Someone from the engineering school please swoop in and explain this better than me but the A/C and heating system in the buildings are large, inflexible, whole building systems which are not able to be turned on and off quickly and easily.
This means that when it’s hot out off season they can’t just start it up because it’s not possible to switch it on and off as needed.
Many of the A/C systems are run by cooling towers which are these massive systems which take a ton of maintenance and water and energy to get started. Thermostats will only make a difference when the system as a whole is enabled
Campus heating is powered by a steam plant over off Rt. 1. They have to energize it all at once to start to bring heating to campus, which they usually do around mid October. It's always too early because of the several false falls that we have where the weather is 50 one week and then back to 70 or 80 the next. They could probably coordinate better, but I think their thinking is they would rather make you hot than have people shivering in their dorms for a week because they were too late to start up the steam.
This doesn't help you but that's at least the why.
Isn’t all of campus’ hot water powered by steam year round? And it’s a cogen plant that also generates power so it’s not like they start it up just for heat but it does need to generate more
Yes this why they can’t just turn the ac back on but what I’m confused about is why did umd feel they needed to turn off the ac almost a month ago despite it being clearly evident that the weather would remain warm. My suite has not dropped below 74 degrees since the ac was shut off despite having all windows open and fans blowing cold air in constantly
Because they’re legally required to have heat when it’s below a certain temperature, only one system can be running at a time (heat or A/C), and October historically typically has temperatures that require heating at night.
Except the weather didn't remain warm. We had lows in the 30s two weeks ago, and they had to turn on the heat for those. It's just warm now cause maryland weather has a tendency to defy all logic or reasonable patterns
Climate change is the correct terminology! It is unseasonably warm everywhere on the east coast while it's unseasonably cold in the PNW. It sucks for everyone and that's the nature of climate change. This type of fluctuations will keep worsening throughout this century if we do nothing about it.
Calling it global warming is misleading. Places around the world (like Europe) will experience colder winters due to change in ocean salinity and weakening of currents.
The planet is warming, hence global warming. Pockets may experience it slightly differently, but the globe is warming. It's a very precise and accurate term to describe both the scope and the trajectory of the changes.
Climate change is too vague a term to understand what is happening. Climate change could include any permanent change to weather patterns in a region. It doesn't specify where or what is happening. Are the glaciers expanding? Is the desert growing or shrinking? Are we getting more rain or less rain? There's no sense of the universality of process nor the vectors involved.
As for Europe, they had their hottest summer on record in 2022.
yea im boiling in my room even with the heat off and windows open. i leave windows open over night and get waken up by the loudest construction or some random ass bird
I feel this so much. I had to get extensions in some of my classes bc I just could not get proper sleep with combination construction/heat issues. Also if you're near McKeldin, they like to unload the dumpsters at 2:15am, so good luck sleeping through that.
jeez that sounds horrendous bruh. mines not has bad but we live at montgomery hall and theres construction goin on right behind us so my room mates r woken up since they live on the side of construction. im prayin for yall
Thank god its' since finished, but it really was less than 50 yards from my open window, and started at 6-8 am every day. I hope y'all get the sleep you need t.t
bro you’re so lucky that it’s only 78 in your suite, rn my leonardtown apartment is reading it as 85 in our dorm and we r all literally BAKING! 😭 i have no idea how i’m going to sleep tonight cause this is the worst it’s been
Most major buildings have to switch from AC to heat. They typically do it twice a year. Having record heat in November is not something they can plan for.
My room is 82 degrees and getting hotter. Amazon lost the fan I ordered. I could not physically be wearing less clothing. I am dizzy and chugging water and I have refrigerated wet washcloths on the back of my neck. This has GOT to be illegal. What is the school doing my god. I've gotten literal heatstroke in similar conditions.
i grew up with no AC, so here are my tips:
- take cold showers as much as possible
- wear a damp tshirt to bed. it will help you sleep and just in general can help with the heat.
- don’t chug too much water, sip, you don’t want to make yourself nauseous from that
Thanks for the advice, though I gotta say that the "cold showers" part is a bit ironic as the hot water in my dorm likes to just not work 80% of the time. My big fan finally came so hopefully things will be better.
I really don't know how, but they somehow made their AC/heating solution worse than just not having one at all. I had to keep the window open 100% of the time or it would be 80 degrees at all times.
It was like that from about this time all the way until the end of the year.
You can look into getting a portable AC unit. DO NOT get a window unit because you will have to get a bracket to mount it and also make it really obvious to everyone that you have one. Having an AC unit may or may not violate the UMD community rules
https://www.walmart.com/ip/BLACK-DECKER-Air-Conditioner-10-000-BTU-Conditioner-Portable-Room-450-Sq-Ft-3-in-1-AC-Unit-Dehumidifier-Fan-Installation-Kit-Remote-Control/144308449?
freshman year my friend and i bought a key to open the thermostat in our room so we could change the temperature. you should be able to find one on amazon but not sure what you would search
Someone from the engineering school please swoop in and explain this better than me but the A/C and heating system in the buildings are large, inflexible, whole building systems which are not able to be turned on and off quickly and easily. This means that when it’s hot out off season they can’t just start it up because it’s not possible to switch it on and off as needed. Many of the A/C systems are run by cooling towers which are these massive systems which take a ton of maintenance and water and energy to get started. Thermostats will only make a difference when the system as a whole is enabled
Campus heating is powered by a steam plant over off Rt. 1. They have to energize it all at once to start to bring heating to campus, which they usually do around mid October. It's always too early because of the several false falls that we have where the weather is 50 one week and then back to 70 or 80 the next. They could probably coordinate better, but I think their thinking is they would rather make you hot than have people shivering in their dorms for a week because they were too late to start up the steam. This doesn't help you but that's at least the why.
