NIU will blow off some steam late next month.

A steam network shutdown for the west campus originally was scheduled for May 21-25, but has been changed to May 25-28 for student convenience purposes. The east campus will be shut down from May 28 to 31. The networks control hot water across campus.

“The shutdown is so we can repair any problems that may require an interruption of the steam in order to make repairs,” said Kevin Vines, Heating Plant chief engineer. “Some repairs just can’t be done when the steam is live. The steam networks throughout campus also need to have some maintenance done on them as well.”

The west-side shutdown will occur during Memorial Day weekend. Vines said it’s expected to start the morning of May 25.

The dates were set to minimize interference with students living on campus for the summer. However, students who remain in the residence halls during Memorial Day weekend should be ready to adjust.

“It does cause problems for domestic hot water,” Vines said. “There will be no hot water available for showers, cooking, dishes and those sorts of things. It can be a problem for students, but we do have to do some of these scheduled maintenance things.”

Vines said the shutdown is part of an annual campus upkeep.

“We like to do this every year,” he said. “It’s been probably a couple of years since we’ve done the west end of campus, so we worked it out to have that done this year. This is just done to avoid any potential problems down the road.”