A University in Bucharest has introduced strict measures in the rental contract for student dormitory rooms. The decision comes in the context of the fire on September 22, in Regie.
Students live in dormitories that are decades old. Source: archive
“There are measures aimed at preventing fires in the dorm rooms, measures that have existed until now, the students know them, but they were not written down. I passed them now, let them read them, not say that they didn’t read them and had no way of knowing”Mihai Corocăescu, general administrative director of the Politehnica University of Bucharest, explained to Adevărul. “On the other hand, we will also have proof that the students were notified,” he also specified. The decision comes in the context of the fire that occurred on September 22 in a dormitory room in Regie.
The rental agreement specifies, among other things, that students are not allowed to use appliances more powerful than 1 kW or extension cords that feed large energy consumers. “When an electrical installation is overloaded, a disaster can happen, God forbid. Students are not allowed to use old, unapproved equipment that does not comply with the consumptions given by the designer. Should I tell you that there are children who made their electrical installation parallel to the one that exists in the room, in the dormitory? Let me tell you that if a fuse blows in the electrical panel there are many who do not replace it, but instead connect its wire to the right fuse? Shall I tell you that I discovered students who had fashioned a stove out of an iron sole on which they prepared their tea? There are students who make all kinds of improvisations in the idea that nothing can happen to them”, explains the administrator.
The electrical installation in the dormitories does not support large energy consumers
The student dormitories in Regie are buildings erected in the 70s and 80s, and the electrical installation no longer copes with the new energy consumers. And, many times, they give in. And from here to the outbreak of a fire is only one step. “In order to solve this situation, the entire project of the electrical installation should be rethought, head-to-tail. Basically, the whole thing would have to be redone, from scratch. But it is very difficult to get an ATR approval from Enel. To give you an idea: if a newly built home now has 650 kW of installed power, an old home has 80″says the administrator. “Even if we replace old components with new ones, the power installed through the technical connection approval given by ENEL remains the same.”
Mihai Corocăescu specified that in all the student dormitories belonging to the Polytechnic University, the electrical panels and the circuits will be changed. “There are some things that can be done with the students in the rooms, others will be done during the holidays. And in the summer we will also work on other components of the installation. We have, let’s say, an outlet, a conductor that is connected to an electrical panel in the room, it is connected to the electrical panel on the floor or building. That one, in turn, is connected to the transformer station provided by the distributor. Everything that belongs to us, we will restore, replace, repair. But the installed power remains the same.”
There are students, the administrator also told us, who cook their food using artisan stoves, old and used appliances. “They buy their extension cords from the market, because they are cheaper, but they don’t realize that these products can become dangerous. They prepare their food using all sorts of improvised and questionable devices. They cook in their rooms or even in the hall of the dormitories using hotplates or stoves. Plugs in various appliances, passes it down from generation to generation. Look at the ad groups. But we offer them canteens where they can eat. They have canteens on campus, they have canteens grouped by faculties. We have a canteen in the Rectorate and in Leu”.
Administrator: “The fire in Regie, caused by a refrigerator older than me”
On Sunday, September 22, a fire broke out in a dormitory room located on the third floor of building P22, in the Regie campus of the Bucharest Polytechnic. The students claim that the outdated electrical network, which does not support today’s equipment, is to blame. The youths accused the university of negligence in maintaining the electrical network in the dormitories, alleging that faulty installations were the cause of the fires. Politehnica București said at the time that an old electrical appliance, brought into the room by students, was to blame. “Sunday’s fire started from a refrigerator brought by the student who lives in that dorm room. It wasn’t the plug that was to blame. Not the electrical part, but that old appliance that overheated. I’m not saying it, the experts who came to research, to investigate the incident said so. Look at the student groups to see how the fridges are selling. Well, I think there are some even older than me”. The administrator explained to us that the fire would have started from the compressor of the refrigerator, not from the outlet. “The plug is intact, everything that was in the socket is unburnt. unmelted So the fire did not start from the socket”.
New provisions in the dormitory room rental contract
- it is forbidden to own any type of additional heating/cooling device compared to the existing ones in the home construction;
- the use of electrical extension cords or any type of device that aims to increase the number of sockets available in the dormitory room is prohibited;
- it is forbidden to connect consumers to the power source with wires directly inserted into the socket (without a plug) or directly into the electrical panel;
- it is forbidden to store materials, tools or other objects in the electrical panels or on the power cables, in order to avoid their damage;
- it is prohibited that the total sum of the power of the electrical equipment used within a dormitory room exceeds the maximum installed power set at 1.00 kW per room in order to ensure the safety and proper functioning of the electrical installations in the university dormitories. This limit is imposed to prevent overloading of electrical circuits, which could lead to breakdowns, equipment failure or, in extreme cases, fires or other serious incidents;
- to ensure that the appliances used respect this power ceiling and that the electrical installations are used properly.
- any action or modification on the electrical installation of the building is prohibited. This prohibition includes, but is not limited to, dismantling or modifying sockets, switches, cables or other electrical components, installing new circuits, tampering with fuse panels or other electrical equipment that is part of the building’s infrastructure;
- any unauthorized intervention on the electrical installations constitutes a violation of the safety regulations and may lead to severe sanctions going up to the eviction from the dormitory and incurring criminal or contraventional liability for the committed acts;
- in case of problems related to the electrical installation (defective sockets, switches that do not work correctly, voltage fluctuations), the tenants are obliged to notify the administration of the dormitory or the responsible personnel from the technical service.
- students are not allowed to cook in their dorm rooms or hallways and are required to keep cooking and laundry areas clean.
In the event of non-compliance with these rules, the responsibility rests entirely with the tenant, the university being exonerated from liability for any material damage, bodily injury, technical malfunctions or accidents caused by improper use of electrical equipment or exceeding the established consumption limit, the contract also says.
