Hot. Cold. Too hot. Now, too cold.

With the winter weather, complaints from students living in the residence halls of uncomfortable extreme room temperatures are not uncommon.

Sherri Strong, a freshman Oak Hall resident, said, “[The heater is] off but heat still comes out of it. We keep the window open ’24-7′ unless it smells outside from the sewer, and then we have to turn on the fan.”

She said her and her roommate were told not to open the window unless they covered the radiator with a blanket because the extreme temperature difference could lead to complications. But she said the heater, even when it reads off, is too hot to handle a blanket.

Amanda Herbst, a sophomore Oak Hall resident, said her neighbor’s heater wakes her up in the morning because it is so loud.

“It kind of sounds like someone is banging on it,” she said.

University maintenance officials say they’re doing the best they can.

Leroy Brown, manager of residence hall maintenance for the Union Drive Association, said residence hall officials “try to be prepared” to deal with heating woes.

Brown said Friley Hall probably has the most complex heating system. He said Friley uses steam heat “which causes all sorts of problems,” including problems with the pipes, steam coil traps and coils going bad. He said other troubles arise with pumps.

The maintenance staff tackles heating dilemmas as soon as they can, Brown said.

He said there is a 24-hour number that students can call to report their problems.

Workers are on call to deal with problems after hours.

“We don’t go home leaving people without heat,” Brown said.

The response time ranges from 10 minutes to two hours.

LaRhonda Potts, a senior in business, works in the RCA Complex Office taking messages for the Fix-It Hot-Line for residents with problems. Complaints vary from a leaky heater to a heater that is not heating, Potts said.

“We will try to reply as soon as possible in a reasonable amount of time,” she said.

“It’s too hot,” is generally the complaint this time of year.

Dave Stutzman, a junior Helser Hall resident, said, “It’s generally too hot. It’s just on constantly and there’s not much we can do about that.”

He said he and his roommate “crack the window and leave it open.”

Still, some say they have few problems.

Matt Williams, a freshman Birch Hall resident, said his heater works fine.

Karen Kellogg, manager of residence hall maintenance for the Towers Residence Association, said, “We haven’t had any problems in students’ rooms.”