Daniels Three-day Exhaust Interruptions
The series of rolling three-day shutdowns of fume hoods in the Daniels wing that is the final step in the heart-lung transplant to improve ventilation in the Mathews and Daniels wings began successfully last week when Shutdown 2 was carried out. Shutdowns #2 and #3 have been postponed. Here are the shutdowns scheduled for the next two weeks. If necessary, email notices may supersede this schedule.
Shutdown #5: Tue June 15 – Thu June 17 This shutdown affects these rooms:
3331, 3333, 3334, 3335, 3335A,
4325, 4325A, 4329, 4364,
5319, 5323, 5327, 5327A, 5329 – South Half,
8305B, 8305C, 8365
Shutdown #6: Tue June 22 – Thu June 24 This shutdown affects these rooms:
6319, 6320, 6325, 6327, 6329, 6329A, 6333,
6369 – East 1/3, 6373, 6375, 6375A
Shutdowns occur each week, on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Because of the way the fume hoods are connected to the existing exhaust system, the schedule cannot align nicely with research groups or with floors in the building, so it is essential that everyone consult the schedule to find out when your lab must shut down. Labs need to be ready by 6:00 am on Tuesday morning for the fume hood shutdown in each area.
It is extremely important that you adhere to the shutdown schedule and shutdown protocol because construction workers will be exposed to open exhaust ducts and your fume hood cannot protect you or your lab mates during the period that it is disconnected from the exhaust fans.
Please follow these directions for preparing your lab:
- Ensure that there are no active experiments.
- Close and cap all chemical containers.
- It is not necessary to turn off or cover equipment.
- Construction workers will not need to work in your laboratory; all construction work will occur on the floor 9 mezzanine.
- Staff from UW Safety Department and from the chemistry facilities committee will spot-check preparations and compliance.
It will not be necessary to vacate the Daniels building during these shutdowns. The supply of fresh, tempered air will not be affected, and most of the building’s exhaust systems will be operating at any given time. The labs where the fume hoods are shut down should not be used, but research may continue in labs where fume hoods are not shut down. Student and faculty offices are essentially unaffected (regardless of specific detail shown on the maps) and may continue to be used.
In the Daniels wing, only exhaust from the designated labs will be shut down; other utilities (electrical service, process cooling water, nitrogen) will operate normally. In the Mathews wing, if your fume hood goes into alarm, please do two things immediately:
- Stop all experimentation in your fume hood; close and cap all containers.
- Notify Jeff Nielsen of the room number and fume hood location where the problem exists.
The Shain wing will not be affected by these exhaust interruptions.
Electrical Outages: Daniels Floors 3, 4, 5, 6
Renovation work in the Daniels wing will begin soon and will bring significant changes to the electrical distribution system. Consequently, the electrical contractor needs to install metering equipment for a period of a week to measure electrical loads. Installation, and subsequent removal, of meters requires a short, but complete, shutdown of electrical service on each floor that is being monitored.
All 110-V and 208-V electrical service on Daniels floors 3, 4, 5, and 6 will be interrupted according to this schedule:
Wednesday, June 16 7:00 am – 12:00 n
Thursday, June 24 7:00 am – 12:00 n
Research groups should plan to shut down equipment and computers. Special air-handling units, air conditioners, and cold room will be affected.
These shutdowns will not affect heating, ventilation, fume hood exhaust, process cooling loop, water, sewer, house nitrogen, and natural gas. Elevators should work as normal.
Moving Weeks Will Be in Early July
Because of the delay in tower completion, our move-in will now be in July rather than June. This very complicated process is scheduled for a two-week period beginning July 12. We greatly appreciate the hard work that a lot of people, especially lab directors and lab techs in our instructional program, are doing to make this move happen. Last week, this week, and next week the facilities committee has scheduled tours of the new tower for those who will bear the brunt of the moving process so that they can see for themselves where their equipment will go when we move. Also, training sessions have been scheduled so that chemistry staff, FP&M staff, and others can learn how the new building works.
New Tower
Curbs, gutters, sidewalks, the bike path, and the street itself are being restored along University Avenue. For the next two weeks an additional lane of University Avenue has been closed to enable this work to proceed. After that, our construction project will no longer affect traffic on University Avenue, but Mills Street will remain closed. Bike racks have been installed along University Avenue and to the west of the new tower. Soil has been placed in planters and landscape planting is underway. Soon the exterior of the new tower will look like the architectural drawings we first saw years ago—really great!
Surplus Equipment and Glassware
When we move into our new facilities, the general chemistry program will change the way it handles laboratory equipment for students. This change, together with inventories of storerooms in preparation for moving, has identified a large quantity of surplus equipment. Last week Kurtis Casperson notified department personnel about availability of this surplus and some people availed themselves of the opportunity to pick up equipment.
Now we are making surplus equipment and glassware that is left (and not suitable for redistribution through the UW-Madison’s SWAP program) available to a wider constituency. To avoid just trashing this surplus, the facilities committee has notified public high schools and other UW-System campuses that it is available. During the next two weeks, you may see people in the building who are unfamiliar with our facility and are moving surplus equipment to their vehicles at the loading dock. If you know teachers in Wisconsin public institutions who might be able to use some of the surplus equipment, please contact John Moore, who will see that they are notified about the surplus distribution program. After we move into the new tower—from mid-August until the end of the year–surplus equipment and glassware will again be available for pick-up, so there is plenty of time for those who might use it to come and get it.
We thank Jim Maynard for photos used in this newsletter issue.
This information is up to date as of Monday morning. Email bulletins will be provided as needed.
John Moore and Bob McMahon