OT - Smokestacks on Campus

Submitted by blue_shift on
OK, so I have an embarrassingly dumb question. I've been a student here now for almost four years, and I have to ask, what is that building on central campus with the smokestacks? It's right next to the USB and across from the glass Biomed building. My first guess was that it was a power plant, but I can't seem to find a name or anything it. Is it owned by the university? And do any classes utilize it for anything?
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central campus

Horace Prettyman

July 16th, 2010 at 12:43 AM ^

If you've ever seen the huge cement cylindars that are always covered with postings, those are the ventilation fans for the steam tunnels that run all over campus. There are several points where you can enter the tunnels on campus, and travel from building to building underground.  It's nice when it's cold out, but you have to watch out because it is very hot in the tunnels and you get dehydrated quickly.  It's easy to get lost if you don't know where your going and the elevation changes are a real pain.

If you do go into the tunnels bring a bottle of water or two watch out for the cops (there are some motion detectors).  I would usually mark my route so I could always find my way back.

The tunnels go to some pretty cool places, like under Forsyth Park (The bum park at Packard and Arch).

This world is yours for you to explore
There's nothing but miracles beyond your door

Joined: 07/14/2010

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blue_shift

February 8th, 2010 at 6:34 PM ^

I was searching for a website but I had no idea what the building was called, so I didn't find what I was looking for. From the site, it looks like there's actually a lot of cool history involved with the plant. I'll have to do some more reading.

Joined: 10/14/2009

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The Bugle

February 8th, 2010 at 6:49 PM ^

Yeah its a power plant. The cool thing about it is that the majority of steam produced is shipped around campus to power the AC units and maybe the heat (I don't remember). The net effect of this is that the power plant is wicked efficient.

Joined: 10/22/2009

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Bando Calrissian

February 8th, 2010 at 7:35 PM ^

I went on a tour of the Power Plant for a class I took about energy and such. It was a pretty cool place. I can't remember what it was, but there's something pretty notable about the smokestacks. They also supply all the steam for the various labs and heating on campus and such as a byproduct of producing electricity. There's different PSI's (is that the right unit?) needed for different things on campus, and they adjust and send accordingly.

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Wolverine318

February 8th, 2010 at 9:38 PM ^

As everyone has said, it is a steam generation plant. The steam the plant generates powers every autoclave on central and the medical campus. North campus has a separate facility for their autoclaves.

Joined: 07/01/2008

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mi_vandal

February 8th, 2010 at 10:10 PM ^

My undergraduate campus, U of Idaho, also had one (which burned wood chips that were a byproduct from local sawmills). The university strategically placed the steam tunnels running across campus underneath sidewalks that had high pedestrian volumes, so that snow on those sidewalks would melt quickly. That was always welcome around this time of year.

Joined: 10/07/2009

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Elno Lewis

February 9th, 2010 at 10:22 AM ^

what they call heat tunnels under much of central campus. we used to sneak into them when we wuz kids. they all lead to the same place.

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