For the past three weeks residents of Minton Hall have been without hot water in the dorms communal showers.

“I had to wash my hair in the sink because I couldn’t stand to take a cold shower,” Louisville sophomore Katelyn Essex said.

Some of the Minton residents put in maintenance request forms about a week ago and received an email that said the problem had been fixed. Residents said that hot water was available to the sinks and private bathrooms, but did not work in the showers.

“It will be warm for a little while, then becomes cold again,” Somerset sophomore Rachel Phelps said.

“It’s more inconvenient than anything,” Essex said.

When maintenance first heard about the problem, they started looking at the boiler that heats up the water for the building. After more complaints, they started checking for other problems floor by floor.

“I knew we were having trouble regulating the water over there,” Kit Tolbert, director of housing and resident life said.

According to WKU maintenance, the lack of hot water in the communal showers was due to bad valves in the shower heads. This helps explain why the sinks and private bathrooms were able to get hot water.

Tolbert said maintenance checked the shower heads on all the floors, and repairs to the valves should be done by the end of the week.