"We were spending between $5,000 and $10,000 a year on cooling tower repair - patching metal, putting in rubber seals, and gasketing," said Richer, referring to the cooling tower that supports the facility's HVAC equipment. "In other words, Band-Aid fixes just to keep the tower from leaking."
The cooling tower in question, installed in 1950, was being used on an absorption chiller to cool two facilities - the Brock Equipment plant and the adjacent Crystal Lake University Center, an educational facility for undergraduate studies and continuing education. Brock is owner of the Crystal Lake center.