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The heating systems in the McLaughlin Cluster and in Fahey & McLane are
the only ones of their kind at Dartmouth. There is hot water tubing buried in
the 10" thick concrete floors with up to 200 feet in each room. Once the
decision is made to turn on the heat, warm water will circulate through this
zig-zag of tubing, heating the concrete floors and radiating heat into your
room. All temperatures are set by a computer system which knows the temperature
in your room and the temperature outside. There are no user settable
thermostats in student rooms in these buildings and by design, all rooms will
be adjusted to pretty much the same temperature, 68 degrees F. If you find your
room to be unusually warm or too cold, please call the ORL Operations Office at
646-1203. We will send someone to check the room temperature with a digital
thermometer. Should the heat be below 68 degrees, or above 70 degrees, we will
have FOM try to make an adjustment. Because of the design of these systems,
adjustments will be done a bit at a time and may take several hours before you
notice a change. The lag is due to the "thermal mass" of the
building's 10" thick concrete floors. Please keep in mind that this is a
new system for Dartmouth and it will take us all some getting used to.
**Special note to residents of Fahey and McLane: There are two 1,452 foot
deep geothermal water wells on the north side of the buildings. Water from
these wells is brought into the building and cycled through a series of heat
pumps. These "pumps" extract heat from this water and transfer that
heat to the water in the tubing that is set into the concrete floors. It is
estimated that 80% of the heat for these buildings will come from this source,
while the remaining 20% will be derived from the College's steam system.
If you have any questions, call or blitz: Woody Eckels, Director of
Residential Operations, 646-1203.
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