From June 4 to June 12, there will be no hot water or air on campus due to a shutdown of the campus Steam Plant for annual maintenance. 

From June 4 to June 12, there will be no hot water or air on campus due to a shutdown of the campus Steam Plant for annual maintenance. 

UT buildings will be without heated water or air for eight days, according to a notice from Facilities Services. From June 4 through June 12, the campus Steam Plant will be shut down to “conduct maintenance and make repairs at the Steam Plant and across the steam distribution system,” according to the notice. 

The temporary shutdown will effectively render all campus heating services inoperable for over 153 buildings on campus, including dormitories and instructional buildings. 

While heated air might not be on the forefront of many minds during the summertime, steam is also responsible for heating water used in all faucets, as well as sterilizers and biomass digesters utilized in research facilities across campus. 

The annual event has been planned months in advance, specifically for a time when there is reportedly the least amount of activity on campus. Facilities Services has been sending notices of the outage to departments across campus since last October. 

“While we are aware that the outage may cause an inconvenience for some, we ask that you please remain patient as it is a necessary part of taking care of our campus and serving our students, staff, faculty and visitors well,” the notice said. 

This year, several leaks along steam lines will be examined and repaired, while regular maintenance will be performed on many components in the overall system. 

Gaskets will be replaced, valves will be installed and grease will be applied to vital expansion joints along the lines, which prevent steel pipes from expanding due to continuous heat exposure. 

Emerging electrical issues in the boilers themselves will be addressed, along with any other problems that might become apparent during maintenance. 

The Steam Plant, situated just across the street from Thompson Boling Arena, is responsible for the operation of UT’s steam utilities for the main campus and the agriculture campus. 

The steam is generated by five separate boilers, and shipped along eleven miles of underground piping to produce domestic heat for over eight million square feet of space. 

The plant was built in 1964 and installed with several traditional coal-fired boilers, which have slowly been phased out as natural gas and diesel fuel have become more practical. 

According to the Utilities Master Plan , Facilities Services scrapped all of the remaining coal-fired boilers between 2014 and 2016 to instead rely entirely upon natural gas or #2 diesel. This $25 million project replaced all three of the old boilers with brand new, high efficiency oil and gas burners. 

The transition effectively reduced steam output, but also decreased emissions from the steam plant by 43%. 

“The conversion to natural gas was due to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) new regulations on reducing emissions from power plants,” the master plan states. “These regulations required the University of Tennessee to either upgrade their existing boilers to meet these emissions regulations or switch to natural gas”

The EPA’s rule, called “Major Source Boiler Maximum Achievable Control Technology,” or “MACT,” was finalized in 2013 and tightened restrictions on boiler emissions. 

The master plan also states that an additional $9 million was required to build a larger natural gas line that would run directly to the plant, in order to supply the gas needed for new boilers. 

According to the Steam Plant’s website, it is now served by three natural gas/diesel-fired boilers, one coal-fired boiler that has been converted to operate on natural gas/diesel and one natural gas-fired boiler. Combined, the five boilers produce an average of 420,000 pounds of steam per hour for campus use. 

For perspective, an instructional building such as Ayres Hall consumes roughly 2,000 pounds of steam per hour, while a dormitory like Hess Hall consumes nearly 8,500 pounds per hour. Thompson Boling Arena consumes approximately 20,000 pounds of steam per hour, tying with the Science and Engineering Research Facility for greatest hourly consumption.

The steam plant will be shut down on June 4 at 12:01 a.m., and will remain inoperable until 11:59 p.m. on June 12. Until then, cold water will have to suffice for those remaining on campus.

Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.

Get the top stories from campus and around Knoxville.

By submitting this form, you are granting: The Daily Beacon, , , , , , https://utdailybeacon.com permission to email you. You may unsubscribe via the link found at the bottom of every email. (See our Email Privacy Policy for details.) Emails are serviced by Constant Contact.

The Daily Beacon is the campus newspaper serving the campus of the University of Tennessee, …

Controlled Chaos is a story about Tennessee rugby star Josh Shetler and the struggles he has been through. Between school, COVID-19, injuries, and homelessness Josh overcame these challenges and led his team to win a championship title.