The Facilities Services Department's normal business hours are 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. After hours heating and cooling concerns should be directed to the Campus Police at 785-670-1153. Campus Police will determine if on-call personnel should be contacted or if the condition can be addressed the next business day.

  • Heating and cooling concerns such as room or building too hot or cold; and heating or cooling units making unusual sounds should be reported to the Facilities Services Department by using the online I-Service Desk work request system.
  • Please use the standards of comfort target temperatures (68° in the winter and 74° in the summer) as explained in the Energy Efficiency Policy, when determining an out of range condition. A technician will analyze the condition and describe any adjustments or recommendations to the occupant as well as documenting them in a work order.
  • The cooling season is from late May to early October and heating season is from mid-October to early May. During the changeover from cooling to heating season and vice versa, there will be days when heating is not provided to some of the buildings connected to the heat plant even though the outside air temperature may suggest it.
  • It is important for people to understand the difficulties required to turn the campus steam system back on once it’s off or to have a chilled water system made available for a day, which would then create a need to ‘re-winterize’ it.  These can be time consuming and costly events. Facilities Services staff will re-evaluate the heat plant schedule if needed.
  • Space heaters and A/C units are prohibited due to fire code, health and safety considerations, and campus energy conservation measures. Facilities Services may approve space heaters and portable A/C units only in those limited instances where the building systems cannot provide temperatures within acceptable variation of the Standards of Comfort.
  • All prohibited items in any University space are subject to confiscation by the Facilities Services Department unless prior arrangements have been made for utility reimbursement by the business unit.
  • For additional prohibited and permitted items, please view the Energy Efficiency Policy.
  • Faculty, staff, and students should dress appropriately for the season and not leave windows open, or place furnishings near to the heating/cooling devices in a space that would interfere with designed air flow.
  • Heat-emitting or cooling appliances should not be used because most thermostats control more than one space, and such devices can interfere with an entire system. It’s better to lodge a hot or cold call so that the issue can be analyzed and resolved rather than using excess energy to make a bad problem worse. (Space heaters will cause the building system to blow cold air!)

Questions & Comments

Contact Kristine Hicks, Facilities Services Energy/Sustainability Manager 785.670.1132.

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