The air-conditioning system in the newly-renovated Fitness Center will not be functional until approximately the second week of August. The system's main valve has to be replaced, according to Matthew Purcell, Associate Director for Construction.
Hallam Associates, the Burlington, Vt.-based mechanical engineering firm responsible for all the design criteria in the gym renovation, initially called for the installation of a main valve that was inappropriate for the system's design.
On July 24 the College ordered a replacement valve at a cost of $4,000, which should arrive in two to four weeks and take three to four days to install, according to Purcell. Installation will cost about $1,000.
"It's not just a little regular valve that you buy at Home Depot," Purcell said. "This is a very complicated valve."
Since summer 2005, the Alumni Gym has undergone an $11.4 million renovation, which, aside from the air-conditioning system, should be complete in about two weeks, Purcell said.
The lack of an air-conditioning system in the Fitness Center has caused dangerous conditions for Fitness Center patrons. On July 18, temperatures in the gym exceeded 100 degrees, which spurred a decision to close the facility seven hours early due to safety concerns.
According to Joe Guarnery '08, who works at the front desk in the Fitness Center, the temperature of the gym throughout the day typically ranges from 80 to 90 degrees.
"It starts feeling pretty warm when it gets up above 95," he said, "but otherwise it's not so bad."
Other students were displeased by the rising temperatures.
"On average it seems like people who are here every day are looking for every possible alternative, like swimming or running outside," said Lindsay Greenberg '08. "It's a brand-new facility. You'd think they'd have air conditioning."
In the meantime, exercisers are using other methods to stay cool. Kresge Fitness Center did not have air-conditioning, so the new Center uses giant fans from the old facility to keep its occupants cool. Additionally, gym windows are kept open, and vents continue to circulate fresh, though uncooled, air.
In early July, the College hired Cornerstone Commissioning to turn on the newly-installed mechanical engineering systems in the gym to test whether they functioned properly.
On July 10, while testing the absorption chiller, the part of the system that cools the air, the commissioning agent and contractor determined that the problem lay in a faulty valve that needed to be adjusted. Once adjusted, however, they discovered that the valve was not capable of functioning with the system.
"It was an incorrect valve that wasn't applicable to the installation," Purcell said.
Purcell is uncertain as to whether the problem with the valve was foreseeable, but said that the numbers that Hallam used to determine the problem with the valve were available to them during the design process.
