Campus Heating and Cooling

CAMPUS HEATING & COOLING

State University Administrative Manual Executive Order No. 785 provides the guidelines for heating and cooling for all CSU campuses. (http://www.calstate.edu/EO/EO-785.pdf). The Executive Order (EO) requires PPM set room thermostats at 78 degrees for cooling and 68 degrees for heating.The EO also requires optimized scheduling of building and/or facilities (buildings) usage to reduce the number of buildings operating at partial or low occupancy. In addition, all HVAC equipment (including supply and return air fans) must be shut off on weekends, holidays and for varying periods each night except where it would adversely affect instruction, data processing and other scientifically critical or 24-hour operation.

Please do not use personal heaters. The EO also prohibits the use of individual space heaters. Space heaters can overload a building's electrical system resulting in loss of electrical power and have a greater potential for electrical fire and shock hazards.

91 Degree Fahrenheit Design Temperature:

Engineers do not design building air conditioning systems to meet the cooling requirements of the absolute hottest days of the year. The cost of such systems would be prohibitive. Typically, engineers design air conditioning systems to handle 97.5 percent of the days of the year. In the Northridge area, engineers design air conditioning units to maintain comfort levels when the outside air temperature does not exceed 91 degrees F. At higher outside temperatures, the indoor temperatures may rise.

Keeping Cool in Hot Weather:

Physical Plant Management (PPM) makes every effort to ensure that building air conditioning systems work properly. However, even when the air conditioning systems work at maximum capacity, some areas of several buildings still may become uncomfortably warm.

Comfort Tips:

Building occupants can remain as comfortable as possible by following a few simple guidelines for hot weather.

Wear layered clothing. Although some areas where the air conditioning capacity is exceeded may be too warm, other areas will be within a comfortable range, and layered clothing will allow you to adjust as you move from one area to another.
Close drapes or blinds when sunlight (radiant heat) shines directly into a room. Rooms with windows affected by radiant heat normally face the south all day, face the east in the morning and face the west in the afternoon.
Turn off unnecessary lights and equipment. Electric lights and equipment generate heat which the air conditioning system must remove from the space. Small, confined rooms or areas with poor air flow make this problem worse.
Keep windows and outside doors closed. Although leaving doors and windows open appear to increase air flow, the incoming hot, humid outside air places an extra burden on the air conditioning system.
Do not attempt to adjust or tamper with thermostats. If you suspect a thermostat has a problem, please call the PPM Work Control Center at ext. 2222. Most campus buildings have direct-acting thermostats which when broken or defective go to full heating. Obviously, this can make a bad situation worse. In addition, if an air conditioning system is already working at maximum capacity, adjusting the thermostat setting from 73 to 55 will not increase its efficiency.