Stephanie Ramsay / For The Post / sr270905@ohiou.edu

Whitney Pesek walks near Baker Center in the bitter cold temperatures on Monday.

Dean Kennard, Bryan Lynch and other preventive maintenance workers at Ohio University have been walking through the “bowels of the university” around-the-clock since Friday night, checking on loud heating equipment.

“It’s a whole other world down there, doing what we do,” Kennard said. “If things go right, you’ll never see us. I’ll walk past you on the street. No one really knows about us until something breaks.”

Temperatures this week will reach an average high of 20.6 degrees and an average low of 5.4 degrees. When temperatures reach single digits, Harris uses a freeze watch policy to monitor the buildings.

With about 7.5 million square feet in more than 220 campus buildings needing heat, the Maintenance and Operations department of Facilities Management has been tested to keep up with the severe cold.

“We’ve got fewer people, but more buildings,” said Rick Riley, in the relief maintenance shop. “There are so many buildings. We really have to prioritize.”

Heating coils broke in Grover Center and Biddle Hall Saturday night, flooding Grover’s gym and Biddle’s lobby. While damage was relatively small, all the university’s heating machinery is being put to the test, said Mick Harris, director of Maintenance and Operations.

“This is probably the coldest weather in 10 years, and what exacerbates the problem is the length of time it has stayed cold,” he said. “It’s really starting to penetrate some of our buildings and exposing all our weaknesses.”

In April 2006, a valve in Grover’s chilled water system failed, causing $1.8 million in damage. This time, the problem was caused by a malfunction with the dampers.

When temperatures get too low around the heating coil, which is housed in an air handler, dampers automatically shut and the air handler closes down. The preventive maintenance workers then have to manually restart the air handler.

“You have to get it going again pretty quick or you risk busting a coil,” Lynch said. “It really depends on the weather and the machinery itself.”

The dampers in both Grover and Biddle failed to close, exposing the heating coils to even colder temperatures. Because of the break, OU might have to replace a section of Grover’s gym floor.

Operations and Management employees, along with housekeeping and custodial staffs, help the Grounds Maintenance department with snow.

Grounds Maintenance uses brooms and eight plows to keep campus sidewalks clear. Dave Hamill, assistant director of Grounds Maintenance, said the university has used about 80 tons of salt already this year.

“Our first priority is to clear the academic building before class starts in the morning, and then we clear all the main walkways,” Hamill said. “Everybody chips in to help us. It’s good we all work together to help fix this problem.”

Despite the brutal cold and wind, university policy only looks to snowy or icy road conditions when deciding to close the university.

“It’s not like we’ve got elementary kids standing out at a bus stop,” Harris said. “It’s a little different situation. I don’t know of any time they closed campus because of the cold.”