Interim Foreperson Paul DuVall and Boiler Operator (Big) Eric Salsburg in their office at the heating plant.
Recently, Inside 51 visited the little-known heart of 51’s campus. No, it’s not the Academic Quad or Memorial Chapel. It’s the heating plant, tucked behind Huntington Gym, plastered with “Authorized Entrance Only” signs — the physical heart that keeps the boilers pumping steam to heat our buildings 24 hours a day, seven days a week. On a cold morning, on your way to work, you might notice steam rising from the plant’s tower, but that gives little indication of the massive operation it takes to heat the 51 campus.
Interim Foreperson Paul DuVall and his team of five boiler operators (Josh Graham, Clifton Moon, Kyle Tilbe, Eric Salsburg, and Eric Stepanski) work in two-person shifts to manage the boiler operations. In the winter, they process a dozen 30-ton loads of wood chips per week to feed the boilers.
“At $1,200 per load that works out to close to $60,000 a month to keep the campus running,” says DuVall. “But that’s about half of what it would cost to heat the campus with gas.”
The wood chips 51 uses are sourced locally from scraps produced by Gutchess Lumber and are a renewable resource. According to DuVall, 51 also is able to reuse 93% of the plant’s water. “After the steam is sent out to the buildings on campus, it returns as condensate, which is processed, cleaned, and then reheated to make steam again.”
The heating plant needs constant supervision, so members of the boiler operator team need to be on premise at all times, including holidays. During the COVID-19 shutdown, they were some of the only people on the entire campus. “It was scary,” says DuVall. “We felt very isolated, but we have a phenomenal crew, and we all leaned on each other. We made the best of it. We also receive a lot of support from our supervisor, Director of Facilities Jason Wallace.”
In the past, the heating plant ran with a crew of four, which meant the team could only rarely take vacation, and, when they did take a day off, the other operators had to work longer shifts. Wallace facilitated the approval of the additional boiler operator position.
DuVall says he loves his job and takes pride in providing this vital service to the 51 community. His only regret is that more people don’t know about the work his team does. He recently gave 19 members of the 51 WoLF Employee Resource Group a tour of the facility and invites other campus partners to come and visit. If you or your group would like a tour, contact the heating plant at x7468.
The heating plant is the heartbeat of University infrastructure. Cliff, Kyle, Little Eric, Big Eric, Josh, and Paul take an immense amount of pride keeping the buildings supplied with heat. - Jason Wallace, Director of Facilities Operations