Hodgdon Hall residents faced a longer-than-expected power shutdown on Saturday when scheduled maintenance repairs were compounded by the discovery of electrical problems.
The Department of Facilities Services informed residents in an e-mail earlier this month that Hodgdon's power would be shut off on Saturday morning and afternoon while workers replaced a defunct transformer.
The e-mail specified that power would be shut off again from 7 to 7:30 a.m. on Oct. 16 while Facilities installed generator cables, and from 2 to 2:30 p.m. while workers reconnected the main service cables. Afternoon maintenance work lasted one hour longer than expected, however, due to the need for other electrical work, according to Vice President for Operations Dick Reynolds.
"It went about an hour longer in the afternoon because it turned out that some of the old cables were corroded and they had to be replaced," Reynolds said.
Reynolds said that a transformer replacement was unusual. Facilities, he said, discovered a problem with the transformer over the summer during routine testing of electrical equipment and wanted to install a new transformer quickly before it caused problems.
"What happened on Saturday was not a routine occurrence," Reynolds said. "It was unplanned work that was done to avert an emergency."
Reynolds said the quick response was largely a preventative measure.
"We immediately ordered a new transformer and wanted to get that in as soon as possible, rather than waiting for the next holiday period, because there'd be risk of more serious damage if we lost it," he said.
Reynolds said he had not received complaints from students regarding the maintenance.
Sophomore Zara Fishkin, a Hodgdon resident, said that since residents received notice of the repairs, they were able to plan accordingly.
"If they hadn't informed us, it would be just like any other power outage, but since it was a scheduled maintenance, it shouldn't have caused any other issues," she said.
Fishkin added, though, that some residents had issues when they lost connection to the Internet. "It was inconvenient for some people because it wasn't just the power that went out, it was the Internet that went out, too," Fishkin said.
Sophomore Travis Kahn, a Hodgdon resident, said the power shutoff did not affect any of his electronic devices, as far as he knew. He said the repair work did not pose a problem for him.
"If it has to happen again, I have no objection," he said.
Reynolds said transformers usually last for a long time, and replacing one on Saturday was a rare occurrence.
"That's really quite unusual. These things last for a long time," he said. "While I don't know for certain, I wouldn't be surprised if that transformer hasn't been there since they built Hodgdon."
Facilities routinely inspects buildings to ensure functionality, according to Reynolds.
"We look at all the utility infrastructures on a regular basis, particularly the electrical [systems]," he said. "That was why we do those investigations — so that we can, as best as possible, try to stay up on the potential for problems that might occur and see if we can fix them before they turn into an emergency."
Reynolds called the event "conscious repair work," pointing out that the purpose of the maintenance was to prevent a future power outage.
"The point of it was to avoid the transformer blowing up and having no power for a lengthy period of time while we replaced it," he said.
