March 2006

Bigg's Supermarket Lowers Energy

Consumption with One Shot® Refrigerant
DATELINE: Florence, Kentucky

With 2010 looming (65% reduction in HCFC production; elimination of R-22 in equipment design), whole segments of industry are looking to get ahead of the curve. Increased cost of R-22 and record keeping requirements with the potential regulatory impact are driving forces for companies to start retrofitting.

Bigg's Supermarket converted two rack systems, one medium and one low temperature, in their Florence, Kentucky, facility from R-22 to One Shot refrigerant, a product of ICOR International, Inc. George Ronn, Manager, EPA Compliance & System Controls, for SUPERVALU Inc., the parent of Bigg's Supermarket, supplied ICOR with a preliminary assessment of the project as well as conclusions and excerpts of the data recorded on SuperValu's energy management system.

The assessment indicated that the low temperature rack ran primarily between 70% and 95% of capacity on R-22. On One Shot the rack runs consistently between 60% and 90% with extended periods below 50% of capacity. "The medium temperature rack on R-22 was all over the board,"
according to Ronn, "but the bulk of the time it ran in the 50% to 80% range. Since conversion to One Shot, the capacity requirements are much more stable and are consistently below 50%."

Ronn added, "One of the most satisfying pieces in this project is the improvement in capacity, and the reduction in the number of compressors needed to maintain the suction pressure target and product integrity. This will definitely translate into lower energy costs for compressor operation." Ronn also indicated that, "We have experienced no problems with mineral oil return, migration, or separation in either of these two racks. In fact, we had a significant amount of oil return to the racks from the evaporators after the conversion took place."

Jim Terry, Manager of Engineering Services for ICOR, said he was not surprised. "When we did our initial in-house testing, Terry said, we quickly became aware of One Shot's capabilities. In field conversions and in all kinds of commercial applications, this product performs. What Bigg's experienced is the norm, not the exception."
While this and many other conversion projects revolve around R-22, we have the same experiences with systems converted from R-408A and R-402A&B.
Customers have even reported using One Shot instead of R-404A in new equipment."

 

Archive Articles
- March 2006
- April 2006
- AHR Expo 2006
- David Callender Joins ICOR Tech Support
- First Edition - Newsletter
- Archive - 10-Year Service Award
- New R-22 Replacement
- ICOR Broadens NU-22B Application Range
- "The Future of A/C Refrigerants"
- ICOR Appoints New Reg. Business Director

•   Home
•  About ICOR
•  Tech-2-Tech
•  Get Ahead of the Curve
•  Case Studies
•  Industry Update
•  Press Releases
•  Testimonials
•  Technical Articles
•  Industry Links
•  ICOR News
•  Refri-Claim™ Service Division
• The Curve Blog

• Overview
•  At Home
•  Facility

• Distributor Search
•  Order Tracking
•  Special Offers
•  Contact Us