In November 2001, the Charter Springs Hospital in Ocala, FL experienced a compressor failure in the 30-ton A/C unit responsible for cooling a wing of the hospital. According to Gil Lopez, building supervisor, "At this time, the building was empty so we decided to postpone replacing the compressor. This was a big mistake. Being in Florida and the high humidity, it only took a couple of weeks for the mold and mildew to take over. It was all over the walls, the ceiling, and the space above the dropped ceiling."
The task of removing mold from a system is not an easy one, and quite frequently, the mold returns. Lopez explained, "We hired a professional cleaning service to eliminate the problem. This cleaning was very expensive and took several days to complete. We also at this time had the compressor in the A/C unit replaced, hoping we had cured the problem. But, to our surprise, we noticed the mold had returned. We then had the same company return to clean the wing again. The cost was the same as before and time consuming."