Students have reported annoying sounds and plumbing issues throughout United Methodist Hall.
There have been maintenance issues in Methodist Hall ever since it opened in 2007. Students have complained about construction in the early morning, fire alarms going off in the middle of the night, dead pigeons in the courtyard, elevators malfunctioning, and consistent leaking.
Housing officials said the latest issues may be difficult or impossible to resolve, but a lack of communication has left students frustrated with the maintenance process.
Noises disturb residents
Some sounds in Methodist are coming from the water pipes, officials said.
Giorgia Patterson, music education sophomore, said she heard strange noises outside her dorm on the second floor of Methodist.
“It sounds like a water pump to me, honestly, but it’s very loud, especially in my bathroom and right outside of our door,” she said. “Sometimes it’s just in the morning and at night, then sometimes it’s all day.”
The sound happens daily, but Patterson said she had not contacted anyone to have it fixed.
Corinne Prudente, acting junior, lives on the third floor of Methodist and said she heard loud sounds as well.
“This semester it started out okay, but then, over the past few weeks, the pipes have started being loud again,” she said. “It sounds like machinery or something. It’s really loud, it’s really bad and is all hours.”
Prudente said the noise happens a few times a day, and she actively avoids being in her room when she’s trying to work. She hasn’t contacted maintenance, but said others have. She said a resident assistant reported the noise last semester, but nothing was done.
Plumbing issues cause flooding
Pipes making noise aren’t the only issue in Methodist Hall. Prudente also said she reported plumbing problems Feb. 1 because she had a broken sink drain. She resorted to using her bathtub as a sink for a few days until the sink was repaired.
“They did fix that. I haven’t had a lot of issues with my water since, but it just always seems that when one thing gets fixed, two other things break,” she said.
John Metcalf, acting junior, also experienced plumbing issues in his room on the first floor of Methodist Hall. He said he came back to his room in August to find clogging.
“Eventually it got to the point where the sink would overflow and start spilling dirty, brown water that had like, old coffee beans or whatever and just kind of spilling it out onto the floor and onto the cabinet and got into like all the little cabinets and stuff,” he said.
Metcalf said maintenance workers came and unclogged the sink, but the same issue started again after Winter Break.
Tom Hoblin, music senior and Methodist RA, noticed the flooding and contacted maintenance. The issue came back up, and Metcalf sent in another work order, which was marked as “complete” but not actually responded to. Hoblin contacted maintenance again, and the issue was resolved, Metcalf said.
Metcalf said he isn’t sure if the sink will remain fixed because of repeated issues. He said he was told that the pipes back up because they are used less during breaks and the inconsistent weather furthers the problem.
Max McIntire, acting sophomore, who also lives on the first floor of Methodist, experienced similar issues and said his sink overflowed after clogging issues in the past. Maintenance told him it was due to a sewer line burst caused by weather fluctuations.
“Two or three hours later, after an emergency work order was sent in, people arrived to fix it. Things were fixed, but it didn’t stop a lot of our stuff from getting soaked around the kitchenette area,” he said.
Officials respond to the problems
Kevin Culbertson, assistant director of housing operations and residence hall director for Methodist Hall, said he is aware of the issue with sinks overflowing and said they are resolved. He said he also has seen a video of the loud hall noises, which he said are caused by water hammering.
“It’s actually very common, and especially in buildings with the type of boiler system that we have. You’ll hear it in Gold Star. I heard it in Draper. The way the air systems work in this building, they run off of water, whether it’s hot water for heat, cold water for cold air,” he said. “The boilers have a sensor. When it gets warmer outside, the boiler automatically adjusts the temperature.”
Weather fluctuations cause air to get in the pipes, which then cause the water to hit the inside of the pipes, resulting in the sound, Culbertson said. He said this issue is difficult to predict and treat because the only solution is to bleed the pipes of air, but, by the time someone arrives to do so, the hammering has usually ended and bleeding the pipes wouldn’t be useful. The only way to permanently prevent the noise is to change out the system, which is a multimillion-dollar process.
Maintenance workers typically respond to emergencies as fast as possible and within the next business day for regular work orders, Culbertson said. He said maintenance response times can vary and the department has been short staffed on plumbers.
Students can help to prevent plumbing issues by being aware of their drain usage, Culbertson said. Only flush toilet paper down toilets, he said. He also said food should be put in the trash instead of down the sink when possible.
Fire alarms sound off
Methodist residents also seem plagued by fire alarms. The false alarms have gone off at least twice since November, according to Student Publications archives.
Culbertson said the troubles with the fire alarm system in Methodist originated in the basement. The system is dry, meaning a sensor being tripped releases air from the pipe and, after it falls below a certain point, the pipe is evacuated and flooded with water.
“Because it is exposed to elements and it gets hot and cold, even though we don’t have water in the lines, condensation naturally builds in those lines,” he said. “As the moisture naturally builds from it being hot one day and then cold, hot, cold, and then you get a really cold night, then that moisture actually does end up freezing in there,” he said.
Culbertson said facilities workers drain the lines daily, but it has not helped the pipes.
“When it freezes and it ruptures a line, well, there goes the air pressure sensor on it,” he said.
Culbertson taped a glove onto the fire alarm on Methodist L2 as a temporary solution, but it was removed.
There is no permanent solution to the issue without redoing the system, Culbertson said. The current solution is to monitor the basement sensors in the housing office, but disable them from setting off the entire building. This prevents needless evacuation of the building. Culbertson said it hasn’t gone off since then, but he monitors it daily and a potential fire in the parking garage is unlikely to be a problem.
“It’s a solid, concrete structure. That’s not something that’s going to spread to the rest of the building,” he said. “Now the safety stuff is still all fully operational, so in the case of a fire, then yes, the pumps are going to kick on and whatnot in a timely fashion.”
If students have concerns about issues in Methodist, they may email Culbertson at klculbertson@okcu.edu or Casey Kreger, director of housing and residence life, at crkreger@okcu.edu.
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