Lengthy Deep-Cold Spell Snarls Heating and Pipes Throughout University

The fierce cold spell that beset Cambridge and the entire Northeast over the past week left some students shivering in their rooms, as Buildings and Grounds (B & G) teams worked overtime to repair burst pipes and restore heating to affected buildings across the University.

"There've been all kinds of problems with freeze-ups and cold areas," J. Lawrence Joyce, director of B & G, said yesterday.

A "riser"--or vertical water main--burst in New Quincy and left large areas of the building without heat until yesterday, Norman Goodwin Jr., B & G utilities managers, said yesterday.

A burst pipe on the north side of Holyoke Center created a "serious situation" there until normal heating resumed on Tuesday, Joyce said.

The exposure of this overhanging part of the building probably caused the problem, Joyce said, but B & G is also investigating the possibility that poor workmanship in the removal of fins from the building's side last year had allowed the cold in, he added.

Extended heavy demand for steam heat because of the cold spell has forced B & G to "cycle" heating in some part of the University, cutting down steam in some buildings and shifting it to others periodically, Joyce said.

"We have just so much steam available from Cambridge Steam Corporation," he said.

Goodwin said that in the past B & G has cut back on hot water from midnight to 5 a.m. as a "planned energy conservation measure."

Cold Cash

"The whole cold spell is very costly for the University," Joyce said, but added that he was unable to provide any figures.

Robert S. Mullen, director of purchasing and insurance, said yesterday the cost of No. 6 low-sulfur residual heavy oil--which Harvard uses in its Medical School power plant and Cambridge Steam also uses--has climbed over 30 per cent since last June, from an average posted price of about $13.60 a barrel last July to $17.82 today.

Goodwin said that under a "fuel clause" in Harvard's contract with Cambridge Steam, the utility company can pass rises in fuel costs on to the consumer. He said that fuel makes up about 70 per cent of Harvard's steam bill, and thus the rise in heavy oil prices "significantly" affects the cost of steam as well.

At the Dudley House Cooperative at 1705 Mass Ave., temperatures in some rooms fell below freezing as students shared four space heaters supplied by B & G and waited for a shipment of firewood.

Robert R. Terrell '79, job chairman for the cooperative, said yesterday the house was poorly insulated.

"It's a serious situation, and not enough has been done," Terrell said. "People have been unable to study, in some cases even to sleep," he added.

At Hilles Library, a broken drive-shaft on one of the building's two main fans left heating in the building "spotty," Heather E. Cole, Hilles librarian, said yesterday.

"I've been at Harvard for 30 years and I can't remember a cold spell of this severity lasting this long" Goodwin said.