Plumbing issues plague students in residence halls

By Shelby Horton

Residents of Kent Hall at Hutchinson Community College found themselves walking across cold pavement in only their pajamas, carrying towels and shampoo.

On Sept. 16, Kent Hall students were dismayed to discover all the water in their dormitory was shut off.

Residents were unable to shower, wash their hands or use the toilets.

The city had contacted HCC when a water main broke on 16 th Ave., causing the water to be shut off in Kent Hall.

“I was really upset that we had to go to Elland Hall to take a shower,” said Kadesha Brown, Park City.

“All the bathrooms were so crowded when we got there.”

Then Elland Hall began to have its own problems, as the hall was without hot water for several days.

“We had some trouble identifying exactly where the problem was,” said Dana Hinshaw, director of residence and student life.

The issue was discovered to be with the boiler.

After cleaning the coil and a few other fixes, maintenance had the system going again.

But the heating element on the boiler would shut off when it got to the correct temperature, then would not turn back on when the water temperature began to drop.

“They ended up having to order a part that was not available locally,” Hinshaw said.

“Since that has been installed, we had no issue with the Elland Hall boiler.”

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