After many complaints were levied by staff and students since the Campus Center Project was completed in 2016, Buildings and Grounds has decided to renovate the cooling system in the General Education Building.

Building and Grounds Manager Bruce King said Trane Inc., the manufacturer of the AC System, is working hard to discover what the issue is that causes the system to fail.

Train Inc. was chosen by “headquarters” as King calls the Contra Costa Community College District Office.

“I gave my input and they still went ahead,” King said.

“The GE Building is the only building on campus that uses Trane as the manufacturer for their AC System, all the other ones use Carrier,” King Said.

Currently, Trane, the manufacturer of the AC system for the GE Building and Taylor Engineering, the ones who drew up the blueprints for the building, are in debate over who caused the current problem.

“We had a meeting about two weeks ago with the two companies,” King said. “But the only thing they do is debate on whose fault it is.”

What causes the air to come out warm or hot instead of cold is a compressor located in the AC system, he said.

“Each compressor has a cost of $35,000 and to install one is about $18,000,” King said. “We have changed four compressors in the past three years, the fifth will be the one for next week’s replacement.”

Hector Vasquez, who is majoring in law and has most of his classes in the GE Building, said many of his classmates have complained about how hot it got during summer and there was nothing professors could do to help students.

“We’ve been having problems since the beginning of the semester because its always hot and warm,” Vasquez said. “Someone came in the beginning of the semester and said they would work on it but nothing has changed since then.”

Vasquez said that now it’s a little too late to change or fix the system since it’s winter, which means now the heat that was produced by the unstable AC system will be appreciated.

Juan Ocampo, who also majors in law, noticed the flaws in the heating and cooling system.

Ocampo said, “Sometimes the classes are a little crowded and it’s not just warm inside. It’s a weird feeling of being surrounded by sweaty people.”