The recent trend of record-setting, unseasonably warm temperatures has raised the temperatures inside our buildings and has created a unique situation of temperature control in the buildings.

Most of the campus receives air conditioning from centralized cooling plants located throughout campus.  These plants run continuously during the months of the year when cooling is required–normally late May through early October.  At the end of the cooling season, these plants are shutdown for the year and the water in the plants is drained to protect against winter freezing. Traditionally, we do not refill these plants until mid-April, when the threat of freezing temperatures has been alleviated for the year.  In addition, several of our buildings receive heating and cooling through the same piping systems, and switching from one system to the other is a time consuming process that does not lend itself to occurring multiple times per season.

Although this warm trend is welcome, we do not expect it to remain through the spring, and we anticipate that we will have to return to heating mode prior to the start of the cooling season.  We appreciate the patience the IIT community has shown during this stretch of unseasonably warm weather as we attempt to maintain comfortable conditions.