Since mid-April, we’ve had issues with the steam pressure valves in Urness Tower, which affects the hot water system in Urness, Mortensen Hall, Christensen Center, Old Main, and Anderson Residence Hall. We had hoped to delay scheduling the repair of this issue until after the end of the semester, but determined we need to be proactive because if the pressure valves fail to function, we would need to do an immediate shutdown of all heat and hot water on campus, with potentially a multi-day outage while we scheduled contractors for an emergency repair.

In order to repair the valves, our steam provider will need to shut off the steam system that provides heat and hot water to all buildings on campus except Hagfors Center, Luther Hall, and Oren Gateway Center. The buildings should maintain residual heat during the shut down, but students, staff, and faculty may want to plan to wear additional layers that day.

Below is a rough schedule of the repair timeline:

1. At 6 a.m. Monday, we will shut off the steam to the campus.
2. Our contractor will install isolation valves in key locations on campus in order to restore steam to the portion of campus not affected by the valves in Urness. This will take approximately six hours.
3. Once the isolation valves are installed, steam will be restored to all buildings except Urness, Mortenson, Christensen, Old Main, and Anderson Residence Hall.
4. Our contractor will then replace the pressure valves in Urness, which they anticipate will take roughly another six hours or so. Once the valves are replaced, steam will be restored to the remaining campus buildings.

Facilities Management has coordinated with several departments, including Residence Life, Dining, Athletics, and University Events, to plan ahead as much as possible for this needed repair. We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate everyone’s efforts to accommodate this maintenance work.

Now that temperatures largely are remaining above freezing, Augsburg’s groundskeeping team has begun a variety of spring maintenance work on campus. Due to staff vacancies on the maintenance team, Augsburg did not have dedicated grounds staff during January and February. We were pleased to welcome Justin Wells as our new groundskeeper earlier this month and look forward to an assistant groundskeeper joining Augsburg in early April. Following are some of the near-term priorities for their work:

First, this winter’s repeated thaw and refreeze cycle has left roadways in the region with a significant number of potholes. Augsburg’s facilities team used the City of Minneapolis website to report many of the large potholes on city streets in and around campus. A number of those have already been repaired, and Augsburg’s groundskeepers have started repair on potholes located on Augsburg-managed streets.* Facilities will continue to report potholes as needed this spring, but please note that anyone can use the link above for reporting potholes in need of repair on Minneapolis city streets.

In addition to the street work, the grounds crew is planning turf repair in areas where snow removal equipment dug up the turf near sidewalks across campus. The combination of significant snowfalls and soft (unfrozen) ground this year increased the areas where turf maintenance is needed this spring.

Finally, as the snow continues to melt, the Augsburg grounds team will continue to treat walkways in order to reduce ice forming from refreezing melted snow and will work throughout campus to remove litter that melting snowdrifts leave behind.

 

*Which streets on campus are City of Minneapolis streets and which are Augsburg streets? Most streets throughout campus are owned, maintained, and monitored by the City of Minneapolis. All streets with meters, Minneapolis parking signs, or signs indicating the even or odd side of the street are City of Minneapolis streets. Augsburg streets include those marked for Augsburg commuter parking, including 8th Street South between 20th and 21st avenues and 21st Avenue S from the roundabout in front of Hagfors Center to the freeway wall.

Water will be temporarily shut off in Old Main on Thursday, March 16, from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. in order to allow the city to replace a water meter. Restrooms will not be available in Old Main during this time. Thanks for your patience!

On October 28, Facilities was working with Yeadon Domes on the west end of Parking Lot L to install two new inflation units for the dome. Some concrete work related to this project will take place on Thursday, November 4, or Friday, November 5, in the same location in Lot L. The area that will be worked on is small (approximately 10 square feet), and the work should not be very intrusive.

Cooling to Heating Transfer Is Complete

The switch from cooling to heating on campus has been completed. If you are experiencing any heating issues, please submit a facilities request.

