Cold, wet weather has taken its toll on the KU campanile’s tolling.

The electronics that make the Kansas University carillon bells sound four times an hour began malfunctioning Monday afternoon, leaving campus eerily quiet Tuesday and Wednesday.

Hannah Windholz, 15, front, and Dana DiVilbiss, 14, both students at Southwest Junior High School, are among the sledders on Campanile hill on the Kansas University campus. Wednesday's weather not only closed area schools, but the ice and cold also shut down the mechanical timekeeping system that controls the Campanile's chimes.

“We need to get it chiming again,” said Les Rollins, physical plant supervisor. “It’s a big part of Lawrence.”

Rollins said crews first noticed the problem at 7 a.m. Tuesday, when the low-tone bells that indicate the hour didn’t stop at seven rings. After about 20 minutes of incessant ringing, a KU facilities and operations worker was able to stop the bell from sounding.

The bells also apparently sounded longer than intended at 4 p.m. Monday.

Rollins said he thought an electronic relay between the electronic clock and the bells was malfunctioning. The relay triggers the clapper that rings the bell that sounds the hour.

“I think there’s a good chance the weather contributed to it, but we won’t know for sure until we tear into it,” he said.

The campanile’s silence will continue today because the icy weather Wednesday made it too difficult to climb the iron steps to repair the chilly chimes.

“It’s treacherous up there,” said Elizabeth Berghout, the university’s carillonneur.

She said the carillon players don’t play the bells in the ice or during a threat of lightning. They’re careful going up the steps when it rains.

Berghout said the electronic time system — which replaced a mechanical clock in 1996 — also had problems about two years ago. She said the current malfunction seemed similar to the previous one.

Rollins said he was hoping to have crews working to fix the problem as soon as the ice was cleared.

“I’m hoping we can get up there soon,” he said. “The campanile is a special thing to me.”

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