Students at Loyola University New Orleans woke in their dorms on Feb. 26 to find their showers gave no hot water. According to an email sent to students, “one boiler ruptured, and later the motor of a backup boiler caught fire.” 

“We experienced a break in our primary boiler at our central plant. We have a backup boiler. That one also experienced a failure,” Aariel Charbonnet, the vice president of marketing and communications at Loyola, said to WDSU News.  

While waiting for repairs, the university attempted to use a temporary boiler. “Because our boilers are 20-plus years old, we have had to work with specialized parts and logistics,” Charbonnet said.  

“Over years of heating and cooling cycles, metal fatigue had developed in these tubes, leading to cracks. To repair them, the system needed to be shut down, cooled, and then have the damaged sections cut out and re-welded before being pressurized and brought back online — a process that had taken significant time,” Kyle Gregore, the director of facilities at Loyola, said.  

While the repairs took place, Loyola offered solutions by setting up a temporary shower location, as well as allowing students to travel to Xavier University and Tulane University to use their shower facilities. Xavier allowed students to use their auditorium facilities that includes showers and locker rooms. Tulane allowed students to use the facilities at the Reily Recreation Center. 

Loyola student Daniel Wong said he thinks Loyola handled the situations “very poorly.” He said the hot water usually goes out around the same time during the spring semester and it repaired within in a few days.  

“But this time, it somehow went out for around three weeks,” Wong said. “The portable showers, while a solid alternative, came in too late.”  

As of March 25, Loyola restored hot water to its main facilities and the boiler is fully operational.