the day because it is nice outside and students tend to keep those windows open. 

As it gets colder, open windows mess with the temperature reading causing more heat to be produced and making the buildings even hotter than before.

“Opening up the windows is countering the purpose of the heating system,” Ewing said. “It is actually telling the system there needs to be more heat in the building.”

This is a big problem in the winter because what one person might think is comfortable, their neighbor might think is hot or cold.

“We try to hold the buildings from 68 to 74 degrees. If that is hot for someone, they will open up their window and that will actually bring in more heat creating a vicious cycle.” Ewing said.

The heat is usually turned on when temperatures are around 30 degrees because the buildings aren’t able to hold their heat through the night once temperatures get so low.