Senior Adam Taylor spends a lot of time in Mabee Memorial Hall.

As a business major, Taylor has four classes in the building.

But when the air chiller in the building went out Sept. 1, causing no cool air to circulate, one of Taylor’s classes was moved to another building.

“We kind of conned the teacher into moving,” he said. “With the others … we’ve just got to get through it.”

The chiller, which is different than a regular air conditioner, was installed in Mabee in the 1960s.

A majority of buildings on the Baldwin City campus have chillers, which cools the air using water.

“They are very efficient,” Director of Physical Plant Gary Walbridge said. “That’s why we’ve stayed with them on most of the buildings.”

The old chilling unit weighed more than 150 tons, and Walbridge says that is just too big for what Baker needs now.

The old unit was so big because it had to accomodate for the swimming pool that used to be where the Shore Weight Room is.

“The new one is a 90-ton unit,” he said. “It’ll be more efficient and we’ll save money on electricity to run it.”

The new unit will take anywhere from five to six weeks to be delivered and installed.

Walbridge is hoping it will happen around Oct. 1. The chiller is similar to the one in Gessner Hall.

“It’s a two-stage unit, and all they’ve got to do is manufacture a third stage, slap it on there, test it and ship it to us,” Walbridge said. “We should get it within five weeks. And by then, we’ll probably be heating anyway.”

While the new chilling unit is taking longer than Walbridge would like to get here, he is pleased with what the new outcome will bring to the building.

“It’s going to be a lot quieter,” he said. “We wanted to move as fast as we could and see what was out there … everything is a plus as far as a more efficient, quieter, small unit that will use less electricity. It’s just a no-brainer for me.”

The new unit is going to be more efficient and was budgeted to be around $70,000.

“There was no indication that it was going to fail,” Walbridge said. “One side failed and seized and it caused the other side to fail and seize.”

While Walbridge has heard of some complaints from the faculty in the building, he said most of the professors and staff that work in Mabee are just dealing with it.

Walbridge hasn’t heard complaints from students, but Taylor said it is disrupting the academic environment.

“It does take a toll on how much you can concentrate because you are starting to sweat and stuff,” Taylor said.  It’s just not a good atmosphere for learning. I just know that everybody talks about how they are sweating a lot and almost falling asleep.”

Walbridge and other members of the maintenance staff have opened all the windows in the building and the weather has worked in their favor.

“Some (professors) have taken advantage of it and gotten out of there,” Walbridge said. “For the most part, the people that have stayed … they say they are fine.”