2008 Woodie Awards
Left 'out' in the cold
50 year old transformer fails; SHU loses power
Ariane Rasmussen
Issue date: 1/25/07 Section: News
- Page 1 of 1
Parts of the academic building were literally left in the dark over part of the weekend as a result of a power outage that left students confused and unable to access the Internet for hours.
The power outage affected the main academic building leaving the Hawley Lounge, the University Commons area, and parts of the HC and SC wings without electricity. It did not affect FLIK, The Mahogany Room, or the new sections of the HC and SC wings, or any other campus buildings.
According to Public Safety Director Jack Fernandez, the power outage was reported at 7:17 p.m. Friday night and power was restored at about 3 p.m. on Saturday.
Floyd Young, director of Building and Grounds, said the outage occurred because one of the transformers burned out.
The transformer was fifty years old and owned by United Illuminating (U.I.). It took U.I. about 7 hours to find the problem and place and wire the new transformers, said Young explaining that the school has back-up generators, but only for emergency lighting, not for any of the networks.
At one point, U.I. had to shut down the power of the entire academic building for approximately 15 minutes during which time the cafeteria was also closed, said Young.
"We came down to get food and the cafeteria had to get shut down for a while," said Melissa Douglas, freshman, East Meadow, N.Y.
Mike Trimble, assistant vice president for Information Technology, was also contacted by Fernandez during the power outage.
Trimble initiated the I.T. department's power outage plan and brought the servers down which was why students were unable to access it, said Fernandez.
"I had no Internet at all from about 1 a.m. Friday night until about 6:30-7 p.m. Saturday night," said Maureen Curtis, junior, Yoktown Heights, N.Y. "It was just annoying because I think everyone has a routine to get up, check your e-mail, go on Facebook, check the news."
About 11 Saturday morning classes had to be re-located to an area where power was still available, but Fernandez said all ran smoothly.
"Because it was as a Saturday and kids tend to get up later in the day, [the power outage] didn't affect them as much as if it were a week day and FLIK being opened worked out well," said Fernandez.
As to whether such occurrence was expected, Young said, "No, it was not expected because it's not our equipment and we're not even allowed in the vault where it is. The normal lifespan of a transformer is 50-75 years and U.I. replaced all three transformers so we're probably good for 75 years."
Lynn Tomasz, freshman, Hopkinton, Mass., said, "I didn't think the outage would last for as long as it did. I thought there would be a generator or something that would allow for everything to work."
Young said that there are plans to install generators that are able to provide power for networks as well as provide emergency lighting.
"It'll probably be a summer time project because power will have to be shut down," he said.
The power outage affected the main academic building leaving the Hawley Lounge, the University Commons area, and parts of the HC and SC wings without electricity. It did not affect FLIK, The Mahogany Room, or the new sections of the HC and SC wings, or any other campus buildings.
According to Public Safety Director Jack Fernandez, the power outage was reported at 7:17 p.m. Friday night and power was restored at about 3 p.m. on Saturday.
Floyd Young, director of Building and Grounds, said the outage occurred because one of the transformers burned out.
The transformer was fifty years old and owned by United Illuminating (U.I.). It took U.I. about 7 hours to find the problem and place and wire the new transformers, said Young explaining that the school has back-up generators, but only for emergency lighting, not for any of the networks.
At one point, U.I. had to shut down the power of the entire academic building for approximately 15 minutes during which time the cafeteria was also closed, said Young.
"We came down to get food and the cafeteria had to get shut down for a while," said Melissa Douglas, freshman, East Meadow, N.Y.
Mike Trimble, assistant vice president for Information Technology, was also contacted by Fernandez during the power outage.
Trimble initiated the I.T. department's power outage plan and brought the servers down which was why students were unable to access it, said Fernandez.
"I had no Internet at all from about 1 a.m. Friday night until about 6:30-7 p.m. Saturday night," said Maureen Curtis, junior, Yoktown Heights, N.Y. "It was just annoying because I think everyone has a routine to get up, check your e-mail, go on Facebook, check the news."
About 11 Saturday morning classes had to be re-located to an area where power was still available, but Fernandez said all ran smoothly.
"Because it was as a Saturday and kids tend to get up later in the day, [the power outage] didn't affect them as much as if it were a week day and FLIK being opened worked out well," said Fernandez.
As to whether such occurrence was expected, Young said, "No, it was not expected because it's not our equipment and we're not even allowed in the vault where it is. The normal lifespan of a transformer is 50-75 years and U.I. replaced all three transformers so we're probably good for 75 years."
Lynn Tomasz, freshman, Hopkinton, Mass., said, "I didn't think the outage would last for as long as it did. I thought there would be a generator or something that would allow for everything to work."
Young said that there are plans to install generators that are able to provide power for networks as well as provide emergency lighting.
"It'll probably be a summer time project because power will have to be shut down," he said.
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