Since thebeginning of the semester, the occupants of S.V. Totty Hall have complainedabout the periodic lack of hot water due to a faulty pilot light.
According toMarilyn Hill, director of residential housing, the dorms have been experiencingsome problems and currently they’re monitoring the problem periodically.
“I’ve talkedto people in housing and our dorm director, the residential assistants seemmisinformed. No one has any answers,” said Tiffaney Eldridge, a resident ofTotty Hall and a senior secondary education major from College Park, Ga.
A pilotlight system is used to heat the water in these dormitories, when the watertemperature drops, the pilot light is ignited, creating a larger flame to heatwater for Totty Hall. Theengineers who constructed the building, designed this system.
According toHill, the pilot light is located in a place where there’s a draft of wind thatsometimes comes through the area and usually puts out the flame, causing thewater not to be heated.
The headresidents of the dorm are supposed to monitor the system every four hours tomake sure the flame is not out and if it is out, they are responsible forcontacting on-campus maintenance to light the pilot.
“I feel it’sa health hazard. The water already doesn’t seem clean, being cold makes itworse,” said Allecyn Gay, a resident of Totty hall and a senior secondaryeducation major from College Park, Ga.
There are nohealth issues associated with showering in cold water.
Currently,Hill and her staff are working on the problem by bringing the original engineerand other engineers in to see about designing a better system to heat the waterfor them.
“Maybe theyfeel like since we are college students, they feel that we are not going to sayanything about it,” Eldridge said.
The otherdorms located in the back of campus don’t have this problem. “From Thursday toMonday, my water was hot maybe twice and that’s pushing it,” Eldridge said.
As ofThursday, Feb. 10 the water in Totty Hall was hot. “I was glad the water washot today,” said Crystal Roberts a sophomore nursing major from New Orleans. “Ihope it stays that way,” she said.