LED Conversion Will Resume on November 29 

The replacement of all campus light bulbs with LED light bulbs is now scheduled to resume on November 29. Facilities is building a schedule and will contact departments about when they can expect upgrades to occur.

Science 123 Classroom Remodeling Progress

The furniture has been installed in Science 123. Facilities is working to schedule installation of a railing, the final step for this project.

Air Filtration

We continue to operate HEPA filters in classrooms, common spaces, and in offices in buildings with central HVAC systems. In buildings with central HVAC, we continue to use MERV-13 filters circulating fresh air 24 hours a day.

The repair work on steam leaks on Riverside Avenue went well and has been completed. Steam is now back on at full pressure, and all hot water has been restored. 

Cooling and Heating Transfer Will Occur Over the Next Two Weeks

We will be switching from cooling to heating on campus over the next two weeks. Facilities will be removing window air conditioning units during that time.

Athletic Dome Is Going Up in Late November

The installation of the Athletic Dome has been rescheduled. It is now scheduled to go up on Monday and Tuesday, November 29 and 30. 

LED Upgrade Continues

The replacement of all campus light bulbs with LED light bulbs will resume in early November. Facilities will notify departments ahead of time about when to expect LED replacements to occur.

Science 123 Classroom Remodeling Progress

The carpet is being installed in Science 123. Furniture deliveries are being scheduled.

Air Filtration

We continue to operate HEPA filters in classrooms, common spaces, and in offices in buildings with central HVAC systems. In buildings with central HVAC, we continue to use MERV-13 filters circulating fresh air 24 hours a day.

No Blog Post Next Week

There will be no facilities blog post during the week of October 23.

Facilities has been working with Metropolitan Mechanical (MMC) to repair the steam leaks on Riverside Avenue. A steam outage originally planned to allow for repairs on October 13 needed to be moved up because the leak was worse than expected. The outage instead began at 2:30 p.m. on October 12. Repair work will continue through the night with the intent of restoring steam service the morning of October 13.

A list of buildings that are affected because of the steam shutdown follows. This only affects hot water; cold water will still be available for toilets, sinks, drinking fountains, and showers.

• Ice Arena – No hot water for the zamboni area, sinks, vanities, and showers
• Si-Melby – No hot water for sinks, vanities, and showers
• Urness Hall – No hot water for sinks, vanities, and showers
• Mortensen Hall – No hot water for sinks, vanities, and showers
• Christensen Center – No hot water for sinks, upper floor kitchen, dishwasher, and mop sink

Facilities has been working with Metropolitan Mechanical (MMC) to develop a plan to repair the steam leaks on Riverside Avenue. After careful consideration, the recommended plan requires two campus-wide steam shutdowns. The first outage, scheduled for 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Wednesday, October 6, will be an inspection to determine where the leak is. The work will be completed during the second shutdown, scheduled for 6 a.m.-6 p.m. Wednesday, October 13. 

A list of buildings that are affected because of the steam shutdown follows. This only affects hot water; cold water will still be available for toilets, sinks, drinking fountains, and showers.

• Ice Arena – No hot water for the zamboni area, sinks, vanities, and showers
• Si-Melby – No hot water for sinks, vanities, and showers  
• Urness Hall – No hot water for sinks, vanities, and showers 
• Mortensen Hall – No hot water for sinks, vanities, and showers
• Christensen Center – No hot water for sinks, upper floor kitchen, dishwasher, and mop sink 

Science 123 Classroom Remodeling Progress

Progress continues on the Science 123 classroom remodeling project. Carpeting will be installed October 11-15. We will announce the room’s availability for use as soon as we can do so with reasonable accuracy.

Sverdrup 208 Remodeling Is Complete

All remodeling to Sverdrup 208 has been completed. The room can be reserved through University Events. It will be added to the online booking system soon, but in the meantime, you can contact the events office at events@augsburg.edu or x1104 to reserve the space.

Revised Date for New Dome Installation

Weather permitting, the new dome over the athletic field will be installed during the week of November 21.

