Heating outage affects multiple UW Tacoma buildings
The March 8 heating outage left several campus buildings with limited heat as UW Tacoma Facilities works toward repairs before the spring quarter.
By M.J. Cameron
A heating outage that began on March 8 left several UW Tacoma buildings without functional heat, causing some classes to relocate while students and employees adjusted to colder indoor temperatures.
The outage affected multiple campus buildings, including Dougan (DOU), Snoqualmie, (SNO) Cherry Parkes (CP) and more, where temperatures remained between 60 and 68 degrees Fahrenheit. Power and other safety systems continued operating, and Court 17 student housing was not affected.
While campus operations remained open, the outage disrupted normal routines for students, faculty and staff in affected buildings. Faculty had the option to move classes online, while staff could coordinate remote work with supervisors. Classes that requested relocation for finals week were moved to spaces with working heat. Per an update provided by the university on March 13, the heating had not been fully restored.
Brett Reagan, director of maintenance and operations, said the problem was caused by the failure of heat exchangers on several aging campus boilers.
“Half of the campus is served by three natural gas-fired condensing boilers located in the Birmingham Hay & Seed building, which are all around 17 years old,” Reagan said.
Reagan said UW Tacoma has already received state funding through the Climate Commitment Act to replace the boilers with electrified boilers in summer 2027. Due to the current failures, facilities and maintenance staff are required to make interim repairs to keep the system functioning until full replacement can take place.
The biggest delay in repairs has been waiting for parts from the manufacturer. Reagan said that the parts have been expedited, and the facilities team hopes they will arrive early in the week.
UW Tacoma and the facilities staff expect the heating system to be repaired by the start of spring quarter on March 30. Until then, UW Tacoma facilities staff will continue monitoring temperatures in the affected buildings.
