Water Heating System Causes Heat Wave in Strauss Room

The summer school T-shirts proclaiming "Harvard When It's Hot" have taken on special meaning for some residents of Strauss Hall, where a recently installed water heating system has caused unbearable heat in at least one room.

Temperatures rose above 110 degrees last Friday in the Strauss B room directly over the recently installed system, said the room's occupant, Marie J. Lucca '85, a summer school proctor.

"The heat was such that the walls started dripping--my records and tapes were warped," she said yesterday. The unbearable heat also ruined some of her clothes as the dyes ran together, and damaged her stereo speakers.

The heat came from an excess of steam from a basement unit designed to heat that part of the Yard's water, buildings mainenance officials said.

"We didn't anticipate the amount of heat correctly, causing one room to get awfully hot," said Edward J. Rosen, superintendant for Freshman dorms and Dudley House.

The Strauss system is one of three new water heating units--the other two are in Wigglesworth and Canaday--which do not rely on the central boiler system.

But unlike the Wigglesworth and Canaday set-ups, Strauss does not have an underground tunnel system. Instead, engineers placed the unit in the Strauss basement, which Rosen said "was not quite as convenient."

Design Defficiency?

While Rosen said the extensive heat was a necessary process "to get the bugs out," Dean of Students for the Summer School Hugh M. Flick said the problem was a "design defficiency."

"It was an engineering mistake--it puts off more heat than can be dissipated in the basement," Flick said.

Rosen said steps had been taken to alleviate the overheating, including additional insulation and the placement of fans in the basement to blow the steam out into halls instead of allowing it to float up. Rosen said he expected the insulation to be completed within a week or two.

Lucca, stating that her first floor room remains hot, has moved into a fourth floor room.

The government major, where thesis work, summer school course work and LSAT preparation have been disrupted by the heating problem, expressed frustration in dealing with the maintenance officials. "They all passed the buck, saying 'It's not my responsibility," she said.

Rosen said that the nature of the problem was blown out of proportion. "A lot of the problem could've been circumvented had she come to me first," he added.

Lucca was not the only one complaining as other Strauss residents noted the excessive heat.

"At first I thought it was just due to outside heat, but then we noticed that it was much hotter in our dorm than in others," said Ruth E. Landsberg, a resident of a second floor Strauss room.

Lucca said she has begun compiling a list of heat-damaged items, but does not know what recourse she will take for compensation.

Rosen said "no one would be responsible for the damage done" because the Student Handbook states that personal property is stored in Harvard buildings at owner's risk.