Building Temperatures

Too Hot or Too Cold?

Contact Facilities Services at 785-864-4770 or facilities@ku.edu to check or correct temperatures in your work area.

You may have a programmable thermostat at home which is set to one temperature while you are away and another more comfortable temperature when are home in efforts to save energy. The building schedules on campus work in a similar fashion. They have “occupied” and “unoccupied” set-points that raise or lower the temperature to eliminate energy waste when no one is using the space.

The occupied set-points are 69F in the winter and 76F in the summer. During unoccupied hours, temperatures will be set back to 55F in the winter and 85F in the summer based on building capability and function.

If your workspace is too hot or too cold, don't try to fix the problem yourself. At home, you might open a window if you are hot or use a space heater if you are cold. Please do not do that at work. Instead, contact Facilities Services at 785-864-4770 or facilities@ku.edu. The HVAC systems in campus buildings function differently than residential equipment, and temperature adjustments need to be handled differently. Opening a window or using a space heater may cause a nearby thermostat to misread the actual temperature in your space and cause temperature problems for your colleagues in other work areas. Opening a window in your campus office could also cause the (VAV) box that supplies cool air to the space to register a pressure difference. Subsequently, the box will work harder to cool the room. This not only uses more energy and money but is also harder on the mechanical equipment.

NOTE: KU policy does not allow personal space heaters in campus buildings because of the significant fire hazard.

HVAC Schedules

KU building temperatures are carefully scheduled for occupied and unoccupied times to achieve the highest levels of comfort and energy efficiency. KU Operations programs thermostats to the seasonal temperature set-points which are 69F in the winter and 76F in the summer. During unoccupied hours, temperature are set to 55F in the winter and 85F in the summer. 

KU academic and administrative buildings are scheduled occupied 6am-6pm Monday through Friday, and unoccupied in the evenings, overnight, and on the weekends.

To request adjustments to the schedules for special events or in order to save energy during unoccupied hours, building managers should submit a service request to Facilities Services through Maximo, or by contacting Facilities Services at 785-864-4770 or facilities@ku.edu. For special events, please include building, room number, start time, end time, start date and end date. Please submit schedule requests at least three business days in advance.

Additional information is on the Energy Policy and Standards page.

Holiday Settings

Academic and administrative buildings are scheduled unoccupied during holiday periods, similar to weekend schedules. A list of university holidays is available on the KU Human Resource Management website.

KU academic and administrative building temperatures are carefully scheduled throughout the year to achieve the highest levels of personal comfort and energy efficiency. For more information on temperatures, visit the Energy Policy and Standards page.

If your department has a special event scheduled in a space typically closed during holiday periods, consider hosting your event in an alternate building that will have standard heat or air conditioning during the holiday period. Scheduling your event in an occupied building will save energy by using the heating or air conditioning already provided in the occupied building.

If you need to hold your event in a building that is typically not occupied during holiday periods, and you want to request a temporary temperature setting adjustment, contact Facilities Services at 785-864-4770 or facilities@ku.edu. Facilities Services will use the most energy efficient means of supplying cooling or heating for approved off-hour/holiday requests.