Out-of-Sight Infrastructure

Key component upgrades bring reliability, sustainability and safety improvements to Eastern’s Rozell Physical Plant.

Weaving his way through a warren of ductwork, piping and electrical conduits, past boilers and chillers, condensers and blowers, Matt Deppa, chief engineer at EWU’s physical plant operation, pauses in front of a 10-inch programmable logic control display. After a quick look, he turns toward a visitor. “Here’s the thing,” Deppa says, his voice rising to be heard above the rumble and whirr of machinery, “a lot of people really don’t know what we do in here.”

“In here,” is EWU’s Rozell Physical Plant building, an unprepossessing structure perched above the corner of Elm and Washington streets. What they “do” in there is operate and maintain the heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems that keep Eastern comfortably habitable through every season of the year.

Now, thanks to a combination of a $20 million state budget appropriation and targeted grants, Deppa and the rest of the Rozell crew are two years into a multi-faceted overhaul, one that includes key structural and component changes. The goal? To boost the reliability, sustainability and safety of Eastern’s heating and cooling systems for decades to come.

Upgrades already in place include two new high-efficiency, low-emission boilers that provide safer, more consistent heating with less fuel. There are also five new liquid-cooled “chillers” — massive units that cool water used by campus buildings for air conditioning — along with four new cooling towers that boost the chilling system’s performance. Electrical upgrades include moving high-voltage switches previously located in Eastern’s tunnel loop, to safer, above-ground locations.

For the crew members who operate and maintain this dizzyingly complex array of infrastructure — many of whom, like Deppa, learned the trade while serving on ships with the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps — changes in the 1970s-era facility were welcome indeed.

On a recent tour, Steve Schmedding, EWU’s facilities engineer and senior project manager, joined up with Deppa to show off the new additions. Schmedding, a Navy veteran, explained how identifying modernization priorities, then obtaining funding and moving forward, has been a 10-year-long process. “Our plans are in a binder that’s 80-pages thick, at least,” Schmedding says. He estimates that work on the whole of the plan is just over half-way to completion.

For his part, Deppa says showing off the fruits of this planning is something he’s always happy to do. Usually that means tours for students, faculty members and community groups.

“It’s great when people are interested,” Deppa says. “We’re definitely proud of the work we do here.”