The Kapio Newspress

Issue date: 11/9/09 Section: News

Media Credit: Sean Nakamura Even though more fans were bought to deal with the heat, it was still not enough to cool down many of the students taking classes in the Olona building. Since Oct. 6 anyone taking or teaching classes in Olona were sweating it out. The air conditioning was broken for about a month, leaving many students miserable.

Students who attend any classes in Olona have been sweating it out since Tuesday, Oct. 6. The air conditioning in the Olona building stopped functioning after one of two compressors short circuited.

According to Sandra Maeda, auxilary services officer, the manufacturer in Dallas, Texas flown in a replacement compressor shortly after it short circuited.

On Oct. 16, the compressor was re-installed and properly functioned for about 10 seconds before failing again.

"The manufacturer did not have another compressor in stock, so the 'broken' compressor was flown back to Dallas to be rebuilt," said Maeda.

The rebuilt compressor was then flown back to Honolulu and was expected to come in on Wednesday, Nov. 4. A crane lift, scheduled for Friday, Nov. 6, was parked beside Olona for the installation of the compressor onto the roof.

Maeda reassured that the crane would not cause any kind of disruption.

"I think it will take most of the day," Maeda said on Monday, Nov. 2. "We normally bring in large equipment like cranes to campus on Fridays because the campus is not as busy with students, traffic, etc."

Even though KCC had purchased 25 floor fans to accommodate with the heat, it was not enough to cool down the people in 26-year-old Angelita Rasor's 9:15 to 10:30 a.m. history class that finished early twice already.

"It was either last week or the week before that, but the heat was really bad. My history class finished early twice," she explained.

Even professors seem to be struggling with the heat in the classrooms. Hae Lin Han, speech lecturer, teaches in the building, both in the morning and afternoon.

Continued...

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