The F&S laborer-electricians shop has one primary job: keep the lights on.

That’s everywhere on the Urbana campus – in classrooms, offices, laboratories, exterior lights, and even the Ice Arena.

Bulbs of all sorts, shapes, and sizes can be found all over campus, and the laborer-electricians are quick to respond when a light goes out. Every year, laborer-electricians visit the Ice Arena and install new fluorescent tube lights to illuminate the home to Fighting Illini club hockey, recreation activities, and public skate time.

Laborer-electrician foreperson Greg Moen estimates about 35,000 lamps are replaced each year.

“The primary lamps are still fluorescent,” said Moen. “Buildings are transitioning to LED fixtures and lamps, but it’s a conversion that takes time. Lamps and ballasts are recycled, per EPA guidelines, to the level that virtually all the materials are repurposed. For example, the gas and phosphorus powders in the fluorescent lamps are processed to the level that rare earth metals in the lamps are recovered and repurposed.”

And Moen emphasizes light replacements are needed everywhere: “It is important to have adequate lighting levels to support research, learning, and emergency egress.”

An 18-year veteran with F&S, Paul Weisman, has done all sorts of lighting replacements, including many times at the Ice Arena. The lights shine from well above the ice, so far in fact, that he doesn’t feel cold until he comes back down to ground level. Up near the ceiling, it’s actually a little warm. This difference in temperature, particularly due to the transition period when ice may be melted in the spring and also when added before students come back in the fall, can cause condensation all over the rink, especially high above the ice.

“They drip. All the lamps I have had to work on had water dripping off them. It’s a very harsh environment,” Weisman said. He approximated 180 tube lights will be changed this year there.

Paul’s Drip

The drip doesn’t stop there for Weisman, who also changes the lights in the pool at Activities & Recreation Center and Campus Recreation Center – East. And he isn’t using scuba gear to get it done – just what he can do on his own.

“I have to dive under the water and pull them out,” Weisman said. “Hold your breath! I dive under, take a screw out and take the fixture out, which has a long cable. I bring that up to the surface and take it apart with it still connected.”

It’s work like that that many don’t realize, especially new students, faculty, and staff. Laborer-electricians are, as much as any other shop at F&S, all over campus, including on night runs, which enhance campus safety by keeping lots, lanes, and paths lit at night.

“Our work goes from steam tunnels all the way to the chandeliers in the President’s House. We just change lightbulbs. We keep the lights on for the entire university.”