With summer quickly winding down we will be having some annual maintenance issues to deal with.

1) Sometime next week the purified water system will be sanitized using hyperchlorinated water. This will affect the laboratory RO systems in the research labs along with the racked fish systems in the Environmental Systems lab.  The vivarium system will not be affected. This process takes approximately 3 days , so I'm shooting to begin next Tuesday, August 15th, subject to confirmation. Please stockpile any RO water you may require during that time prior to the sanitization occuring. 

2) Furniture in the lobby had been re-organized sometime over the weekend, leaving visible scratches along the length of the floor. ABM is planning on stripping, mopping and waxing the entirety of the atrium either Monday or Tuesday night 11pm - 6AM. Anyone needing access overnight is asked to use the Physics facing doors and then the stairwell to the second floor to access elevators. 

3) I have received a large shipment of paper towels and batteries for the towel dispensers. The new rolls will fit over the discontinued brand's core. If you need me to show you how to swap them out, please let me know. 

And lastly, the new autoclave arrived without incident this morning, electrical work for the unit will be completed tomorrow, August 10th and possibly into Friday. Plumbing work should occur on Saturday, again subject to scheduling. 

The unit will then be commissioned by Steris next week assuming the installs go as planned. 

Thank you for your attention to these important announcements. 

The facilities department has pushed forward the dates of our high temp hot water outage. We are expecting to have the system turned off the afternoon of May 12th and have the system serviced from the 15th through the 28th. During this time there will be no heat for the building and temperatures will be in the 65 degree range. 

In order to prepare for this work I'm going to have the Steris technician out next Monday, May 8th, to do the scheduled PMs for each unit.This procedure only takes about an hour and we'll begin on the 4th floor and work our way down through the morning. 

The dates of the outage affect the entire campus and are out of my control. Please get any autoclaving completed prior to the 12 for anything you may need throughout the end of the month. 

Thank you for your attention!

Hydro is beginning their sanitization in a few minutes, (11:00 am on 3/22)

Hydro will be out on March 22nd and 23rd to sterilize the research lab purified (RO) water loop. High concentration chlorine bleach will be circulated through the loop for 24 hours starting the 22nd and then flushed on the 23rd. To finish the project, the tech will have to access every RO outlet in the building to final flush connections and confirm the chlorine has been thoroughly eliminated. 

The tech will have a contractor card for access, you or your lab don't have to do anything except be aware we'll be checking the water and refrain from using the RO during this timeframe.

Thank you!

The ILSB appears to be in good shape after the deep freeze and prolonged power outage. Other buildings on the campus were not so lucky. Other than a failure in our steam generators control system on friday evening, the emergency generator and heating from the central high temperature hot water kept the building operating reasonably well. If anything does come up associated with the power outage, please inform me at your earliest convenience.

Thank you!

We have several late evening exams going on this week and while I was changing the building hours, I thought I would lock down the building on Thursday in anticipation of the winter break.

The building will be open until 10:30 PM tonight through Wednesday to accommodate final exams. Starting Thursday December 22nd through Monday January 2nd, the building will be accessed by card reader only.

Please make a note of it and please remember to keep your Campus ID card with you.

Thank you and have a great Holiday break!

Johnson controls is in the building today and tomorrow doing smoke alarm testing. 

They have access to the research labs, please be aware they be in and out over the next few hours.

Thanks!

The floors of the UMBC research labs are scheduled to be cleaned, stripped and rewaxed starting on the 4th floor, Monday evening August 1st. ABM will be starting on the 4th floor on the 1st, continue on to the 3rd floor on the evening of August 2nd and then complete the 2nd floor research labs on the 3rd. The ESL and main lobby will be completed the evening of the the 4th.

Shortly thereafter we will be coming back for the setting areas on each of the upper floors, schedule to be determined. 

This project will concentrate on the wet lab areas only, we will not be working in either the procedure, shared services spaces nor tissue culture rooms. The crew asks that all supplies and or equipment on the floors of the wet labs be moved to a shelf or bench top before leaving the day assigned for cleaning. 

I'll be walking the building with the supervisor the week prior to the work to color code areas off limits. 

Please let me know that you've seen this message and please share it with anyone from your lab I may have missed. 

Thank you!

I just wanted to give everyone a heads up that the Steris tech will be in next Tuesday morning to do preventive maintenance on the autoclaves. The work on each autoclave takes about 90 minutes, please try to keep the units available that day.