Southwest Recreation Center is replacing about 250 of its electronic combination locks just two years after they were installed.
The electronic Digilocks are being replaced with Real Locks, a mechanical combination lock.
The Digilocks, which were installed during renovations made in 2010, were prone to having faulty keypads, poor battery life and other digital malfunctions, said David Stopka, Southwest Recreation Center’s Associate Director for Facility Operations.
“They wouldn’t lock,” he said. “Or the battery would die and the locker wouldn’t reopen.”
Sometimes even the master key would fail to open lockers, leaving students’ belongings trapped inside.
“The only way you could open it then was by drilling two points in the lock and destroying it,” Stopka said. “We replaced probably close to 100 locks since last year.”
The cost of replacing each electronic lock was about $60, he said.
Southwest Recreation Center bought 300 of the new mechanical locks for about $12,000. The money for the new locks came from the facility’s convenience service fee budget.
The locks have gradually been replaced since the Real Locks arrived in June.
Sean Hire, a 19-year-old biology sophomore, said he thought replacing the locks was worthwhile.
“Every time I’m there there’s a person having an issue with a locker,” he said.
