Power Outage Raises Concerns about Older CMU Buildings

On Monday November 24th many students were pleased to hear that all classes in Anspach Hall were closed on due to a power outage. The power outage was caused by a faulty transformer that pierced a power line.

With Anspach hall being one of the older buildings on CMU’s campus questions have come up about the electrical systems in other CMU buildings and their sustainability. Leroy Barnes, The Director of Energy & Utilities at Central Energy Facility has said that they will be looking into the systems of the older building.

“ We don’t want this problem to happen again so we will be taking a look at older buildings such as Moore and Pearce hall in the near future, to make sure their systems are up to date”, Barnes said.

Buildings such as Moore and Pearce hall have been on CMU’s campus since the mid-to-late 1960’s but have never had any real problems with any electrical wiring. Barnes however believes that CMU can not take any chances.

“We can’t take the risk of this happening again”, said Barnes “We have to make sure every building is working properly especially during the time the students and faculty are all here.

Although older electrical systems are an area of concern, Barnes made it clear that this was not the main cause of the power outage in Anspach Hall and the faulty transformer was.

“This is a problem we hope we will not have to deal with again”, said Barnes.

The power was restored in Anspach Hall on later that day and all classes and events went on as scheduled on Tuesday November 25th.