Judy Kramer
County Reporter
In 2013, Brent Bell started the Climalock business at 34405 Hwy PP, Warsaw, near South School with 3 employees; himeself, Fawn Fajen and Dwayne Townley. There are now 36 employees, and their sales continue to grow. They are tank insulation developers and installers that service agriculture, bioenergy, fire and industrial industries throughout the U.S. and Canada.
“Before we started the new business, my brother Brian Bell owned a tank manufacturing business, and we used a contractor who insulated the tanks,” said Brent Bell. “But the contractor couldn’t keep up with our demand, so I learned the skills and enjoyed doing it, plus there was a need for the service. In November 2021, we sold our company to in investment group called Crown Capital which has given us more flexibility to continue to grow and a better platform for employees.”
Bell said that the biggest market they serve is for bio energy. He said it involves such things as storing food waste. The company just insulated bio tanks in Iowa that contained 35 million gallons of manure, so it doesn’t freeze in the winter. Another high priority is fire protection, and Climalock was recently hired to insulate a sprinkler system tank at a Walmart store.
“We do a lot of projects,” said Bell. “We did some insulation for condensation in Fort Worth, Texas, at Lockheed Martin where F-35 fighter jets are built and were also on the east coast insulating fire protection tanks at a facility. We are involved with the military as they work on using battery power on bases, and we partner with Paul Mueller in Springfield where his company makes dairy tanks, shipping the products all over the world, including Japan.”
Bell explained that crews working on insulation projects have their own crew trucks with tools. When arriving at the work site, man lifts are rented to take installers anywhere from four to 90 feet off the ground to service tanks that hold from 2,000 to five million gallons of product.
Climalock is exploring into the Canadian market and has lately installed a bolted steel water tank in Shageluk, Alaska for toilets. It is a native Alaskan village with 12 square miles of land and water. Bell said that when he and his crew landed, they had to go by boat to the village. It is just part of some of the interesting stuff they get into.
“When we were in Alaska, up on man lifts, we couldn’t get down because there were three grizzly bears eating out of trash cans below us,” said Bell.
He said that the investment group that owns the business has around a dozen other businesses in the group and Climalock partners with some of them. He said the investment group ownership allows them more leadership and more capital as well as the previously stated opportunity for growth.
“We don’t anticipate having a down year,” said Bell. “The local workforce and honest, hard working people make us successful and we benefit the community.”
