Dylan Pichnarcik News Editor A new switchgear in Larned Hall has been installed after three weeks of the building running on generated power. The installation cost was $65,000, according to Robert Totino, vice president of Finance, Technology and Administration. Totino said Larned stopped running on generated power on Sunday, Oct. 13 after a replacement switchgear was installed by ABB - ESSCO. On Saturday, Sept. 21, a switchgear failure in Larned Hall caused a power outage to the upper campus for up to 19 hours. The upper campus is considered to be all buildings on the eastern side of State Street. This includes Larned, Corinne Hall Towers, Peirce, and Horace Mann residence halls, as well as the academic and administrative buildings. On Sept. 27, ABB attempted to repair Larned’s switchgear, but they were unable to do so. On Sunday, Oct. 13, the upper campus power grid was brought down from 6:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. so the installation of a new switchgear could be completed by ABB with the assistance of the Office of Facilities, according to Director Dan Giard. Giard said ABB sourced a replacement switchgear from another electrical contractor. Totino said, “I believe that was roughly $65,000 cost for the work that was done solely on Sunday.” He said that amount includes labor as well as the equipment. In addition to the cost of the repairs on Sunday, Giard said approximately $1,000 a day was spent on fuel for the generator in Larned, which will total between $20,000 and $30,000. “It’s closer to $100,000 to put a price tag on that whole job,” Giard said. Larned ran on generated power from Sept. 21 to Oct. 13 for a total of 22 days. According to Giard, the money to complete the project will come from the Facilities Department’s annual budget. “I’m sure we’re going to be over budget this year,” he said. Giard said the Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance (DCAMM) “might reimburse us some of the money.” DCAMM works “with state agencies to create and manage forward-thinking, sustainable buildings to meet the needs of the citizens they serve. We are partners with fellow agencies to help them meet their strategic needs with fiscally responsible building and real estate solutions,” according to its website. Totino said he worked with other administrators and ABB to determine a time that would be least impactful for students to bring the upper-campus power grid down and “make the campus aware, faculty, staff, students, but especially the resident students on a long weekend, to let everyone know as quickly as possible.” He added, “I am deeply appreciative of the patience of the community.” Notification about the power shutdown on Sunday Oct. 13 came through an email from the Dean of Students sent on behalf of Giard. An additional email from the Dean of Students was sent on Friday, Oct. 11 reminding students of the power shutdown. A final message was sent through FSUAlert at 2:00 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 13 stating, "Power has been restored to the University at this time.” According to Totino, the Switchgear in Larned was installed in 2013. The replacement unit is “expected to have a longer useful life.” Iz Shields, a sophomore resident, said, “All of the power outages are really frustrating, although I made it through just fine.” They added, “It’s not something I expected to do so many times this semester. It makes things like homework harder because you have to haul all your stuff to McCarthy for hours or get ready in the morning. You have to do it in the dark. ”For me, I store insulin in my fridge on campus. It is a medicine necessary for me to stay alive and it has to stay refrigerated. When the power goes out, it can really only be out for so long until the insulin spoils,” Shields said. Lexie Carlucci, a sophomore, said she went home on Sunday because she “didn’t want to deal with it.” Carclucci added she was happy the switchgear was repaired “because I know in my Ecology Lab, it was affected because of the power outage. We had an oven going and our soil didn’t get fully dried out.” Spencer Pearson, a senior, said the power outages have been “pretty tough.” Pearson said it was surprising that the work was completed within the allotted time. “I was glad that at least it came back at around the time they said it would.” Lily Wojciechowski, a freshman, was not on campus during the power shutdown on Sunday but said during previous shutdowns, she “dealt with one for a few hours, then my roommate and I both decided to go home.” Wojciechowski added it was difficult for her to do homework during the outages.