The use of space heaters in campus buildings when not District issued or bought is not recommended for safety and occupant comfort concerns. Any HVAC/temperature concerns, contact the Facilities Department at facilitiesremedy@palomar.edu.

Safety concerns:

• Space heaters have the potential to overload electrical circuits causing the circuit breakers to open, which inconveniences others served by the electrical circuit and requires our electricians to respond to the electrical outage.

• Space heaters have the potential to shut down computer circuits causing loss of data and additional problems with computer programs, etc.

• Space heaters upsets normal operation of building HVAC systems causing uncomfortable conditions for space occupants and those in nearby spaces.  For example, the use of a space heater in a room with a thermostat causes the building temperature control system to increase the flow of cool air in order to reduce the temperature at the thermostat. The individual using the space heater will feel heat from the space heater and cool air from the louver in their room.  Other occupants of the same zone will only feel cool air from the louver in their room.  Thus a space heater used in a room with the zone thermostat will reduce the temperature of the remaining spaces in that zone.