BUILDING TEMPERATURE COMPLAINTS
Lebanon School District Staff should contact their building custodian before submitting a ticket into web helpdesk regarding classroom or office temperatures. Your custodian will confirm the actual room temperature by using a digital thermometer.
If room temperatures fall between 68 to 72 degrees during the heating season and 74 to 78 degrees during the cooling season, they are within district temperature parameters and we have met our objective. Not much more can be done. Keep in mind that our building set points are using occupied/unoccupied sensors. This means that if you have not been in your room, the temperature will adjust accordingly. Please give the HVAC time to acclimate after occupying it before you contact your custodian for assistance.
If your room temperature is outside of district parameters, your custodian will ask you to submit a web helpdesk ticket, and they will continue to work with Buildings and Grounds to resolve the issue.
RECAP
- Contact Custodian
- Custodian Uses Digital Thermometer To Confirm Room Temperature Reading
- Based On The Reading, Custodian Will Either Ask You To Submit A Ticket, Or Will Advise You That The Temperature Is With Normal Parameters
THE BIGGEST COMPLAINT: I feel cold or hot air blowing...I just got here and my room is too cold or too warm...
BEFORE CONTACTING YOUR CUSTODIAN OR SUBMITTING A TICKET...KEEP READING TO LEARN WHY THIS HAPPENS
UNDERSTANDING NEWLY RENOVATED BUILDING SYSTEMS HVAC OPERATION
There is a temperature sensor located in each classroom. After school hours, the computerized control system deactivates this control and goes to a night setting. Our goal is to provide heat in the 68 to 72 degree range, and cooling in the 74 to 78 degree range, during school hours.
UNDERSTANDING UNRENOVATED BUILDING SYSTEMS HVAC OPERATIONS
In our buildings that have yet to be renovated, most classrooms are heated with a unit mounted on an outside wall. These univents have some special needs to operate properly:
- The fan needs to operate at all times in order to provide the air changes dictated by Pennsylvania Department of Education regulations. The fans cannot be turned off because this could permit carbon dioxide levels to increase in the classroom. Turning off fans sometimes causes heating valves to open, causing a buildup of heat within the unit. It also causes unit freeze ups.
- The vents need to remain unobstructed. When the vents are blocked, airflow is limited, which affects proper heating.
- The air coming from the univent nearly always feels cool because moving air feels cooler. Also, when the room temperature at the thermostat is near "set point", the hot water valve closes to the coil, and outside air is being brought into the classroom without being heated.
- In order for the HVAC system to work properly, classroom doors must remain closed.
Hopefully, this brief description on how a univent works will help you survive the school year in your classroom.