MnDOT Closures 

MnDOT has had the 25th Avenue bridge fully closed for several weeks after a truck struck one of the beams. MnDOT opened the north side to traffic but the southbound side will remain closed at least until mid-October. It will require a more significant repair. In addition, I-94 west is closed between Highway 280  and 25th Avenue from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. nightly Wednesday, September 15, to Wednesday, October 6, for repairs to 25th Avenue bridge. This includes weekends. MnDOT apologizes for the inconvenience.

Air Filtration

We continue to operate HEPA filters in classrooms, common spaces, and in offices in buildings with central HVAC systems. In buildings with central HVAC, we continue to use MERV-13 filters circulating fresh air 24 hours a day.

Work has begun on the tiered platforms and is going well. That phase of the project should be completed by Wednesday, September 29. The next phase will be carpet installation; once that is scheduled, we should be able to announce when the classroom will be available for use.

Date Set for New Dome Installation

Weather permitting, the new dome over the athletic field will be installed on Saturday, November 20.

Return to Campus Updates: 

• What to know about cleaning office spaces.
• Buildings with HVAC systems were upgraded with MERV-13 filters circulating fresh air 24 hours a day. In buildings without central HVAC systems, HEPA filtration units have been added in office spaces. There are also HEPA filtration units in classrooms.
• MnDOT has had the 25th Avenue bridge fully closed for several weeks after a truck struck one of the beams. MnDOT opened the north side to traffic but the southbound side will remain closed at least until mid-October. It will require a more significant repair. In addition, I-94 west is closed between Highway 280  and 25th Avenue from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. nightly Wednesday, September 15, to Wednesday, October 6, for repairs to 25th Avenue bridge. This includes weekends. MnDOT apologizes for the inconvenience.

There are no updates to report on the Science 123 classroom remodeling this week. A timeline should be available in the next couple of weeks.

Return to Campus Updates:

• What to know about cleaning office spaces.
• Buildings with HVAC systems were upgraded with MERV-13 filters circulating fresh air 24 hours a day. In buildings without central HVAC systems, HEPA filtration units have been added in office spaces. There are also HEPA filtration units in classrooms.
• Staff and faculty in Memorial Hall who want to request a window air conditioner should make a Facilities request. Facilities will provide and install the unit, since the building doesn’t have central air conditioning.
• MnDOT has had the 25th Avenue bridge fully closed for several weeks after a truck struck one of the beams. MnDOT opened the north side to traffic but the southbound side will remain closed at least until mid-October. It will require a more significant repair. In addition, I-94 west is closed between Highway 280 and 25th Avenue from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. nightly Wednesday, September 15, to Wednesday, October 6, for repairs to 25th Avenue bridge. This includes weekends. MnDOT apologizes for the inconvenience.

The Science 123 renovation project, which will include the addition of tiered platforms to expand capacity, began last week with demolition of the fixed seating and removal of the old carpet. New construction will begin this week. The new chairs for the classroom have already been delivered.

Steam Trap Leak Fixed Before Service Disruption

Many of us never know about well-managed emergencies. On Thursday, September 9, maintenance staff noticed a leak involved in a high-pressure steam trap on Augsburg’s main distribution line. Facilities staff worked with MMC and Clearway Energy to fix the problem, and were able to repair the leak with no interruptions to service.

Return to Campus Updates: 

• What to know about cleaning office spaces.
• Buildings with HVAC systems were upgraded with MERV-13 filters are circulating fresh air 24 hours a day. In buildings without central HVAC systems, HEPA filtration units have been added in office spaces. There are also HEPA filtration units in classrooms.
• Staff and faculty in Memorial Hall who want to request a window air conditioner should make a Facilities request. Facilities will provide and install the unit, since the building doesn’t have central air conditioning.
• MnDOT has had the 25th Avenue bridge fully closed for several weeks after a truck struck one of the beams. MnDOT opened the north side to traffic but the southbound side will remain closed at least until mid-October. It will require a more significant repair. MnDOT apologizes for the inconvenience.