Maintenance Mechanic II Michael Ouderkirk had just made it to Lake Lansing Road on his way home from work July 8 when he received a call from Skilled Trades Supervisor Richard Lilly. An animal fan in Giltner Hall needed repair, and Ouderkirk was needed to help fix it.

“Michael responded quite well,” said Lilly, who helped oversee the project.

Ouderkirk took the call in stride. “Coming back to work occasionally is part of my job,” he said. “I’ve been called back for boilers, fans, all kinds of things.”

The repair was a time-sensitive task because the animals being cooled by the fans were involved in sleep-cycling studies.

“They have a bunch of lab experiments going on involving thousands of dollars of research,” said Skilled Trades Supervisor David Oliveto, who wrote a report on the project. According to Oliveto, the fan had to be up and running quickly so the animals would not have to be moved, which would interfere with research.

According to Ouderkirk, the animal fan had a seized bearing. Grease escaped the bearing, causing it to heat and smoke. This set off the smoke alarm and brought fire trucks to the scene. Electrician IIs Larry Hall and Alan Almy were first on the scene. Upon their discovery of the fan unit with the damaged bearing, Ouderkirk was called to make the repair.

Ouderkirk arrived around 5 p.m. and called in the help of Pipefitter II Greg Pease to help with the repair. They replaced the bearing by around 10:30 p.m.

“They did an outstanding job. It was hot, sweaty, grungy work, but they stayed with the job until [the fan] was up and running,” said Oliveto.

July 23, 2009