In addition to this past week's cold weather, Harrison College House residents have had their fair share of freezing temperatures within their own bathrooms.
In a roller coaster of changes, residents have had no hot water, flooding and, at times, no water at all. After the most recent shutoff, residents said that when the water returned, it remained cold.
Locust Area Facilities Director Betsy Robinson did not return calls regarding the system's latest problems and Vice President for Facilities and Real Estate Services Omar Blaik was not available for comments.
About a week ago, students received an e-mail from the Residential Advisory Board warning them that hot water would not be available to them from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
"We got a couple of calls where students were having problems with the hot water," Robinson said last week. "We had a shutdown to substitute one of the two sets of pressure release valves in the high rise to give an adequate supply of hot water. We checked it out, and we have solved the problem."
However, the water system was still malfunctioning this weekend.
"We were told [on Saturday] that the hot water would be shut down, but all the water was turned off and came back around 6:30 p.m.," College sophomore Catie Tupper said.
She added that after the shutoff, repairs were not evident -- hot water was unavailable yesterday until late afternoon.
"The fluctuations were building-wide," fifth floor residential adviser and Engineering senior Rudolph Broomes said. "Unfortunately, we were all affected."
Residents said they are confused by the situation.
"All we got was an e-mail from Facilities," Broomes said. Sent out Saturday, the message acknowledged the water's absence but did not explain the cause.
In addition, one of the rooms of the 23rd floor flooded Saturday after the water came back on.
"At about 10 p.m., there was a burning smell in the hallway and in my bathroom, as well as a running-water sound and a significant heat difference -- like in a rainforest," 23rd floor RA Carrie Greene said.
She added that the maintenance personnel said the flood had been caused by "a major blowout" from a leaking pipe.
"I stepped in this big lake of water in the middle," said Engineering sophomore Richard Brushett, whose room was flooded. "A hot water pipe had started leaking above my closet onto the floor."
According to maintenance personnel -- who Brushett said "promptly" repaired the damage -- the pipe did not burst, otherwise the flood would have caused more serious damage.
The exact cause of the water system malfunction was unknown even to the house's staff.
"I have no power and know nothing and neither does [House Dean Frank Pellicone], as he recently (and angrily) informed the staff," Greene said in an e-mail statement to her hall.
"I think they're doing repairs and that they're having problems," Nursing sophomore Jennifer Kurtz said.
According to residents, these kinds of problems with the water system are not infrequent.
"Sometimes in the morning there is no hot water at all. There are four of us in the suite and it's hard to take showers," College freshman Veronique Valcu said.
She added that before last Saturday's maintenance operations, the water had stopped running two or three times, usually at night. According to others, various floors experienced the mishap on a more frequent basis.
