When it comes to carbon pricing, Oz-Chill Refrigerants managing director Matthew Posselt believes some sections of industry are misinformed.
Matthew Posselt believes that when it comes to new refrigerants, the industry is in need of training and education.
As the HVAC&R industry makes the transition to low global warming potential (GWP) alternatives, Posselt says there are plenty of successful refrigerant replacement stories to be told.
One story involves a frozen kebab business that relies on its refrigerated vans to deliver kebabs from the factory to clients.
The business had a serious problem; the drivers had to maintain a speed of 100km per hour for the vans to maintain a temperature of -18°.
Not surprisingly, trying to maintain this speed at all times was difficult so the business owner contacted Brian Summerfield from the Refrigeration Doctor.
The vans were originally fitted with an R404 belt-driving compressor refrigeration system to power the back section for frozen storage.
If drivers went under 100km/hr the van struggled to keep the products cold and wouldn't maintain temperature.
After the customer blew up a compressor, Summerfield replaced it with a brand new compressor and brand new dryer.
Next he evacuated the system down to 100 microns and then proceeded to charge the system with Oz-Chill's Multi hydrocarbon refrigerant.
The original charge of R404 was 5.5kg, so Summerfield used just 3kg of Multi in the van and it worked perfectly, even maintaining -18 degrees at traffic lights.
Another story that Posselt likes to share is about a Perth-based ice making company. After losing its full charge of 123kg of R22, the firm was forced to review its options.
After talking to its current refrigeration mechanics, it decided to trial Oz-Chill's 22a product.
A full site safety assessment was completed which included the location of the system and all aspects of the electrical equipment.
Not only did the company save over $10,000 in refrigerant, Posselt says the 22a product also significantly reduced the system's head pressures, cycle time and harvest time.
"In the end only 54kg of Oz-Chill 22a was needed to replace the previous 123kg of R22,” he says.
Another story involves a client with a 120kw (two 60kw stages) water chiller which had an R22 leak in the compressor.
"After the system was assessed for safety, the dryer was changed and then the system was given a really good vac for about five hours,” Posselt says.
"Next the system was charged with just 7.2 kg of Oz-Chill Multi. The system required 18kg of R22. So just 40 per cent of the original charge was required.
"Due to the design of the system, it was easy to assess the difference of the two refrigerants running in each 60kw system. The R22 side was drawing 26 amps per phase, while the Oz-Chill Multi was drawing just 23 amps.
"This is a saving of just over 10 per cent per phase. With time, this is expected to slightly increase.
"Other observations included colder pipe temperatures, a colder condenser and a quieter operating system.”