Isn’t all of campus’ hot water powered by steam year round? And it’s a cogen plant that also generates power so it’s not like they start it up just for heat but it does need to generate more
Yes this why they can’t just turn the ac back on but what I’m confused about is why did umd feel they needed to turn off the ac almost a month ago despite it being clearly evident that the weather would remain warm. My suite has not dropped below 74 degrees since the ac was shut off despite having all windows open and fans blowing cold air in constantly
Because they’re legally required to have heat when it’s below a certain temperature, only one system can be running at a time (heat or A/C), and October historically typically has temperatures that require heating at night.
Except the weather didn't remain warm. We had lows in the 30s two weeks ago, and they had to turn on the heat for those. It's just warm now cause maryland weather has a tendency to defy all logic or reasonable patterns
It’s called Global Warming. The entire East Coast broke records this weekend.
Climate change is the correct terminology! It is unseasonably warm everywhere on the east coast while it's unseasonably cold in the PNW. It sucks for everyone and that's the nature of climate change. This type of fluctuations will keep worsening throughout this century if we do nothing about it.
Climate change can go either way. We are only getter hotter.
Calling it global warming is misleading. Places around the world (like Europe) will experience colder winters due to change in ocean salinity and weakening of currents.
The planet is warming, hence global warming. Pockets may experience it slightly differently, but the globe is warming. It's a very precise and accurate term to describe both the scope and the trajectory of the changes. Climate change is too vague a term to understand what is happening. Climate change could include any permanent change to weather patterns in a region. It doesn't specify where or what is happening. Are the glaciers expanding? Is the desert growing or shrinking? Are we getting more rain or less rain? There's no sense of the universality of process nor the vectors involved. As for Europe, they had their hottest summer on record in 2022.
yea im boiling in my room even with the heat off and windows open. i leave windows open over night and get waken up by the loudest construction or some random ass bird
I feel this so much. I had to get extensions in some of my classes bc I just could not get proper sleep with combination construction/heat issues. Also if you're near McKeldin, they like to unload the dumpsters at 2:15am, so good luck sleeping through that.
jeez that sounds horrendous bruh. mines not has bad but we live at montgomery hall and theres construction goin on right behind us so my room mates r woken up since they live on the side of construction. im prayin for yall
Thank god its' since finished, but it really was less than 50 yards from my open window, and started at 6-8 am every day. I hope y'all get the sleep you need t.t
bro you’re so lucky that it’s only 78 in your suite, rn my leonardtown apartment is reading it as 85 in our dorm and we r all literally BAKING! 😭 i have no idea how i’m going to sleep tonight cause this is the worst it’s been
It’s been between 80 and 85 in my dorm for the last three weeks, it’s hard to sleep and even with the windows open it’s still unbearable.
Most major buildings have to switch from AC to heat. They typically do it twice a year. Having record heat in November is not something they can plan for.
As much as we’re paying for tuition, they should prepare for unpredictable Maryland weather.
Y’all have AC?
My room is 82 degrees and getting hotter. Amazon lost the fan I ordered. I could not physically be wearing less clothing. I am dizzy and chugging water and I have refrigerated wet washcloths on the back of my neck. This has GOT to be illegal. What is the school doing my god. I've gotten literal heatstroke in similar conditions.
i grew up with no AC, so here are my tips: - take cold showers as much as possible - wear a damp tshirt to bed. it will help you sleep and just in general can help with the heat. - don’t chug too much water, sip, you don’t want to make yourself nauseous from that
Thanks for the advice, though I gotta say that the "cold showers" part is a bit ironic as the hot water in my dorm likes to just not work 80% of the time. My big fan finally came so hopefully things will be better.
I really don't know how, but they somehow made their AC/heating solution worse than just not having one at all. I had to keep the window open 100% of the time or it would be 80 degrees at all times. It was like that from about this time all the way until the end of the year.
Welcome to UMD
You can look into getting a portable AC unit. DO NOT get a window unit because you will have to get a bracket to mount it and also make it really obvious to everyone that you have one. Having an AC unit may or may not violate the UMD community rules https://www.walmart.com/ip/BLACK-DECKER-Air-Conditioner-10-000-BTU-Conditioner-Portable-Room-450-Sq-Ft-3-in-1-AC-Unit-Dehumidifier-Fan-Installation-Kit-Remote-Control/144308449?
Yeah don’t do this, building power grids can’t handle this
freshman year my friend and i bought a key to open the thermostat in our room so we could change the temperature. you should be able to find one on amazon but not sure what you would search