Planned Maintenance to Steam System Ongoing

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The annual planned maintenance shutdown of the steam system is under way. The annual spring outage occurs between graduation and the start of full campus summer activities. The planned maintenance allows workers in utility operations to address maintenance issues, perform annual inspections and implement system improvements at a time that has the lowest impact on the campus as a whole.

This outage will not affect air conditioning or chilled water cooling, which will function normally during this time, so all server closets, refrigeration coolers and other equipment that relies on chilled water will not be affected. 

All campus facilities on the central steam system will be affected for this outage. This will not affect the Experiment Station or the Research and Technology Park or buildings west of Razorback Road.

Steam shut off began Sunday, May 12, and will end early morning Thursday, May 16.

The possible issues that the campus may experience during the maintenance include:

• Loss of steam for sterilizers and autoclaves.
• Some spaces may be cooler, as there is no heat, but the changes should be relatively mild.
• The Health, Physical Education and Recreation Building’s steam-driven pool heating water will be disabled for the period.
• Domestic hot water temperature will degrade over time during the outage.

Utility operations staff will provide a progress report and confirmation when steam service to campus is restored. Please pass this on to faculty and staff in your respective departments who may be impacted by this planned maintenance shutdown.