Ball State geothermal system has several ‘ruptures’ in 24 hours
Ball State University has spent the last two days repairing several unexpected ruptures of the campus-wide geothermal system used to heat and cool the Muncie campus. Stephanie Wiechmann reports.
Audio Transcript
Ball State moved to remote learning for Friday, after temperatures in some buildings reached into the 80s on Thursday. The campus-wide air-conditioning outage had been attributed to a geothermal link on Thursday morning, according to Vice President for Business Affairs and Treasurer Mike Fowler. In an email to campus, he wrote, “… due in part to the excessive outdoor heat, restoring typical indoor temperatures will take time.”
On Thursday night, an update email from Ball State said the geothermal system saw three ruptures in less than 24 hours. The last on Thursday night was described as “visually different,” with water from the underground line mixing with pipe insulation and spewing that mixture into the main street that runs through campus.
Ball State says “it is too early to provide a definitive assessment of the cause” and says it isn’t sure whether additional pipe ruptures will happen.
Ball State’s geothermal system was one of the nation’s largest when the first phase was completed in 2012. It heats and cools several dozen buildings on the Muncie campus.
Ball State student media contributed to this report.
Stephanie Wiechmann is our Managing Editor and “All Things Considered” Host. Contact her at slwiechmann@bsu.edu.
