While Pittsburgh recently experienced record-setting cold temperatures, University classrooms, offices and other campus facilities can sometimes be too hot, too cold or too humid at any time during the year.
Extreme heat or cold, normal seasonal fluctuations—when perceptions of comfort vary from person to person—and when fumes, odors or stale air create air quality issues are among the reasons University employees contact the Department of Facilities Management, according to Guy Zupo, energy center and HVAC systems manager. Whatever the reason, facilities management is equipped to respond 24 hours a day, 365 day a year.
Though ultimately about human comfort, such concerns for facilities management are termed Energy Management (EM) problems. Zupo explained the three ways to communicate an EM concern to his department.
The best way in some situations is to make a phone call. Anyone who answers at the main facilities management number (412.396.6011) is prepared to deal with EM calls, Zupo said.
A simple form in DORI, can also be used to report issues. In addition, the facilities management department also maintains an email address at em@duq.edu solely for longer, more detailed EM messages.
Using the DORI form or email option to send facilities management an EM comfort concern generates an automatic response confirming that a facilities management technician will soon look into the problem, Zupo explained.
Zupo pointed out, however, that a wide variety of EM problems are remediated in just a few minutes and without a technician ever making a service call to the affected area. By using energy management software in a central location to monitor, start, shut off or adjust heating, ventilation and air conditioning equipment, facilities management technicians have been able to address an average of 1,400 EM issues each year for the past decade without needing to use tools or install replacement parts.
The service calls requiring a technician to visit affected buildings to troubleshoot and repair malfunctioning equipment are far fewer—no more than 100 per year—for all of the University’s 45 buildings, said Zupo.
“For us, the bottom line is to respond as quickly as possible to all of these kinds of calls,” Zupo said. “We never want people on campus to think they are complaining when they call or fill out a too hot/too cold form.”